No one has inflicted more misery on the NYJ and reveled in it more than Bill Belichick.
Jets fans, who are still trying to recover from the sight of Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles lasting four snaps in the home opener, would love nothing better Sunday than for Belichick to trudge to midfield to shake hands with Robert Saleh then trudge out of the MetLife Stadium 0-3 for the first time since his first season as Patriots head coach in 2000 … the year he was scheduled to replace Bill Parcells on the Jets sideline.
Belichick has never appeared this vulnerable. He has not won a playoff game since Tom Brady left. Just six teams have made the playoffs after starting 0-3 since 1979. The Texans were the last to do it, in 2018.
If the Jets don’t get Belichick now, they might never get him, and with their looming schedule as daunting as it is, there exists a clear and present danger that the season could begin to spiral out of control and that a 12-year playoff drought will become a 13-year playoff drought.
Bury him now.
Bury him now … or forever hold your regret.
Rain and wind may be in the forecast, but the storm warnings should be up for Darth Belichick.
Rodgers won’t be charging through the tunnel holding an American flag this time.
This one will be Zach Wilson versus the GOAT.
An angry, desperate GOAT.
Who owned the division from 2009-19 and mostly scoffed at the Jets’ attempts to topple him from the throne.
Who has beaten the Jets 14 consecutive times.
Fourteen consecutive times. How is that possible? He’s done spying, right? No more deflated balls for his quarterback, right?
Saleh is just the sixth and latest Jets HC who didn’t come here to kiss Belichick’s rings.
If Belichick could make Sam Darnold see ghosts in prime time, how many might Wilson be seeing in the middle of the day?
Don’t ask.
You better believe Belichick will dare Wilson to beat him while taking away Garrett Wilson at every turn.
It will be partly on offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett to devise the perfect game plan to help wrap this quarterback in a cocoon, partly on the offensive line — without LT Duane Brown — to get a damn yard when a damn yard is needed on third down.
But it mostly will be on the Jets’ defense:
Win the game.
You want to keep telling us that your goal is to be the No. 1 defense in the league? Show us.
Because you didn’t show us any elite defense at Dallas last week.
The last time the Patriots were 0-2 was in 2001, when Zach Wilson was 2 years old.
Belichick will field a quality defense that can make it look like child’s play against an overmatched quarterback working with a new offensive coordinator for the first time.
The problem for Belichick continues to be a paucity of difference-making offensive personnel. And that includes quarterback Mac Jones.
Jones was the 15th draft pick in 2021, when Wilson was the second-overall pick. Jones hasn’t reminded anyone of a young Brady, and Wilson hasn’t reminded anyone of a young Rodgers, to put it mildly. But Jones, under coordinator Bill O’Brien, has looked better than he did a year ago.
The near-term Jets schedule features Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and later the Eagles, sandwiching a road game against Hackett’s old friend Sean Payton in Denver.
It could get late early around here.
In an ideal world, Breece Hall and Dalvin Cook might ground and pound behind a bully O-line and help keep Zach Wilson in third-and-manageable.
When have the Jets lived in an ideal world since Jan. 12, 1969?
Enter Quinnen Williams.
Enter Sauce Gardner.
Enter C.J. Mosley.
Enter Saleh and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
The Jets’ takeaways that ruined Josh Allen in Week 1 were nowhere to be found against Dak Prescott.
If the defense is what the Jets think it is, it will have Wilson’s back and hand him a short field at some point.
Even better, hand him points on a green-and-white platter.
Prescott attempted 38 passes last week. He was sacked once, by Solomon Thomas. But this just in: In a Week 5 game against Buccaneers QB Steve DeBerg, who attempted 49 passes, the 1985 Bears failed to record a single sack! So there!
Rodgers would have kept Belichick up at night this week. Zach Wilson did not. Belichick kept Wilson and Hackett up at night.
Bury him now. Or else.
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