The New York Jets traveled to Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday to take on the Tennessee Titans. The Jets sleepwalked through the first half of the game, getting dominated by the Titans on both sides of the ball, before setting things right in the second half. Braelon Allen scored the first touchdown of his nascent NFL career, the Jets defense finally began shutting down the run, and Aaron Rodgers had an efficient if not prolific performance en route to a 24 - 17 Jets win.
The Jets survived a Titans first and goal inside the Jets ten yard line with less than a minute to play to secure the victory. It wasn't a particularly impressive win, but they all count the same in the end. An early season road win against a better than expected Titans team was just what the Jets needed to begin to recover from their Week 1 blowout loss at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers.
How did the power rankings feel about this workmanlike victory by the Jets? Lets find out.
13) New York Jets (1-1; LW: 10)
Barring some garbage time stat padding, there has not been a lot positive about the New York Jets this season.
After a fairly poor defensive performance in Week 1, the fact that the Jets gave up 17 points to the Tennessee Titans raises some concerns. Ranking 25th in the league in defensive EPA, 24th in third-down conversion rate, and 19th in defensive success rate is a major concern through two weeks.
Meanwhile, the offense is basically just league-average in most categories. Aaron Rodgers has had them playing well inside the red zone with a 75% red-zone efficiency and a 100% goal-to-go efficiency, but that is about all there is positive to talk about right now.
The Jets' offense is just about in positive figures in terms of EPA, but a lot of that is courtesy of garbage time in Week 1.
16. New York Jets (1-1)
Last week's ranking: No. 16
Last week's result: beat Tennessee, 24-17
While depth is not yet a concern, we are starting to see why the Jets wanted to trade for Haason Reddick in the first place. These next two weeks will absolutely demand a strong pass rush in order to avoid a killer of a loss to an inferior opponent. The Patriots and Broncos are both teams the Jets should beat and both teams that are suspect to strong edge rushing. Jacoby Brissett is another QB with one of the longest snap-to-throw times in the NFL. Bo Nix is a rookie. With the Vikings, Bills and Steelers on the other end of that mountain, the Jets need to stack wins when possible.
16. New York Jets (1-1)
Week 2 ranking: 15
Most important backup/role player: RB Braelon Allen
After barely touching the field in Week 1, the rookie celebrated his breakout Sunday with a rushing and passing touchdown. Breece Hall will continue to get the bulk of the reps, but Allen gives the Jets a formidable 1-2 punch in the backfield. Both players can line up in the backfield at the same time, as they did four times against the Titans -- one of which resulted in Allen's touchdown reception. Allen can reduce Hall's workload and provide insurance if he gets hurt.
10. New York Jets (12): On the plus side, DE Will McDonald IV had a career-best three sacks, matching the total from his rookie year (2023), in Sunday's win. On the down side, DE Jermaine Johnson is lost to a torn Achilles. Sure seems like time to forge a breakthrough with holdout LB Haason Reddick.
It was a weird week in the power rankings for the Jets. A road win ordinarily would raise your ranking a bit, or at worst keep you from losing ground. This week the Jets won by a touchdown on the road, beat the spread, and still lost ground in two of our four polls. The Jets are currently ranked as a middle of the pack team, with a high ranking of 10 and a low of 16.
With the obvious proviso that power rankings are stupid, unless they praise the Jets, in which case they're awesome, what do you think? Where should the Jets rank in the NFL power rankings?