What We Know about Jets' 2023 Schedule: Two Early Battles against AFC Juggernauts

Gang Green will face the top-two 2022 AFC playoff seeds in the season's first four weeks

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Jets' early-season schedule features two tough tests on a primetime stage. 

Gang Green will kick off the 2023 campaign against the reigning three-time AFC East champion Buffalo Bills in front of a Monday Night Football audience on the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. 

After the Week 1 matchup with the Bills, who went 13-3 in 2022, was officially unveiled by the National Football League, information about a game against the Super Bowl LVII champion Kansas City Chiefs surfaced courtesy of New York Post reporter Brian Costello. 

The Jets will make their return to Sunday Night Football by hosting the Chiefs, who posted a 14-3 regular season mark last year, in Week 4 (Oct. 1).

After initially being told by a trusted television network source that the Jets' MNF opener would be against the New York Giants, Jets Country was informed that the  League shifted the clash between the MetLife Stadium co-inhabitants to a Week 8 meeting set for October 29. As for the preseason installment in the rivalry formerly known as the "Snoopy Bowl," the Jets and Giants will face off on August 26. 

“I wouldn’t call it a no-brainer," said NFL VP of Broadcast Planning Mike North about the Jets-Bills Week 1 meeting on MNF. "There were a couple of different, maybe converging, elements that kind of got us to that point. One of them, it was obviously 9/11, that we knew and it kind of made sense, and maybe felt right, to have one of the New York teams hosting that night. For a minute there, we actually considered Jets versus Giants. They do play each other this year, so you could have both New York teams playing in that window.”

North was speaking as a Thursday afternoon guest on "One Bills Live" with co-hosts Chris Brown and Steve Tasker.

In addition to squaring off against AFC juggernauts in Weeks 1 and 4, Gang Green will face a third 2022 playoffs participant in the season's first month. A source has told Jets Country that the Dallas Cowboys will host the Green & White in Week 2 on September 17.

With the NFL having announced Gang Green as the host of the first-ever Black Friday game on Wednesday, there are five Jets' regular season matchup dates known by Jets Country. The Green & White will meet the division rival Miami Dolphins in a standalone game on the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 24). 

The 2023 NFL Schedule powered by AWS will be released in its entirety later this evening at 8:00 pm ET on NFL Network. 

The Jets will reportedly host the Chiefs for ‘Sunday Night Football’ on Oct. 1 https://t.co/3DvfIm0T7O

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) May 11, 2023

The Aaron Rodgers Effect is real as the Jets already have three confirmed primetime appearances on their 2023 slate, including the MNF season opener and a SNF date with the defending NFL champions. The Jets last appeared on Sunday Night Football, which is usually the highest-rated television slot of the NFL weekly schedule, during the 2011 season.

Gang Green appeared in one standalone primetime window last season - a Thursday Night Football game against the small-market Jacksonville Jaguars on December 22, 2022.

2023 Jets' Matchups and Dates

Week 1 (Sep. 11): Bills at Jets, 8:15 pm ET on ESPN's MNF

Week 2 (Sep. 17): Jets at Cowboys, TBA

Week 4 (Oct. 1): Chiefs at Jets, 8:20 pm ET on NBC's SNF

Week 8 (Oct. 29): Jets at Giants, TBA

Week 12 (Nov. 24): Dolphins at Jets, 3:00 pm ET on Prime Video

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