Jets vs. Packers: Preview, prediction, what to watch for in Week 2
An inside look at Sunday’s Jets-Packers Week 2 matchup at MetLife Stadium:
Marquee matchup
Jets coach Aaron Glenn vs. Packers QB Jordan Love
The Jets begin an interesting stretch of the schedule where they face NFC North opponents for three straight weeks.
It brings some familiarity for Glenn, who served as the Lions defensive coordinator from 2021-24.
During those years, Love started four games against Glenn.
The Packers went 1-3 in those games and Love never threw for more than 300 yards.
He was sacked five times in one meeting and had two interceptions. Love threw for three touchdowns in his one win over Glenn.
Love is now a few years older and more experienced, and is coming off a 387-yard game against the Vikings.
Love was under siege in that game, getting hit 15 times and sacked four times as Brian Flores blitzed nearly 80 percent of the time.
Glenn spoke glowingly of the quarterback he’ll be trying to stop Sunday.
“No. 1, his arm talent is unbelievable, and when I say that, it’s the different angles that he throws from,” Glenn said, “you clearly see that when you watch the tape, the arm strength, his ability to get out of the pocket and then be able to launch the ball deep, you see that quite a bit, and I know sometimes they don’t want a lot of quarterbacks doing this, but when you have the ability that he has of rolling to your right and being able to flick it back to you, he has the ability to do that, and everybody doesn’t have that ability.”
Four downs
Keeping it tight: The Jets have drafted tight ends in the first two rounds of each of the past two drafts, so no one should have been surprised at how many multiple tight end formations they used. Still, it was something to see last week against the Titans. The Jets used multiple tight ends on 27 of their 63 plays, according to Next Gen Stats.
The first touchdown of the game was a handoff to tight end Kenyon Sadiq, a first-round pick this year, with key blocks coming from fellow tight ends Mason Taylor and Jeremy Ruckert.
The tight end highlight of the day came in the third quarter when they lined up with all five tight ends (the Jets view fullback Andrew Beck as a tight end).
“I had one of our analytics guys see, ‘Has this happened before?’ I was thinking maybe there wasn’t,” offensive coordinator Frank Reich said. “That’s not why we did it, it was just that we have five good tight ends. So, he went back 20 years, and he couldn’t find any evidence of [five tight end] personnel. I like it for those tight ends. It’s something funny. You got to have those little things in this league. This is a hard business.”
Missing Micah: The Packers made a huge splash before last season when they traded for Micah Parsons. It was working out for them until Parsons tore his ACL last December in a game against the Broncos. Green Bay lost that game and then lost the next four games, including a playoff loss to the Bears.
Then last week the losing streak stretched to six games as the Packers blew a 22-10 lead against the Vikings, losing 39-22 after Minnesota scored the final 29 points of the game. It continued a trend of blown leads in the second half for Green Bay, one the Jets hope to continue.
Familiar foes: Aaron Glenn and Jordan Love are not the only opponents who know each other well in this matchup. Jets quarterback Geno Smith and Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon faced each other four times when they were both in the NFC West.
Smith was the Seattle starter and Gannon was the Cardinals coach.
Smith went 4-0 with six touchdowns and two interceptions in those meetings, but he did not put much stock in that, though.
“I just focus on this game,” Smith said. “Nothing in the past really matters, as I’ve said before. Coach Gannon is a great coach and he has coached some tremendous defenses over the course of his career, so I know that he’s going to have those guys ready, and it’s up to us to go out there and execute.”
Sticking with Sanders: Jason Sanders will be the Jets kicker again this week.
He had a mixed bag in his debut against Tennessee.
Sanders had an ugly miss from 54 yards, but made field goals from 33, 51 and 52 yards.
“I thought it was critical to see him go through that miss and then be able to come back and make, I think it was two 50-something yarders, which I thought was impressive,” Glenn said. “And if you look at our team in general, including myself, we have a team of men that has gone through some things, that’s fought through some adversity. … I like the way that he fought back, ending up making those field goals.”
Costello’s call
The Jets are riding high after their Week 1 win over the Titans, and they did look good.
But now they step up in class and the Packers are not just a good team, but a desperate one. I think the Jets can score on Green Bay, but will have a tough time slowing down Jordan Love.
Packers 31, Jets 27
