Make Your Season Long Jets Predictions

What is your prediction?

The Jets have a lot of changes from this year to last, none more important than the change in coaches from Adam Gase to Robert Saleh plus the switch to Zach Wilson from Sam Darnold at the quarterback position.

Obviously there are a lot of factors that go into the winning of football games. Yet many prognosticators will espouse their opinions without the slightest knowledge of the Jets team or their philosophies.

You on the other hand as an avid Jets fan have detailed information about the Jets. You stay informed. You get first hand knowledge from print and news media plus GGN. You know far more than the talking heads at ESPN. For example the Jets are rated #30 (out of 32 teams) in their football power index, which isn’t good.

It’s the same every year as teams are lumped into a pile and their futures are predicted from their previous years performance even though the Jets have had near revolutionary changes in terms of coaching and skill position players.

When asked to talk about losing players (and the Buccaneers lost few players from their Super Bowl team) Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said he would much rather lose players than coaches. Coaches are very hard to replace. The reason is you all have to be on the same page. You can coach new players, but it’s very difficult to coach new coaches into the intricacies of you schemes. hat is why Arians has coaches he coached with at Temple many decades before. You need that continuity in your coaches.

Last year for the Jets the coaching staff was a large part of the problem. Saleh has brought in coaches that know his system and share his upbeat enthusiasm. This is never taken into account of the people with analytical backgrounds. They look at stats not people unless it has to do with their age. Analytics is a tool for success, but it is just one tool. It is not the holy grail of all sports wisdom.

The Jets are underdogs across the board in most of the articles I have seen, but they have a chance in Carolina. I really like Matt Rhule as a coach, and Carolina has a very good defense. Still there are other factors at play in this game, the first of 17 for the Jets this year. This is some of what the Sports Illustrated writers said:

Schuyler Callihan

I believe Zach Wilson is going to be really good, I really do. But I just don’t see him having much success against a very solid Panthers defense. Brian Burns and Haason Reddick will rush him into making some bad decisions and the guys in the secondary will take advantage of it. Sam Darnold has continued to say this is just another game but in his head, he knows what this game means to him. He’s going to leave it all out there on the field and show the Jets that they gave up on him too soon. I have the Panthers big in this one. Panthers 30, Jets 13

Jason Hewitt

This is an exciting matchup between two young, developing teams. As of right now, the Panthers are slightly more developed on both sides of the ball, which is why I believe that they will defeat the Jets this Sunday. Things look promising for the Jets’ future with Robert Saleh and Zach Wilson looking to change a seemingly unstable franchise, but I just don’t see them beating Carolina at their current state. (Side note: Pay attention to the matchup between Brian Burns and Mekhi Becton. It may determine the outcome of this game.) Panthers 21, Jets 13

Josh Altorfer

The Panthers scored 30 or more points in two out of the three games that Christian McCaffrey was healthy for last season. The added dimension of the dynamic dual-threat running back should help take some of the pressure off of Sam Darnold. The Jets’ defense allowed over 28 points per game in 2020. First-year head coach Robert Saleh will improve the overall scheme of the defense but the lack of depth remains similar to last season’s roster. Expect Joe Brady to get his playmakers the ball early and often. This game might come down to how well Carolina can convert inside the 20-yard line. If the Jets can hold them to field goals more often than not, then they should be able to come away with the victory. If the Panthers can consistently punch it in for six, then they will pull off the win for their quarterback facing his former team. Panthers 30, Jets 24

Matt Welch

I think Carolina gets the Week 1 win over the Jets due in large part to the Panthers’ pass rush against a rookie QB in his first NFL start. I think the Panthers’ offense is going to be a little slow to start, leaning on Christian McCaffrey and the run game to let Sam Darnold get settled in. I don’t foresee big-time games out of anyone on the offensive side for that reason, but I think Carolina forces at least two turnovers and tallies at least three sacks. Panthers 17, Jets 10

Jeff Haseley

Sam Darnold starts off the season with a win over his former team collecting 270 yards passing with two touchdown passes (McCaffrey, Marshall). A key interception on the final drive by Juston Burris sealed the win for Carolina (1-0), who will face New Orleans (0-1) in Week 2. Panthers 24, Jets 20

Matt Alquiza

Sam Darnold throws for 300+ yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Panthers cruise past his old team. The defense shows up to play as well as a packed Bank of America stadium energizes the team in their first full-capacity home game in almost two years. The Panthers aren’t going to have too many easy wins this season, but this will be one of them. Panthers 31, Jets 20

You can see the assertions are all one sided in favor of Carolina. Alquiza has Sam Darnold throwing for over 300 yards against the Jets which is something he did only 4 times in 38 games and didn’t do at all last year. Also Carolina has no tape on what type of offense or defense the Jets will play. It should be an adaption of the type of offense/defense that was run in San Francisco last year, but there is always a wrinkle or two difference when coaches move from the system to a new team.

Some of that is due to personnel, but some has to do with the new freedoms coaches enjoy when they are moved from a system as a assistant to a full coordinator position. Plus there is the factor the Jets know everything about Sam Darnold including his favorite color since he was in the building the last 3 years. The Panthers have only guesses and hunches about Zach Wilson. They are totally in the dark. The Jets ran a very vanilla offense and defense in the preseason so they should have a sort of “element of surprise” the first few games. They are certainly going to take advantage of that.

Below is the Jets schedule for the entire year, so what do you think?

The time is now to put down in this article exactly what you think the Jets record will be. We can go back at the end of the year to see which of you are closest to the real deal. Remember there are 17 games this year so take that into account.

I will even go first as I am bullish on this team and say the Jets improve to 9-8 this year with a couple of close loses that kind of ruin the Playoff chances. I will also say the Jets win on Sunday and ruin Sam Darnold’s day. Injuries could be devastating to the Jets so they will need to stay fairly healthy. Of course Zach Wilson’s health is vital.

What do you think?