The Jets have not been able to string back-to-back wins together in close to two years. Can they change that Sunday?
The last time the Jets won consecutive games was December 2020, when they stunned the Rams and Browns in back-to-back weeks for their only wins of the season. Last season, they won four games, but could never follow up one win with another.
Now, the Jets (2-2) are coming off a fourth-quarter comeback win over the Steelers and the banged up Dolphins (3-1) are coming to MetLife Stadium. It feels like a chance to get things rolling.
“You string together a couple of good games, you start flying high and you’re playing confident,” head coach Robert Saleh said. “You get faster, you heal faster, just everything feels better when you’re gaining confidence. So, it’s important, but at the same time we’ve gotta focus on — last week will have nothing to do with this week. Now as momentum builds, maybe, but this game will be independent.”
It may be independent of what happened last week, but the Jets have to be feeling good after overcoming a 10-point deficit to the Steelers and finding a way to mount two drives in the fourth quarter to escape with a win.
For the first time in four years, the season does not feel over in October. They have a chance to give their fans something to cheer about and to win their first home game of the season. This is also a chance to snap a 12-game losing streak in the AFC East. They have not won a game in the division since the final game of the 2019 season, before most had ever heard of Zoom or social distancing.
“I think every game is big in this league,” Saleh said. “Just to quote Bill Parcells again that, ‘it’s euphoria and disaster every week.’ But at the same time, you’ve gotta stay focused on the moment. It is a division game, for reasons that makes it a little more important. Every game is big in this league, so if you get caught up in trying to make one game way bigger than the other, it’s just you’re gonna get yourself lost.
“So we try to keep the main thing the main thing. Miami’s another opponent, they’re a really good opponent and something that we’re looking forward to playing on Sunday.”