Why you can't count out Jets even without a future Hall of Famer

Silence fell over MetLife Stadium on Monday night after quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the perceived savior of a cursed franchise, crumpled to the turf with a season-ending Achilles' injury. Four plays, one pass and less than four minutes into his highly anticipated Jets debut, the four-time MVP's season — and perhaps career — ended.

Gang Green faithful have seen this movie before. 

In Week 1 in 1999, Jets QB Vinny Testaverde suffered a similar Achilles injury, ending his season and New York's hopes of winning a Super Bowl. 

“It brought back some bad memories,” Testaverde told the New York Post shortly after witnessing Rodgers' injury.

This film, however, had a different ending. Whereas the 1999 Jets suffered a crushing 30-28 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 1, the 2023 Jets pulled out an emotional 22-16 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

The Jets, often the laughing stock of primetime football, for once were not the butt of a joke. In place of quarterback Mark Sanchez's infamous butt-fumble, Bills quarterback Josh Allen ran into his own offensive lineman and fumbled during a critical point of the game. And it was Allen, not Zach Wilson or Sam Darnold, who appeared to be seeing ghosts, throwing three interceptions in arguably one of the worst games of his career.