The New York Jets’ biggest rival in the AFC East is the New England Patriots. The Patriots probably don’t feel the same way, which makes this game even more intense from Gang Green’s perspective.
New England has been giving business to the Jets for a long time.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini wrote this week, “Their win is new [Bailey] Zappe & Co. in the 2023 finale — Belichick’s last game as coach of the Patriots — the Jets went 12 seasons without a win at Gillette. It came in the 2010 AFC Divisional playoffs, perhaps their best moment as a franchise since Super Bowl III in 1969. Since then, they’ve gone 1-14 in Foxborough, including six losses by 14 or more points.
While the Jets are used to being pummeled by the Patriots, Geno Smith is not.
For the past two years, Smith has been successful in Foxboro as the opposing team’s starting quarterback and has found success in both of those matchups.
He did it in 2025 with the Las Vegas Raiders, and he did it in 2024 with the Seattle Seahawks. Can he make it three in a row with three different teams? That must be some kind of record or something if he did.
If you combine Smith’s past couple of performances, he threw for 689 passing yards, had a two-to-one touchdown-to-interception ratio, and averaged a 72.8% completion percentage.
Those results and the confidence from Smith to get it done should help the Jets mentally as they head into this big AFC East matchup.
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