On Monday, the new-look New York Jets will take the field for the first game of what they hope will be a triumphant 2023 season when they play the Buffalo Bills.
With the arrival of Aaron Rodgers and four-time Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook, there is an immense amount of hype surrounding the Jets this season.
While they appear to have a Super Bowl-caliber roster, there also seems to be the potential for them to fall flat on their faces this year.
After cornerback D.J. Reed said they could have a historically great defense, analyst Nick Wright said they could be the new version of the 2019-20 Los Angeles Clippers, an NBA team that was also greatly hyped, only to fall well short of expectations.
Are the 2023-24 NY Jets a new version of the 2019-20 LA Clippers, aka @Chris_Broussard‘s Clippers? 🤔
“This hype that is totally unearned, totally inexplicable that @kevinwildes, seemingly, you and I are the only people pulling against. I’ve seen this before.” — @getnickwright pic.twitter.com/QwvCz1LRvL
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) September 5, 2023
In the summer of 2019, the Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard, one of the game’s best two-way stars, and traded for Paul George, who is also considered to be in the same category.
The national media fell head over heels in love with the Clippers and not only picked them to win the world championship but also predicted they could become the greatest defensive team in modern history.
Instead, their defense was inconsistent, and they blew a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs that season.
Wright also noted another similarity — the Jets have played second fiddle in the New York metropolitan area to the Giants for decades, while the Clippers have been considered the ugly stepbrother of the 17-time NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in Southern California.
In fact, it was the Lakers who won it all during that 2019-20 season while the Clippers returned home to stew in their misery.
For the Jets to avoid that fate, not only will their offensive line need to step up, but Rodgers will need to regain at least some of the form from his recent MVP campaigns in 2020 and 2021.
While they haven’t won the Super Bowl since the 1968 season, the New York Giants, their MetLife Stadium co-inhabitants, have won it all four times since then.
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