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The Jets’ early season schedule might not be as tough as some people think. In Part I of his schedule review, Jets Confidential publisher Dan Leberfeld takes a look at the first month and a half.
9/9 Sunday Buffalo 1:00 p.m. CBS
The Jets are putting in a new offense, so it could be a little rough early, but the Bills are putting in a new defense under coordinator Dave Wannestedt, so that could even things out, in Week One. This game is a toss-up.
9/16 Sunday at Pittsburgh 4:15 p.m. CBS
The Steelers are putting in a new offense under Todd Haley, so they could have growing pains early. Also, there is a youth movement afoot in Pittsburgh, so this could also hurt them early in the year. They will be working in a lot of young players. The Rooney’s wanted to get younger this off-season. The offensive line is still a question mark. This is a winnable game for the Jets.
9/23 Sunday at Miami 1:00 p.m. CBS
There is no excuse for the Jets to lose this game. Miami is a rebuilding team. They have a rookie head coach who will be learning on the job. They also have a rookie defensive coordinator, who also has never done the job before. On top of that, they are putting in 4-3 defense when they inherited 3-4 personnel. Also, we don’t even know who their quarterback is going to be, and they traded away their best wide receiver – Brandon Marshall. And we all know their will be 10-20,000 Jets fans in the stadium, and that will help Gang Green.
9/30 Sunday San Francisco 1:00 p.m. FOX
This is also a very winnable game. The 49ers made a run at Peyton Manning because they aren’t in love with Alex Smith. They are in “like” with him. While he made strides last year, Smith doesn’t really strike fear in defenses. Don’t get me wrong, this game will not be easy, especially with the 49ers loaded Front Seven, but this will probably listed in Vegas as “pick’em.”
10/8 Monday Houston 8:30 p.m. ESPN
Matt Schaub is still in a boot, but is expected to be ready for training camp. However, he’s coming back with a reworked offensive line. The last two years they had one of the NFL’s best lines, and they were intact for two full seasons with the same five guys. It remains to be seen, with two of those starters gone, what kind of group they will have this year. Darrelle Revis has always done a good job on Andre Johnson, so that is a big plus for the Jets. A big problem for the Jets is Arian Foster, a terrific edge runner, and we know the Jets had major issues defending the edge last year. We will see if that changes this year. This game is a toss-up.
10/14 Sunday Indianapolis 1:00 p.m. CBS
The Colts are rebuilding, and will have a rookie head coach and rookie quarterback. If the Jets don’t win this game, at home, they clearly aren’t a good team.
10/21 Sunday at New England 4:15 p.m. CBS
It’s hard to see the Jets winning this game. The problem with Sanchez-Tebow is this formula doesn’t seem condusive to winning shoot-outs, and it’s hard to keep the score down against Tom Brady in Gillette Stadium. But you know what could go a long way to giving the Jets having a fighting chance in this game – getting a safety like Mark Barron or George Iloka in the draft, somebody who might be able to hold his own against Rob Gronkowski.
(Premium will return by 4 pm on Thursday afternoon, with a look at the Jets’ pre-draft presser.)