It is good to be back…hopefully. Last season this piece became rather trying to write as the 2023 season fell apart for both the Jets and Giants. But both had solid offseason’s and maybe that can tee them up for success in 2024. We’ll preview each of the Jets and Giants units and pick their schedule for the fun of it. And yes, before you ask there will be more Bruce in this piece as each team has a theme that lines up with one of his tracks. Working on a Dream is only serving as the title track for this piece if you will, so call it a triple shot.

Jets

In no uncertain terms, 2023 was an utter disappointment for the New York Jets. All the excitement and anticipation of the offseason was washed away after just four plays. Aaron Rodgers injury gave way to Zach Wilson’s second full tour of duty under center. Wilson’s play effectively handcuffed the team all season long as the offense cancelled out the good work by the defense, on route to a 7-10 finish.

The poor play by the offense was accompanied by some brutal coaching from Rob Saleh and OC Nate Hackett. While those are returning features for 2024, the Jets did at least do something to clear up the other bugs from a year ago. They have boosted a porous offensive line and added some steadier weapons that should hopefully make a difference in number eights life under center.

If the line takes a jump this should be a more complete team, that is harder to play against, assuming the staff doesn’t get in the way. Gang Green is “ridin’ on the power and livin’ on the promise” of a healthy Aaron Rodgers clicking with their new toys (whom we’ll meet in a moment). That should add up to a “rendezvous” with the playoffs.

The Additions

This was a busy offseason for the Jets, as they attacked a number of issues they had last year. No area was more of a weakness than the offensive line, which was responsible for ruining the 2023-2024 season by allowing Aaron Rodgers to get hurt in week one. Joe Douglas went after a number of players to address the holes up front and came up with a good haul. Future Hall of Fame tackle Tyron Smith is joined by former Ravens John Simpson and Morgan Moses and rookie tackle Olu Fashanu on the revamped offensive line. While its admittedly a low bar, this group should go a long way towards keeping Rodgers upright.

While there was investment in the o-line, the other half of the equation was improving the tools Rodgers has to work with. That work centered around finding a receiver that was an upgrade on Allen Lazard, which wouldn’t be hard to do as any human with hands would suffice, but they found two intriguing options in former Chargers wideout Mike Williams and late round draft steal Malachai Corley. They also touched up the QB room with a real backup signal caller as Tyrod Taylor traded in Giants blue for Jets green. Although, no offense to you Tyrod, but hopefully we don’t see you on the field this year. The final addition is defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, who played for Rob Saleh in San Francisco, and frankly just adds to the embarrassment of riches the Jets have on defense. All of this should equate to a much more balanced team.

The Offense

As we dive into the offense, there is a feeling that hits me, one we didn’t get to experience last year at all. That feeling is excitement, and it comes with good reason as we might actually be able to watch Aaron Rodgers for more than four plays this season. Assuming number eight can stay on the field and keep his mouth shut off of it then this could really be a lot of fun to watch, given the weapons around him. There is the question surrounding how much we can expect from a 40-year-old QB coming off of a devastating injury but per reports from Florham Park, Rodgers looks like himself. If he is on point, the sky is the limit, and we can finally see the offense we dreamed about a year ago.

While we’ve wanted to see Garrett Wilson do his thing with Aaron Rodgers on the passing end, it’s unreasonable to think that he can do all this on his own and the help around him can hopefully come together. Aforementioned free agent addition Mike Williams should make for a nice physical number two receiver in the red zone while rookie Malachai Corley and Rodgers favorite (why I’m not sure) Allen Lazard fill out the core along with week one hero from a season ago, Xavier Gipson. The tight ends aren’t very special at all, but perhaps Rodgers can elevate Tyler Conklin and Jeremy Rucket who has yet to play a lot for this team.

The straw that will help stir the drink alongside Rodgers is running back Breece Hall, who has been the Jets best and most exciting player for some time now. Hall is one of the most electrifying players this team has featured since probably Curtis Martin. His game changing ability has been somewhat muted in the past by this offenses lack of balance on the attack, but that should hopefully change as Rodgers throws the ball around and the improved o-line opens room for Hall to run. I would not be surprised at all to see Breece lead the league in rushing if they feed him accordingly this year.

The aforementioned offensive line should take a jump this year as the new additions of Tyron Smith, John Simpson, and Morgan Moses will hopefully click with returning starters Joe Tippmann and Alijah Vera-Tucker (who needs to stay healthy). If this unit does its job the offense should have plenty of balance and give “gang green” the ability to dictate terms on offense in 2024. There is really only one man who can stop them and that is OC Nate Hackett…but more on him later.

The Defense

While the offense is the hopeful yet unknown quantity, the defense is the best-known aspect of this Jets team. The front seven remains one of the best in the business, with or without Hassan Reddick, who is sitting out due to a contract dispute with the front office. Aforementioned new arrival Javon Kinlaw goes into the rotation on the line with Quinnen Williams, Solomon Thomas, Michael Clemons, and Jermaine Johnson. Meanwhile C.J. Mosley anchors the linebacking core with Quincy Williams at his side, and it’s safe to expect more sound tackling and leadership from both.

The secondary of course has some headliners of its own, none bigger than corner Sauce Gardner who will work in tandem with D.J. Reed as his opposite number. Chuck Clark replaces Jordan Whitehead and Tony Adams pairs with him at the safety positions, an area in which both of them should excel in pass coverage and run defense. This unit top to bottom should be one of the best in business once again and may need to be as the offense finds chemistry early on.

Special Teams

The special team’s side of things will take on a different form than usual this year with some changes to this phase of football. The easy part is kicker Greg Zuerlein who was a model of consistency last year and punter Thomas Morstead who was fabulous for gang green as well. The potential change will come on the return side, as the NFL has essentially eliminated kick offs from the game. Whether or not that leaves any room for skilled return man Xavier Gipson to operate is an open question at this point, but number 82 certainly has the ability to make it work regardless of the change.

The Staff

So far you have heard me rave about the depth and talent of this Jets roster and how it should translate to a big year on the field. While doing so, I’ve alluded to the handicap this roster has, and unfortunately, it’s one they’re saddled with because ownership didn’t think it needed to change. That handicap is of course the coaching staff, led by arguably the worst head coach in all of football, Rob Saleh. Saleh’s Jets tenure has been filled with bravado and flash…but no results. Yes, on some level of fairness the quarterback play by Zach Wilson doomed his chances last year and he wasn’t responsible for keeping him on the roster, but the failures go much deeper than that. Saleh doesn’t seem capable of leading the organization properly, is in over his head with the media and has no control over this locker room or direction for his staff. He’s remarkably unimpressive from a decision-making standpoint late in games and that is extremely worrisome considering this team is planning to compete for something big this year. Saleh is a lot like Aaron Boone…he just keeps talking about what needs to be done, yet nothing ever changes.

If you think Saleh is bad, boy you haven’t seen anything yet, as this team is saddled with Aaron Rodgers personal lackey Nate Hackett. Hackett somehow remained in place as the offensive coordinator this year after a horrendous showing in 2023-24, which came in the wake of a nightmarish run as the Broncos head coach. His play calling left a lot to be desired, regardless of who was playing quarterback, and the hope is essentially that Rodgers will be healthy, and his brilliance will outpace Hackett’s ineptitude. If someone deserves to keep their job its defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who with the help of Saleh, runs one of the more dangerous defenses in the sport at a high level. Ulbrich’s unit was airtight a year ago and should be able to do that again this year. Even if Rodgers is great this year, the defense will be asked to play stout and physical defense against some solid teams.

In the regular season this roster should be able to get by on talent and win more than enough for the Jets to hit their goals at seasons end. However, it will be down the stretch and, in the playoffs, where this staff could rear its ugly head and hurt this team’s chances to really win big. That’s a terrible risk, and potential reality, to live with as this team is in “win now mode.”

Schedule and Prediction

Week/Opponent	Predicted Result
Week 1 – Monday 9/9 at 49ers	Loss
Week 2 – Sunday 9/15 at Titans	Win
Week 3 – Thursday 9/19 vs Patriots	Win
Week 4 – Sunday 9/19 vs Broncos	Win
Week 5 – Sunday 10/6 at Vikings (London)	Win
Week 6 – Monday 10/14 vs Bills	Win
Week 7 – Sunday 10/20 at Steelers	Loss
Week 8 – Sunday 10/27 at Patriots	Win
Week 9 – Thursday 10/31 vs Texans	Loss
Week 10 – Sunday 11/10 at Cardinals	Win
Week 11 – Sunday 11/17 vs Colts	Win
Week 12	Bye
Week 13 – Sunday 12/1 vs Seahawks	Win
Week 14 – Sunday 12/8 at Dolphins	Loss
Week 15 – Sunday 12/15 at Jaguars	Win
Week 16 – Sunday 12/22 vs Rams	Win
Week 17 – Sunday 12/29 at Bills	Loss
Week 18 – TBD vs Dolphins	Win

Yes, I know playing the “schedule game” can be a fool’s errand, but we’ve got to have some fun here and get our hopes up this time of year. While it’s hard to say that it will break right, this slate feels like one the Jets can take advantage of. Their cross over matchups in the NFC are with the NFC West, a division that has two weaker teams in it, that being the Cardinals and Seahawks, and two more imposing opponents in the Rams and 49ers. The Jets will get a taste of San Francisco right off the bat, which will test this team in many ways, especially on the offensive line. Not having to make the long trip across country to play Seattle and Los Angeles helps this group quite a bit as well, as west coast teams tend to struggle coming east for early kickoffs.

Much like the NFC West, their AFC divisional cross over is with the AFC South, a division that feels like it has two good teams in Houston and Indianapolis, and two so-so teams in Tennessee and Jacksonville. Their trip to London against the Vikings feels like a must win given how injured Minnesota is, and the rebuilding Patriots need to stop posing such a challenge to this group, as they are not the boogeyman they used to be. The Bills and Dolphins will be the measuring stick in the AFC East as despite Buffalo’s losses on the roster, it feels like they’ll still be a threat in the division and the Dolphin’s high-flying offense is a clash of styles with the Jets physical defense. I hate to oversimplify things but if Aaron Rodgers is healthy all year, gang green should hit double digit wins on this schedule and make their way to the playoffs as the AFC East winner for the first time since 2002. Fingers crossed it goes that way.

Giants

2023 was supposed to be another rung on the ladder of progression for the Giants under the current regime. It almost seems as if the excitement from 2022’s playoff run generated such a hype machine that the possibility of regression got lost in the shuffle. I felt last year’s group take a step back, but not as drastically as it did.

Big Blues 6-11 mark was ugly, and the performances within that record were even worse. It seemed that all the characters that made year one under Brian Daboll so enjoyable, vanished overnight. The team was sloppy, unprepared, and showing signs of negative culture. That stark contrast has put pressure on everyone to do their job this year. Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll need a positive year in the worst way. The question is what defines “positive” for the Mara’s?

Schoen and Daboll did what they could to improve this team, and some additions will prove to be more impactful than others. But it’s hard not to feel like this team, no matter how much better on paper, will be handcuffed by limitations that stem from the quarterback play, something three meaningless wins late in the year didn’t allow them to better address at the draft. While this isn’t flashy, with the roster and their additions (which we’ll get to), if they could be around .500 and remain competitive, I would keep organizational continuity for one more year. In the meantime, it’s “no retreat baby, no surrender” in 2024, the franchises centennial season.

The Additions

Joe Schoen knew he had a lot of work to do this offseason if the Giants were going to improve and he wasted no time making plenty of additions. While a lot of attention was paid to who left the team, far too much in my opinion, and not enough was spent focusing on the quality added. That begins with defensive end Brian Burns, probably the best player at his position in the league. Number zero (yes you read that right) should form a formidable tandem with Kayvon Thibodeaux in the pass rush department. The theme of adding to the defense continued in the draft and free agency as they added veteran corner Jalen Mills and rookie Safety Tyler Nubin, as well as rookie corner Andru Phillips.

Meanwhile the offense needed a fair amount of work too, which began with replacing Saquon Barkley. That assignment goes to former Bills and Texans back Devin Singletary, who will go about that task in a much different way than Barkley did. The diminutive back has always been a solid weapon in an offense and should be able to gain hard fought yards, while also being a threat in the pass game. Guard John Runyon Jr. arrives to help in the trenches along with tackle Jermaine Eluemunor and Drew Lock comes in to back up Daniel Jones under center…for now. The biggest headline grabber on offense is former LSU wideout and 6th overall pick Malik Nabers, who has the makings of being a sensation this season in the Big Apple. He was even given the high honor of the Giants unretiring all-time great Ray Flaherty’s number one and giving it to him going forward. High praise for the young man to kick off his career.

The Offense

This Giants offense is the lightning rod of the season for fans in New York City. Talk radio lights up with calls about the quarterback situation, the weapons, the lack of Saquon Barkley and more. We’ve already talked a bit about the weapons, and I don’t think any more milk should be spilt about the departure of number 26. But we have to dig into this QB room and its ability…or lack thereof.

Daniel Jones is having a rough preseason debut so far.

2/6, 18 yards and 2 INTs

A pick six by Jalen Pitre and now Derek Stingley picks him off in the end zone. pic.twitter.com/nVy1RcV7jl

— uSTADIUM (@uSTADIUM) August 17, 2024

If the offense is a lightning rod, Daniel Jones is the man that sparks it. Jones is trying to get back into the groove under center, after coming back from his season ending injury last year in Vegas. It’s not been an easy transition back into the fold for him, with a rocky set of preseason performances, much to the dismay of his coaches. It’s hard to believe that this far into his career Jones has seemingly been unable to improve his decision making, yet here we are. Danny Dimes best work has been under Brian Daboll before and perhaps this year he can get back to the 2022 form that helped big blue reach the playoffs, but it’s hard to feel confident about what we have seen.

Perhaps they can get stronger play from Drew Lock who comes in after a couple different stops around the league, most recently in Seattle whom he helped beat the Giants last year on Monday night. Lock has arm talent for days, always has, but his accuracy is inconsistent, and he’s never seemed fully able to master control of an offense at the NFL level. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him this year due to both Jones injuries and his play, but Lock isn’t exactly a savior on a white horse. I know the locals are hoping for another revival for Tommy “Cutlets” DeVito but that feels like a long shot at best for this team…and it should probably stay that way.

The aforementioned arrival of Malik Nabers opens up new possibilities for the offense, and really organizes the rest of the receiving core in a fashion that makes a lot more sense. Darius Slayton and Wan’Dale Robinson can now be reliable second and third choices for quarterbacks, especially with the shifty Robinson working the slot. Jalin Hyatt hopefully can continue to develop in a positive way, and become a deep ball option this season, but still has time to hone his craft with Nabers taking the bulk of the workload. Daniel Bellinger is now backed up in the tight end room by rookie fourth round pick Theo Johnson from Penn State, a player the Giants were excited about adding to the offense as a late round option. All of these players production is of course contingent upon the quarterback play improving, but the pieces are certainly in place for success.

Devin Singletary should hopefully have room to run behind this retooled offensive line of the returning Andrew Thomas, John Michael Schmitz and Greg Van Roten and the newly arriving Runyan and Eluemunor. They should also improve in pass protection, which would go a long way towards improving in the record department. Brian Daboll’s specialty is this side of the ball, so it’s time for him to help pull it together and get this thing rolling in the right direction…after it’s only his job that’s on the line if he doesn’t.

The Defense

If this Giants team is going to be competitive in 2024-25, the defense is really going to be the critical unit on the field. That success begins and ends with the front four, and in particular the pass rushing tandem of Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux. The pass rush pair will be looking to replicate the tandem success of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto from this past summer, and it feels like that should certainly be in the cards. Assuming those two wreck the game from the edges, Dexter Lawerence will lead the way through the middle and fellow edge rusher Azeez Ojulari (who will hopefully be healthy) should join in on the “hit the QB” fun. The linebacking group is a bit more of a wild card, with a collection of athletic yet unproven journeyman types in a core anchored by Bobby Okereke.

The secondary has a lot of upside on the field despite its relative inexperience due to the youth movement at the back end. Corner Deonte Banks was impressive last year as a rookie and first year contributors Tyler Nubin and Dru Philips join him from the safety and corner positions. Cor’Dale Flot and Jason Pinnock will also feature regularly, providing athleticism and range at the back end. Overall, this unit should come in handy as this team tries to take a jump in year three under this staff. This newly enhanced pass rush should also help in that regard as the QB won’t have a lot of time to get much of anything done out there.

Special Teams

Much like the Jets, there is a lot of continuity on this side of the ball with veteran kicker Graham Gano and punter Jamie Gillan. These two were unfortunately two of Big Blue’s best players last year and should be again…just hopefully someone on offense leads the scoring more than Gano. As mentioned before the new kick off rules is a hard to guess the impact of, especially given that return man Gunnar Olszewski isn’t known for explosiveness.

The Staff

I will go out on a limb here and confidently say that Brian Daboll and his staff is MUCH better than the staff with the Jets (if you can’t tell by my thoughts above). Daboll has been in charge for two years and it’s been a mixed bag to say the least. As we all know in year one the Giants overachieved to the credit of Daboll and his coaches, who took a team of cobbled together parts and won a playoff game. Year two was the polar opposite where the roster had more talent on it, but they played well below the level of expectations the fans and media laid out for them. Now year three, similar to year one is asking the head coach to pull this group of youngsters and weak QB’s together and pull another rabbit out of the hat, which won’t be easy at all.

Daboll of course won’t be working alone as his offensive coordinator Mike Kafka is back for another year calling the plays. Kafka was of course in charge of the offense in 2022 when Daniel Jones had his best season yet and the offense remained at the minimum functional, with a habit of coming up big late in games. Kafka will have to do the same this year with a better cast of weapons thanks to Nabers for Jones…but can Jones execute his offense well enough? Meanwhile the defensive side of the ball has a new boss as Wink Martindale is coaching at the university of Michigan following his dismissal last year. His replacement is former Titans defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who did solid work in the role in Nashville. He’ll be aggressive and with good reason as the Giants have some wicked pass rushers on this unit that he can turn loose and ask to wreck a game. His unit has to be good for this team to surprise this year, and I expect them to meet that bar.

All three will be coaching for their jobs this season, which is never a fun position to be in, but it’s the nature of the beast in this town. I think they’re capable of squeezing a lot out of this team and if they pull it off, they’ll likely be back on the sidelines next season and maybe that will give them the chance to get a new quarterback that improves their chances of winning more.

Schedule and Prediction

Week/Opponent	Predicted Result
Week 1 – Sunday 9/8 vs Vikings	Win
Week 2 – Sunday 9/15 at Commanders	Win
Week 3 – Sunday 9/22 at Browns	Loss
Week 4 – Thursday 9/26 vs Cowboys	Win
Week 5 – Sunday 10/6 at Seahawks	Loss
Week 6 – Sunday 10/13 vs Bengals	Loss
Week 7 – Sunday 10/20 at Eagles	Loss
Week 8 – Monday 10/28 at Steelers	Loss
Week 9 – Sunday 11/3 vs Commanders	Win
Week 10 – Sun 11/10 at Panthers (Germany)	Win
Week 11	Bye
Week 12 – Sunday 11/24 vs Buccaneers	Win
Week 13 – Thursday 11/28 at Cowboys	Loss
Week 14 – Sunday 12/8 vs Saints	Win
Week 15 – Sunday 12/15 vs Ravens	Loss
Week 16 – Sunday 12/22 at Falcons	Loss
Week 17 – TBD vs Colts	Win
Week 18 – TBD at Eagles	Loss

Now let’s play the schedule game with the Giants, who as we have said are looking for improvements from last year’s disappointment. While that won’t be easy with an offense that has some question marks, the defense should give them a chance to be more competitive this year. I see this schedule as one with some chances at wins early especially opening with Minnesota and Washington before entering a difficult stretch that will lead to losses in my eyes. The Giants have the unfortunate luck of drawing the AFC North as their cross-conference matchups, which presents a really difficult slate of opponents in the Bengals, Steelers, Browns and Ravens. They also make a trip to Germany to take on the Panthers, a game they should probably win in the revenge matchup for defensive end Brian Burns.

Their NFC divisional crossover sees them take on the NFC South, which will bring games against the aforementioned Panthers, the Saints…who are just kind of there, and trickier games against the Buccaneers and the divisional favorite Falcons. Aside from those NFC matchups the biggest question in conference will be if the Giants can get their act together and start winning more games inside the NFC East. Big Blue has a habit of beating up on the Commanders, but then being beaten up by the Cowboys and Eagles. It would be nice to see them step up and steal one against of those rivals, and it certainly feels like they could snag the game against Dallas on Thursday night in week four, as the Cowboys enter the season with some drama off the field plaguing camp. It feels like 7 or 8 wins is possible for this group, a result that would likely make one feel better about this regime, though I’m not sure it would save their jobs…and it also wouldn’t exactly help the quarterback search next offseason.

You can find Nick on Twitter @YNWA9623, Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our fall of podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. The store is live and Little Ed has been in the lab cooking up some can’t miss items for you fans. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon!