The Jets had just defeated — no, dominated — the Patriots, 24-3, in their home opener Thursday night.
And about 20 minutes after the game in the bowels of MetLife Stadium, there was a buzz around the entrance to the Jets locker room. Celebrities, such as Ice Spice and her entourage, milled in and out of the room to glad-hand the winners.
Then Christopher Johnson, the co-owner and vice chairman of the Jets, emerged from the room to head home. He had a relieved, not celebratory, look on his face.
When I congratulated him, he indicated with a weary smile that he still had “some PTSD’’ from all the years of losing to the Patriots.
Surely, there are many scarred Jets fans who feel the same way — unsure of whether to rejoice in having a team that may actually compete not only for a first playoff berth since 2010, but for more.
It is, of course, early.
And the Patriots, with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick distant memories, are a young, rebuilding team that will likely finish in the bottom fifth of the league by year’s end.
But there should be no apologies for winning, regardless of the strength of the opponent.
“It was good to win a game like that,’’ coach Robert Saleh said after the win over New England. “Obviously, we know we’ve all been on the other side of it too, right?’’
Right.
The story at the moment as the Jets were off over the weekend before returning to work Monday to prepare for their Week 4 game against the Broncos on Sunday, is how they deftly navigated their way through the first three games in 11 days and won two of them.
Two is what the Jets were supposed to win among those three. They were not expected to go to San Francisco and knock off the defending NFC champion 49ers.
They were, however, expected to take care of business against the Titans, with shaky second-year quarterback Will Levis a liability, and against the talent-challenged Patriots.
And they did. That’s what good teams do. They take care of the games they’re supposed to win.
“The schedulers made it difficult for us first three weeks — three games in 11 days — and although we’d love to be 3-0, I think if you said 2-1 going into the mini bye, we would be feeling pretty good about things,’’ Aaron Rodgers said.
The Jets are far from great, but they have potential to get there with Rodgers at quarterback and a strong roster around him.
The Jets have scored three offensive touchdowns in each of their first three games. In 17 games last season, they did that only three times. In 2022, they did it five times.
They’re averaging 22.3 points per game this season, which ranks a modest 14th in the league. This is a twisting of statistics, but had they scored 22 points in four of their 10 losses last season, they’d have won those games and been 11-6 instead of 7-10.
One thing you feel from this Jets team — largely because of the presence of Rodgers — is that they have not been satisfied after their two wins.
For example, receiver Garrett Wilson, the perhaps the team’s most dynamic player, has yet to break out. He has a modest 15 receptions for 150 yards and a TD and is still building chemistry with Rodgers.
The Jets haven’t ever had a two-headed running back tandem as diverse and dangerous as the elusive Breece Hall and rookie bulldozer Braelon Allen. They’ve proven to be a formidable duo, combining for 266 rushing yards and three TDs in the first three games.
And for as immeasurable an upgrade as he’s been behind center for the Jets in memory, Rodgers hasn’t come close to touching the peak of his powers through the first three games. He’s still getting acclimated with the players around him after having missed all of 2023 with the Achilles tear.
And that’s something to be noted considering that his numbers have been excellent — 58 of 86 for a 67.4-percent completion rate with five TDs and one INT and a 103.1 rating.
“This was kind of the first step … playing like I know I’m capable of playing,’’ Rodgers said of the Thursday game. “It felt like I was myself [from] quite a few years ago.’’
Coming from a four-time league MVP, that’s saying something.
There should be better to come for the Jets. And there needs to be, because after playing Denver on Sunday, the degree of difficulty in the schedule rises.
“If the expectation is winning, then we’re going to celebrate it, but we should expect a win,’’ Rodgers said. “The next step is expecting to dominate.’’
If it ever comes to that for the Jets — consistent domination — then that “PTSD’’ suffered by the likes of Christopher Johnson will gradually disappear and morph into a very different emotion.
