LISTEN | Jets 2020 Schedule Breakdown

at Buffalo. It is and this is a familiar opponent for the Jets in Week one Greens three of the past four years, the Jets have opened up against the Buffalo Bills. Last year, as you mentioned in Week one, Green and One actually had a sixteen nothing lead in the third quarter that unfortunately C. J. Moseley went down with the groin alement and he was never the same in this first year in the Jets. The uniform m after that, and he was having a dominant performance in

that game. Um, but Josh Allen and the Bills were able to come back and win seventeen and sixteen, and the Jets, uh really struggled in the first half last year, if we remember, the Jets were one in seven at the midway point. But to give Adam Gates and those players a lot of credit for the way they rebounded,

going six and two down the stretch. But I kind of love this matchup out of the gate because I wrote about this New York just dot Com the Bills for the last couple of years, where it's kind of like the little engine neck could. But now with Tom Brady out of the division, a lot of people are saying the Buffalo Bills are the favorite in the a

f C East. So what better way for the Jets to start going to Orchard Park, going to Western New York and taken on the Bills and let's see how flow handles that pressure because they have not based that before in a long time. Greens, Yeah, I agree with you. I love this matchup not only because of what it represents, but I think it's gonna be a very good game

between these two teams. And last year, of course, when the Bills came to MetLife, it was Levy on Bell's debut and Green and White, and this will be stefon digs debut up in Orchard Park, So I love everything about this. The Jets ended their two thousand nineteen season at New Airfield. They're opening at New air Field. I'm a big fan. And then in week two the Jets have their home opener and they welcome their first NFC opponent, the team that actually represented the NFC in the Super Bowl.

Very challenging task here in the San Francisco forty. Yeah, I hope nobody's bothered by uh my daughter Gracey. She wants to be on the podcast, so she's screaming in the background, but yeah, it's so. She is excited about the two thousand twenty schedule as well. But Adam sing Company open with two playoff teams from a year ago, and the San Francisco forty Niners held a ten point lead over the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl,

just a fraction away from basically being world champions. So, uh, you know, this is a tough start on paper, because you can make the argument the Bills had the most talented roster in then FC East and the forty Niners are just loaded loaded across the board, but don't have to come to the East coast, uh and play the

Green and White. And what made this even more interesting this week was the Jets signed the NFL's third all time leading rusher, Frank Gore, who played ten years his first ten years in the National Football League at San Francisco and he's the forty Niners all time leading rusher. Yeah, I think this is a tough test for the Jets end. Yes, the Niner do have to come across the country, and this is the Niners team that's loaded up front, both

on offense and defense. They traded for Trent Williams on draft weekend, and I think, really this is gonna be a battle in the trenches because the Niners like to run the ball, the Jets like to stop the run, and this is gonna be one of those head on collisions, at least for on paper, it seems that way. And you mentioned Frank Gore. Well, the Jets play his first team in the San Francisco forty Niners in Week two.

Then they go to Indianapolis, which is the second team that Frank Gore played on in his career in Week three. And that's a new look team with Philip Rivers at the helm. Yeah it is, and you know, it's so fascinating the way everything's connected, because remember Philip Rivers reached an agreement with the Colts in just a few hours later or the next day, they released Pierre Desire, and now the former Colts cornerback is going to be taking

aim at Bill up Rivers and company in Indianapolis. And remember the Jets have actually three defensive backs with Colts ties in Nate Harriston and then Joe Douglas of course, traded for Quincy Wilson on Draft weekend, exchanging a sixth round pick, sending a sixth round pick to the Colts, and bringing back the former UH second round draft choice

of Indianapolis Colt. You mentioned it to me too, is that we'll be talking about the Sam Donald trade that the Jets were able to move up from six to three overall and get Sat Donald a couple of years ago. And of course Quentin Quentin Nelson went to the Indianapolis Colts and he's one of the finest offensive lineman in the National Football League. So this will be a fun one as well. You know, there's just dawned on me. The week three will probably be the first time that

Sam Donald has ever thrown at Lucas Oil stadium. A lot of quarterbacks throw at the combine. Sam Donald was not one of those players. And in Week four now the Jets prime Time lights Thursday Night Football, so they go from at Indianapolis. Week three, then they have a short week. They play at home. They take on the Denver Broncos who have a revamped wide receiver corps with Jerry Judy and kJ Hamler in the draft. Of course, they have Courtland's Sunton and then this will be the

jets first look at second year quarterback Drew Lock. Short week, I like the short week for the Jets again Denver, that's gonna be challenging and we'll have to see what their schedule actually looks like. Who they match up prior to coming to MetLife on October one. Yeah, they were vamped their wide receiver corps, but they're gonna have to protect their guys up front, and this is an interesting

matchup for one. Connor McGovern as Joe Douglas emphasized the offensive line in the offseason and McGovern started thirty one games the last two years in Denver. Now he is a member of the Jets, so maybe he can give some intel to Greg Williams. You know Greg Williams is gonna be uh sending some numbers at the aforementioned Drew lock.

And then the Jets after this matchup, they had that mini I because of the short week in the beginning becomes a longer week on the back end, and that means they have an extra couple of days to prepare for the Arizona Cardinals in Week five, who have an electric quarterback in Kyler Murray. But then they got perhaps the game's best receiver this offseason in DeAndre Hopkins. Do

you make the argument he's the best wide receiver in football. Well, the Jets can make the argument that they have the best safety in all football in Jamal Adams, and I know he'll be looking to get after not only Murray, but the man they call Nuke, right, DeAndre Hopkins. You know, entering the two thousand twenty offseason, when you look at the Jets opponents and you look at the home in a waste late, you're thinking, oh my god, this away

schedule is brutal. Just in terms of travel, Well, the Jets first real travel that's west of Indianapolis and the regular season comes in Week six after Denver Arizona. Then you're looking at week six of the Jets go all the way out to California to take on the new look Chargers. They got the new uniforms, I got a new quarterback, and that's really the first time that the Jets will have a long trip out west. Yeah, and

we were talking about Jamal Adams just before. But if you're a fan of safety, play watch Derwin James watching while Adams as the Jets match up with the Bulls. I think, and you look at this matchup and where falls week six? Is too Rod Teller the starting quarterback and the Chargers at that point or is it justin Herbert who they took number six? Overall, that's gonna be interesting to watch route the year. I think so as well. And then the Jets fly back to the East Coast.

They have a home game in Week seven against the Buffalo Bills. So the Bills matchups are Week one and seven and then they're done. I just love the quarterback matchup. These guys are very close friends. They work with Jordan Palmer in the off season. So you're done with the Bills before the end of October, before you actually face any other division opponents. Yeah, I'm Glad you mentioned that. I was about to say that the jets first two a f C East opponents are both the Buffalo Bills

before they even play the offense, or the Patriots. And really, I think maybe the toughest test for the Jets on paper comes in Week eight. You go to the defending Super Bowl champions home at Arrowhead Stadium. What what do you say about the Chiefs twelve and four last year, fantastic offense. You can make the argument that maybe they could be butter this year because Patrick Mahomes was limited. I guess you would say to fourteen games last year,

you know, and that's a tough place to play. But I will say Greens last year, the Chiefs seven and one away, just five and three at home in the regular season. Before we hear from head coach Adam Gaze and he gives his thoughts on the schedule, I just kind of wanted to get your thoughts on the way that this schedule breaks out weeks one through eight. For me, I think I'm a fan because there's no back to back away game or the Jets in the first eight weeks,

and the travel isn't that bad. Really, the toughest slate in here is at l A Chargers home against Buffalo, then at Kansas City, and I think that's really the most difficult slate so far, in which we've talked about four home, four road, so you've got an element of I guess equality there the first four games, Uh, jump up the page at me because Indianapolis you can make the argument that they have the top roster and an FC South right now, and we talked about the Bills

and they're very good team. And then San Francisco, one of the most balanced teams in football. Team is going to test your physicality for sixty minutes. So that first quarter of games gonna test the Jets right out of the gate. But I do think listen, if you're a Jets fan, yeah, you like this these first eight and then we'll talk about the season second half. In our second half, Well, let's hear from head coach Adam Gaze on his thoughts on this Jet schedule. What are your

show impressions of the two thousand twenty schedule. It's it's always hard to really focus too far down the road, and you know, you just know you have so much time between now and uh this season, you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself. You know, it's always good to kind of know who you're who you're

starting off with. You you've got a lot of things to set up, you know, travel wise, with with people, people within the building, so you know, that's always good to kind of handle to, you know, take care of how you're gonna travel, if you're gonna do two D eight trips going out west, things like that, you know. But for the most part, we got so far to go before you even worry about you know, these games.

How much do you think you'll be challenged out of the gate when you look at that matchup with the Bills, then you come home for the home opener against the San Francisco forty nine years then you travel to Indianapolis. Yeah, I mean when it's you know, I don't remember, you know, remember looking at the NFL schedule and and marking games off before they're played. So, you know, I feel like that that Buffalo matchup seems to be, you know, kind of the norm for us with playing them in the

first game. Obviously, when you've got two guys that were in the same draft class, you know that are that are close and and that you know, competitive against each other. You know, that's a that's always a good Week one matchup for both our organizations. Do you like having the two prime time games at home? A Thursday night matchup with the Denver Broncles, then you have the New England Patriots coming to that Life Stadium. Yeah, you know, actually I'm a little fired up that we're you know, to

experience a home Thursday game. I feel like it's been

a long time since. It seems like I've been on the road quite a bit the last five or six years on Thursday Night, so you know, it'd be nice to be at home there, uh, playing dever, you know, I mean, I think the last time I actually played at home Thursday game was at Denver, so that that was you know, there'll be a there'll be a fun matchup, and you know, playing and playing a Monday night game, you know, obviously, anytime that you can play Monday night

football and against New England, you know, is obviously a big deal. You're by is late this year in week eleven and it's sandwich in between matchups with the Miami Dolphins in weeks ten and twelve. What did you think about that scheduling? Oddity. Well, I know anybody that's you know, breaking down film for us is probably loving life, not a whole bunch of a bunch of additions going on there. Um, you know, it's you know, having a later buy is always is always a good thing. It's it's like trying

to find that sweet spot. You just never know when when you really need that buy. You know, I think everybody when they look at their schedule and they look at the buy, when you first get it, initially you go, okay, good, I'm glad we gotta buy here just late. You know, last year, if we would have had to buy that late, that means we would have played one more game with

our starting quarterback. So last year it wasn't You look at it initially and you didn't think it was ideal, And then all of a sudden, when when Sam wasn't playing and he wouldn't have played that week, you know it was it was it was actually worked out okay for us. All right, So late in December you have back to back matchups at Seattle and then the l A Rams weeks fourteen and weeks fifteen. Well, you as an organization consider staying out there on the West Coast

and training for a week potentially. Yeah, that's that's been something that we I mean, we started discussing, you know, after last season was over, you know, just something if if we had the opportunity or we had back back West Coast games, Uh, staying out there, you know, avoiding some of that travel. I mean, obviously with the way things are going right now, it's you know, you just

we don't know. I mean, we don't know what you know, how this will go as far as you know, how does it affect or travel, How does it affect hotels, stay, how does it affect like what stay we're in. We don't know all those those little details right now. Also we can do is kind of started putting feelers out there and seeing what we're told. What do you think about the preparation for or the FC West in the NFC West this season? Yeah, I mean it's uh, you know,

it's interesting. It's interesting because it's you know, every every four years, you know, or every every three years, it seems like, you know, when you get one of those those divisions, you know, and you're traveling out west, and to get them both in the same year, that's you know, I don't know how many times I've actually really kind of been a part of that um. But I think it's it's it's it's fun in the aspect of the The NFC West for sure, is a hot division right now.

They've they've they're putting out, you know, four teams that are really tough. And then you know the f C West, that's a that's a division that I'm you know, quite familiar with. You know, there's been some obviously some change in the garden and some of the staffs and players from out there, but you know, a lot of those guys are still the same from from one my time in Denver. Now is head coach Adam Gates on the

Official Jets podcast powered by Amazon Web Services. Let's continue on here Week nine, The Jets back under the lights primetime Monday night football again feels like deja vu. The New England Patriots at MetLife Stadium under the Monday night football lights and obviously the big storyline here will two things? Whose quarterback for the Patriots and will the ghosts still exist for Sam Donald dejavvou No more Greens that Tom

Brady is a Tampa Bay buccaneer. We had Calf to wrap our minds around that, is it Jared Stidham who is leading the Patriots here in Week nine at MetLife Stadium. You mentioned last year's Monday Night game when the Jets hosted the Patriots of the thirty three nothing shutout loss, and you know famously the mic had the same Donald talking about him using a football expression saying he's a seeing ghost. Well, I don't anticipate that to happen once again.

This is his second year in the system with Adam Caze. I anticipate a totally different game this year. I agree with that, and next up after New England. This is the kind of an odd moment in the schedule. I would say the Jets are at Miami in Week ten, then they have a buy in Week eleven before hosting the Dolphins in Week twelve. So the Jets two opponents in three weeks and in two games or the Dolphins. That's the first time that's happened since nineteen nine when

the modern buys were inserted into the schedule. Thanks to our historian consultant contributor Randy Lang for that guy's got the bus stats in the business. It's never happened before. So like you said you got the Dolphins to get that week of preparation, and then it's got to help

you because you're in the season second half. You're gonna head into the bye week knowing, hey, we just prepared for this matchup, and now we're gonna come out of the by, maybe get the guys out of there for a little bit, get some rest, and it's a late by two and you're coming back and you're facing a team that you're very familiar with. So I was just thinking about this. Last year, the Jets had a Week

four by. This year they have a Week eleven by, but that Thursday night game is Week four, so you kind of get a mini by between week four and five, and then you have your buy in week eleven. I'm a fan of the way that shakes out there because it almost feels like it's a good amount of games

in between each of those. And then after the two Miami games Week thirteen, the Jets host the now Las Vegas Raiders for the first time at MetLife Stadium before and this is really the tough part of the schedule here. Back to back NFC West games weeks fourteen and fifteen, where you go at Seattle and at the l A. Rams. Yeah, on paper, definitely a tough matchups. But last year the Jets really ran rough shot over the Oakland Raiders at MetLife Stadium. Now there's a Las Vegas Raiders. They added

a piece to the puzzle on Henry Rugs. And then you mentioned that road trip where you're going to Seattle and then the l A Rams Seattle. It all starts with Russell Wilson. Right, very good defense, well coached, but if you can contain Russell Wilson, you're gonna give yourself an opportunity to win. Even though that's one of the toughest places to play in all football, the Rams feel

like a team in transition to me right now. Yeah, I think this is the toughest part of the schedule with the back to back West Coast games and then the Jets wrapped things up one home game in Week sixteen against the Cleveland Brown But this will really be the first time where it's Sam Donald and Baker Mayfield from the get. And then in week seventeen the Jets

wrap up at New England. Yeah, a couple of things going back to Week fifteen against the Rams and weeks sixteen against the Browns, and the NFL is leaving that Saturday, December nineteenth, or versus the Rams open and then also the seven against the brown So we'll have to see how things chake out throughout the year. But yeah, Sam

Donald will obviously be forever linked with Baker Mayfield. That is a team that is starting over a little bit because they have a new coaching staff this year in Cleveland, and then you're gonna end that year two thousand twenty. It will be two thousand twenty one by the time you get to Gilt Stadium January three, and it's gonna have a different feel. Listen to. Patriots are still gonna be a very competitive team, and they are the team to be in the division until somebody that thrones them.

But where will this Patriots team be standing when you go to New England to end the year. It's gonna have a completely different feel without Brady. Yeah, I totally agree with that. It's gonna be very interesting to see what the Patriots look like without Tom Brady. And I just wanted to wrap things up here by asking you, what are a couple of things that stand out to

you for me? At think the thing that stands out is even though the Jets at the end of the year will have accumulated a lot of miles from a travel standpoint, I think that the way the schedule is laid out is actually probably as good as it could be. Yeah, you mentioned that the road schedule. December is going to be a road slate for the Jets marked by their road matchups since Seattle on Week fourteen, in l A week fifteen, and then you're ending with New England. But

that's just such a short trip to Gillette Stadium. The other thing is the prime time matchups right now you have to obviously that could change down the line, but they're both home games. You get Denver home on a short week, You get the Patriots on a Monday night coming to your place, the Dolphins. The Dolphins scenario is wild.

I've never seen anything like that, like we talked about, and then as the early opportunity against two playoff teams from two thousand nineteen in the Bills and the services of forty Niners. And then you follow that up going against I would say, what looks to be a likely playoff team in two thousand twenty in Indianapolis Colts. So you will be challenged immediately. If it make it out of those first three games, I think you set yourself up down the line so when you get to December,

you're gonna be in the playoff conversation. There's seven teams going to the playoffs this year out of the NFC Greens. Another thing that stands out to me. We know about the strengthens um the Jets schedule, but really, when you take a look at it, the Jets played back to back teams that made the playoffs last year twice, Weeks one and two with the Bills and the Niners, and then weeks seven and eight with the Bills and the Chiefs.

And then you think about even in I mean, the Colts were a playoff team in twenty eighteen, and they're Week three in the schedule, so weeks one through three, and then you have weeks six through nine, which is the Chargers, the Bills, the Chiefs, and the Patriots. I mean, right there alone, that's four teams that made the playoffs in the past two seasons. It's a tough schedule, no

doubt about it. But I think at the end of the day, it's spaced out nicely from a travel perspective, and you have to play who you have to play, And that sounds simple, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter who is on the schedule and when they are. You just gotta go out and you got to execute. And I know that sounds silly. I think.

I just think that it couldn't have been that much easier, at least from a travel perspective, when you look at the way that the Jet schedule shaped out here, which is a good thing for the Jets. My final point would be what you're just saying here. We've known it since the two thousand nineteen season wrapped up. The Jets are going to have seven games against teams who made the playoffs in two thousand nineteen, four coming in those home and home matchups with the Patriots and the Bills,

and two thousand twenty schedule strength is five three. This is a tough schedule on paper, but you don't play the games in May. You play them in September, you're playing in October, you play them in November, and you play them in December, and hopefully you're playing in January. Okay, real quick here, let me just rip off the preseason games. Week one, the New York Giants, week two at Detroit, Week three home against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and then Week

four of course at Philadelphia. And that was the Official Jets podcast powered by Amazon Web Services e A byself breaking down the Jets schedule, and for more coverage of the Jet schedule, be sure to check out New York Jets dot com