Green Bay looks like the far better team on paper, but a Micah Parsons-sized hole up front keeps this from being the laugher the records suggest.
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SUN SEP 20 · 1:00 PM ET
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Jets
Jordan Love heads into Sunday, September 20 as the steadier hand at quarterback by a mile. Geno Smith is walking into a brand-new Jets offense under Frank Reich after a miserable 2025 in Las Vegas that saw him take 55 sacks and throw 17 interceptions, and he's doing it with an off-field investigation still unresolved. Micah Parsons, Green Bay's biggest offseason addition, is still working back from the ACL tear that ended his 2025 season and isn't expected to be full-go this early.
The Jets are rebuilding from the ground up after a 3-14 season, and Aaron Glenn cleaned house — 12 of 22 staffers from his first year are gone, with Reich brought in specifically to jolt an offense that had nothing going. Garrett Wilson remains the one proven weapon in that room, and reports out of OTAs pointed to early chemistry between him, Adonai Mitchell and Smith. Green Bay, meanwhile, is dealing with its own receiver turnover after losing Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks, even after locking up Christian Watson long-term.
None of that changes the baseline: one team made the playoffs last year, the other tied for the league's worst record. The gap in institutional stability alone should matter for three hours on a Sunday, whatever the number on the board says.
Green Bay Packers
New York Jets
Green Bay's 2025 ended ugly — five straight losses, capped by a fourth-quarter collapse against the Bears in the Wild Card round that erased a 21-6 lead. That skid is worth remembering before assuming this is a formality. The Jets' five-game losing streak to close last season was worse on the scoreboard, with three separate 20-plus-point losses, and it's the exact kind of defense Green Bay's shorthanded offense would love to see.
Green Bay Packers
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Fully healthy — no injuries to report
New York Jets
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Fully healthy — no injuries to report
Parsons opening camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list is the headline injury note on either side, and Green Bay will lean on Josh Jacobs and its tight end room — Tucker Kraft says he's aiming for a Week 1 return with no restrictions — to carry the offense while its pass rush waits on its $188 million man. For the Jets, the story is less about bodies and more about a new staff trying to install an identity fast, with a rookie in Cade Klubnik and journeyman Brady Cook fighting for the No. 2 job behind Smith. It's a tale of one team managing a temporary absence and another still figuring out who it is.
