Big games come up for almost every NFL team almost every week, especially in the early part of the schedule.
So the Jets' next big game arrives tonight, in their Thursday Night Football showdown with the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium right by the shores of Lake Erie.
A win would provide more evidence that the Green & White have figured out how to play better on the road than they had the previous two seasons, and would reinforce the players' feeling that at 2-1 in the first 11 days of the 2018 season, they can be players this season as they would then take 10 days to prepare for their next big test at the Jacksonville Jaguars.
A loss to fall to 1-2 would be a difficult blow, coming against a Browns team, that lost to the Jets at home in both 2016 and '17 and has compiled a 1-32-1 record over the past three seasons. And it wouldn't bode well for rookie QB Sam Darnold and his teammates being ahead of schedule in establishing themselves as contenders as they would head into their challenging third road game of September against the Jags.
Which will it be for the Jets? We'll know soon. Kickoff is shortly after 8:20 p.m. ET.
Seven Jets players will be on the sideline as inactives tonight:
- S Marcus Maye
- CB Derrick Jones
- CB Juston Burris
- G Dakota Dozier
- TE Neal Sterling
- DL Folorunso Fatukasi
- LB Josh Martin
And the Browns' inactives:
- QB Drew Stanton
- WR Rod Streater
- LB Christian Kirksey
- TE Seth DeValve
- DE Emmanuel Ogbah
- DE Ifeadi Odenigbo
- DT Devaroe Lawrence
The Jets are wearing their white jerseys and green pants tonight. They're 7-15 in white/green under fourth-year HC Todd Bowles. But they did prevail at Cleveland in white/green in 2016 by 31-28. Last year they wore green/green for their 17-14 win at FirstEnergy Bank.
Referee Jerome Boger is presiding over his 20th Jets game as ref since 2006. Jets games Boger has refereed include the 2009 AFC Divisional Round playoff win at San Diego, the 2015 season-opening 31-10 win over the Browns at MetLife Stadium, and last year's 34-21 Thursday night home win over the Bills and their QB at the time, Tyrod Taylor, who will quarterback the Browns against the Jets tonight.
