New York Jets Face Early Season Must-Win on Thursday Night Against Rival

The New York Jets must defeat the New England Patriots on Thursday night at Metlife Stadium.

Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York Jets will face their most bitter rival, the New England Patriots tonight in a Thursday night clash of two teams that are both 1-1 and trailing Buffalo by a game in the AFC East.

Quite simply, this is not a game the Jets can lose. It's not to say any sort of crazy statement like the season is over with a loss, but for Robert Saleh, it would be pretty difficult to get up on the podium around midnight tonight and explain to the media why his team lost at home to a team that won four games last season and has an offense that's as one dimensional as they come.

Favored by a touchdown at home in primetime against a team in New England that completed just three passes to wide receivers last week in a loss to Seattle, if New York is the contender that they believe they are, there's no better time to show it than with a dominating win on Thursday night.

Of course outliers exist, but for the most part, good football teams do not lose to bad football teams in the National Football League, and make no mistake: this is a bad football team in New England. They may have fooled some during week one with an unlikely win in Cincinnati, but for as good as the Pats defense was in week one, the offense was equally bad in week two.

This is a team that will run the ball until it becomes obvious they must throw the ball, and even at that point they don't have a quarterback (for now) or a weapon that strikes fear into the heart of any defense. After giving up over 700 total yards in the first two weeks of the season, this is a get right game for the Jets defense that to this point, has not been as advertised.

While it doesn't have any impact on the result of the game tonight, New England is 18-2 in their last 20 games against the Jets going back a full decade. Of course, there's a big quarterback-shaped elephant who is no longer in the room in New England, but the Jets are still just 1-7 against the Pats even since Tom Brady left.

Tonight, they get their first shot at a Belichick-less Patriots team as well in what will be the first ever primetime game for new head coach Jerod Mayo. The Jets have roster advantages at nearly every position on the field, have coaching superiority, and are at home. If not now for New York against New England, then when?