The Jets will get their 2026-27 NFL regular season underway Sunday in Nashville against the Tennessee Titans. Veteran LB Demario Davis, who has returned for a third stint with the Green & White, will play in his 15^th consecutive Week 1 game. When asked this week for his favorite opening day stories, Davis, 37, politely elected to look ahead.

"Hopefully this one will be the best one," Davis.

'It's an Honor to Be Back'
The Jets are about to write their latest chapter with the pen in their hands. Quarterback Geno Smith, who once said in Seattle "they wrote me off, I ain't write back yet,", is scheduled to start his first game for the Jets in 3,612 days, which marks the third-longest gap between starts for the same team in NFL history.

"It's an honor to be back here and to have the opportunity to be a part of this organization again, to lead this team, this young talented group of guys who work extremely hard," Smith said this week. "I find myself looking forward to each and every day coming to work and giving it my all for these guys. And so, it's really special to my family and I, and we look forward to, like I said, every single day."

This is a different Jets team. After leading the NFL in snaps by rookies and second-year players last season (10,123), the Jets changed the leadership dynamic with the addition of Davis; Smith, 35;, and S Minkah Fitzpatrick, 29. They have joined veteran DT Harrison Phillips, 30; RG Joe Tippmann, 25; and WR-KR Isaiah Williams, 25, as team captains. Head coach Aaron Glenn, who brought in Brian Duker as his defensive coordinator, will call defensive plays and has turned the offensive controls over to Frank Reich.

'It Doesn't Matter Who It Is'
There are parallels between the Jets and Titans coaching staffs. Like Glenn, Robert Saleh will call defensive plays in Tennessee and the Titans' first-year HC brought in a seasoned play-caller in OC Brian Daboll. There are storylines aplenty as Jets DT T'Vondre Sweat and CB Jarvis Brownlee Jr. will face their former team while several former Jets including DE Jermaine Johnson II, DL John Franklin-Myers, DT Solomon Thomas and Edge Jacob Martin now don Titans' blue. Glenn, in his 29th NFL season, believes the NFL is a small world and the opponent doesn't matter.

"It's a game that we're going out there to win and it doesn't matter who it is," Glenn said. "That's the mindset of these players, that's the mindset of this coaching staff, that's the mindset of this organization. Our job is to go out there and play this game and be the best that we can be on every play and to go out there and win a game, hands down. Nothing else is to be thought of, and that's how I look at it."

There is an element of the unknown in Week 1 games that challenges coaching staffs throughout the league. Teams keep things vanilla and close to the vest in the preseason, so the Jets will have to stay true to their concepts.

"There's going to be some wrinkles, and I told our guys we have to be ready for in-game adjustments," Glenn said. "That's going to be one of the biggest parts of this game is how we adjust. That could be adjust on the sideline on the fly, that could be adjust at halftime to what they're doing, and our guys understand that."

'Live Out My Dream'
The Jets' revamped defense will aim to control the line of scrimmage and put the heat on Tennessee QB Cam Ward, the talented passer who was the No. 1 overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft.

"They put it together the right way," Demario Davis said. "I got a chance to play against Cam Ward last year. Very impressed with the player that he is, the composure that he's able to play, his ability to be able to extend plays, his ability to get rid of the ball quickly. He's surrounded by some good running backs as well. They got a lot of guys that they feel confident that they've been able to bring in that they can get the ball downfield as well. It's going to be a good challenge for us, but that's why you play the game."

On offense, Geno Smith knows the environment the Jets are walking into and what is required against a defense that has one of the NFL's top interior players in DT Jeffery Simmons.

"We have to communicate, over-communicate," he said. "That's visual and verbal. I've got to be clear and concise and make sure that I enunciate all my words in the huddle so guys can hear me. When we get out there, we know it's going to be loud, but we have a ton of players who have played on the road, who have played a ton of football. So, it's our first opportunity together, but I look forward to it and we'll learn as we go."

Another opportunity for Smith, Davis and the Jets. They're embracing the moment at hand and are about to begin their latest chapter. It's a homecoming that begins in the Music City.

"I think I still have the enjoyment of a rookie," Davis said. "My excitement to come in and work each and every day, to be able to live out my dream. I never take a moment, a day that I walk into this building for granted, a day that I step out on that field for granted."