Here’s an in-depth preview of Sunday’s Week 2 meeting between the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers at MetLife Stadium:
Marquee matchup
Jets coach Aaron Glenn vs. Packers quarterback Jordan Love
The Jets are entering a notable portion of their schedule, with three consecutive games against NFC North opponents.
That run begins with a matchup Glenn knows well. Before taking over in New York, he was the Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator from 2021 through 2024.
Over that span, Love made four starts against Glenn’s Detroit defenses.
Green Bay went 1-3 in those contests, and Love did not surpass 300 passing yards in any of them.
The Packers quarterback was sacked five times in one of those meetings and threw two interceptions overall. In Green Bay’s lone victory against Glenn, Love accounted for three touchdown passes.
Love, however, is now more seasoned and enters Sunday’s game after throwing for 387 yards against the Vikings.
That performance came under intense pressure. Love was hit 15 times and sacked four times while Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores blitzed on nearly 80 percent of the Vikings’ defensive snaps.
Even with that history, Glenn had high praise for the Packers quarterback he will try to contain Sunday.
“His arm talent is unbelievable,” Glenn said, pointing to Love’s ability to make throws from unusual angles. He also highlighted Love’s arm strength, mobility outside the pocket and talent for launching deep passes while rolling to his right—an unusual skill that not every quarterback possesses.
Four downs
Keeping it tight: The Jets have selected a tight end within the first two rounds in each of the last two drafts, making their frequent use of multi-tight-end formations easy to anticipate. Even so, the approach stood out in last week’s win over Tennessee. According to Next Gen Stats, New York used at least two tight ends on 27 of its 63 offensive plays.
The game’s opening touchdown came on a handoff to Kenyon Sadiq, the team’s first-round pick this year. Tight ends Mason Taylor and Jeremy Ruckert helped spring the play with key blocks.
The most unusual tight-end sequence arrived in the third quarter, when the Jets put all five of their tight ends on the field. New York considers fullback Andrew Beck part of that group.
Offensive coordinator Frank Reich said one of the team’s analytics staffers searched back 20 years to see whether any NFL team had previously used a five-tight-end personnel package and found no evidence of it. Reich stressed that the formation was not created as a gimmick, but because the Jets believe they have five capable tight ends. He added that small moments of fun can be valuable in such a demanding league.
Missing Micah: Green Bay made one of the NFL’s biggest moves before last season by acquiring Micah Parsons. The addition paid off until Parsons suffered a torn ACL in December during a game against the Denver Broncos. The Packers lost that contest and then dropped their next four games, including a playoff defeat to the Chicago Bears.
Green Bay’s skid reached six games last week after the Packers squandered a 22-10 advantage against Minnesota. The Vikings scored the final 29 points to win 39-22, extending Green Bay’s troubling pattern of second-half collapses—something the Jets will look to exploit again.
Familiar foes: Glenn and Love are not the only participants in Sunday’s Jets-Packers matchup with a history against one another. New York quarterback Geno Smith and Green Bay defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon also met four times during their days in the NFC West.
Smith was Seattle’s starting quarterback in those games, while Gannon was coaching the Arizona Cardinals.
Smith went 4-0 with six touchdowns and two interceptions in those meetings, but he did not put much stock in that, though.
“I just focus on this game,” Smith said. “Nothing in the past really matters, as I’ve said before. Coach Gannon is a great coach and he has coached some tremendous defenses over the course of his career, so I know that he’s going to have those guys ready, and it’s up to us to go out there and execute.”
Sticking with Sanders: Jason Sanders will be the Jets kicker again this week.
He had a mixed bag in his debut against Tennessee.
Sanders had an ugly miss from 54 yards, but made field goals from 33, 51 and 52 yards.
“I thought it was critical to see him go through that miss and then be able to come back and make, I think it was two 50-something yarders, which I thought was impressive,” Glenn said. “And if you look at our team in general, including myself, we have a team of men that has gone through some things, that’s fought through some adversity. … I like the way that he fought back, ending up making those field goals.”
Costello’s call
The Jets are riding high after their Week 1 win over the Titans, and they did look good.
But now they step up in class and the Packers are not just a good team, but a desperate one. I think the Jets can score on Green Bay, but will have a tough time slowing down Jordan Love.
Packers 31, Jets 27