The Jets' preseason schedule is an interesting threesome of games to get them ready for Aaron Glenn's second regular season as head coach.
They are playing two of the games against foes they haven't seen much of in the summer in the last two decades, and one game against an opponent they see every summer like clockwork. They are going up against one former Jets head coach, then against two familiar opposing HCs who are bringing new life to their new franchises.
The Jets will open at MetLife Stadium against Tampa Bay, led by Todd Bowles, the Jets HC from 2015-18. And the teams will be facing off in the preseason for just the second time in the last 20 years. Then they'll travel to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers, now under the direction of Mike McCarthy, for the first time in almost a quarter of a century.
Last will be the preseason finale against the Giants. The Jets will be the home team at MetLife Stadium and the Giants, whose fortunes are now being guided by HC John Harbaugh, will be the visitors for the teams' 57th meeting in the last 58 summers.
Game 1 — vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, MetLife Stadium, Friday, Aug. 14, 7 p.m., WCBS
The Jets have had some preseason familiarity with Tampa. The teams played seven times from 1987-2006, with the Jets on the road for all seven — five in Tampa, one in Orlando and the 2003 American Bowl Game in Japan's Tokyo Dome. Since then, the teams have met only once, in 2023, when the Buccaneers traveled to North Jersey and beat the Jets, 13-6, at MetLife. The Jets are 3-5 in the preseason vs Tampa Bay.
Glenn would love to see some defensive thefts of the aerial kind beginning in this one, in part because he has a predilection for preseason-opening picks on a personal level. The Jets' last 4-INT preseason game, in the 1995 opener at Tampa Bay, featured Glenn making the first pick of his stellar career, off of Trent Dilfer. (AG had no INTs as a rookie in any game in '94.) Two years later, in the Jets' 1997 summer opener against Philadelphia, Glenn sped 97-yards with a Ty Detmer INT for a touchdown.
Game 2 — at Pittsburgh Steelers, Acrisure Stadium, Friday, Aug. 21, 7 p.m., WCBS
The Jets and Steelers used to summer together somewhat regularly, meeting eight times from 1971-2002. The Jets lost the first five games but won two of the last three.
And that's when the teams' preseason relationship went on hiatus.` The only August game scheduled between the two was in 2020 at MetLife, but that game was canceled due to COVID.
McCarthy, the former Green Bay boss, takes the reins as Mike Tomlin's successor and as only the fourth head coach hired the Steelers since 1969. Pitt is waiting to see if Aaron Rodgers will return to the fold after leading their offense last year. But even if A-Rod is on the Pitt roster in August, the ball will likely be placed in the hands of QBs Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and third-round draft choice Drew Allar.
Game 3 — vs. New York Giants, MetLife Stadium, Friday, Aug. 28, 7:30 p.m., WCBS
The Jets will wrap their summer schedule against the Giants for the fourth time in the last five years. The Green & White hold a 29-26-1 edge in the preseason rivalry, which has been played every season except the 2020 COVID summer since the teams first met for their fateful first time, at Yale Bowl in New Haven, CT, in 1969.
The Jets have won the last two home games in the series, 31-27 in 2022 and 10-6 in '24. They had won four in a row overall before last year's 31-12 road loss to Big Blue.
Perhaps it's significant, perhaps not, that Geno Smith, declared the Jets starter this season by Glenn, threw his first touchdown pass in his first stint as the Jets QB against the Giants in the 2013 preseason matchup. It was a catch-and-run 22-yarder to WR Ben Obomanu in the Jets' 24-21 overtime win "on the road."
