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The New York Jets had a foundational 2022 draft class this past April.
Rose petals were thrown at the organization’s feet moments after the draft and that has been validated throughout this season with every Rookie of the Week championship belt that has arrived at 1 Jets Drive.
The Jets Historic Run Will Come to an End
The Jets had won the Pepsi Rookie of the Week award six consecutive times and out of the nine possible winners this season, Gang Green has had seven of them.
However, there is a loophole in the system that has stopped the Jets in their attempts to win a seventh consecutive time. The bye week.
Since the Jets didn’t play a contest in Week 10 they are ineligible to win the award. The official Jets Twitter account decided to highlight that fun fact with a congratulatory message to the rest of the league:
“Congruatlions to someone else getting to win this week.”
That means someone else is set to stop their streak and the Jets will be forced to start a new one with their Week 11 road trip to play the New England Patriots.
Only two other NFL players have won the title this season that aren’t a member of the Jets:
- Week 1: Jahan Dotson, wide receiver, Washington Commanders
- Week 3: Romeo Doubs, wide receiver, Green Bay Packers
The Jets have won every other rookie championship belt in 2022:
- Garrett Wilson, wide receiver: Week 2 and in Week 8
- Breece Hall, running back: Week 4 and in Week 6
- Sauce Gardner, cornerback: Week 5, Week 7, and in Week 9
Sauce Gardner Could Hold the Keys to Jets Upset Over Patriots
In writing this piece I stumbled across a weird statistical trend with Sauce Gardner.
He has won every other Rookie of the Week award since the October 9 home game against the Miami Dolphins. It sure sounds like he is due in this upcoming Week 11 matchup versus the New England Patriots.
Well, the Jets are certainly going to need that kind of performance to deliver a season-defining victory on the road.
In the first matchup between these two teams, the Jets for a fleeting moment had a 17-3 lead heading into halftime after a terrific pick-six by Michael Carter II.
Unfortunately, as Jets fans were celebrating they didn’t notice the yellow flag laying on the MetLife Stadium turf. The officials called a roughing the passer call on John Franklin-Myers that negated the defensive touchdown and reversed the score.
Instead of a 17-3 lead at halftime, the Patriots cut the deficit to 10-6 at the half. All of the air left the stadium at halftime and New England would eventually win this contest 22-17.
The key for the Jets is forcing Mac Jones and this Patriots offense into a few turnovers. If they are able to make that happen that should provide this Jets offense with some short fields to work with.
This game is of the utmost importance. With a win, the Jets would be in first place in the AFC East after 11 weeks of play. With a loss, there is a realistic path to fourth place in the division.
The AFC East has proven to be one of the best divisions in all of football this year. If the playoffs started today the entire division would make the playoffs and I’m not sure many folks had that on their bingo card prior to the season.
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