New York Jets Stay Put in Weekly ESPN Power Rankings

Sports admin September 22, 2026 0 Comments

New York Jets Stay Put in Weekly ESPN Power Rankings

It’s status quo for the New York Jets in the weekly ESPN Power Ratings.

The Jets suffered a bad loss in their game against Green Bay in Week 2. Gang Green blew a 17-7 lead in the fourth quarter before falling in overtime, 20-17.

The takeaway from the game is that the Jets are better than last year’s sorry bunch, but still have a ways to go.

The ESPN Power Ratings agreed, keeping Gang Green at No. 27 in the weekly rankings, the same slot it occupied in Week 1.

This week, the power rankings asked its reporters to name the one thing learned so far from each team’s quarterback. Although the position is always important, it becomes more so with strong defensive numbers across the league. NFL defenses have a 35% pressure percentage (the highest through two weeks since ESPN began tracking pressures in 2009) and a 25% pass rush win rate (highest since 2017).

Quarterback Geno Smith was singled out for his performance. Smith has not thrown an interception in the two games played so far. That’s a change from his performance last year with the Las Vegas Raiders, when he had a league-high 17 interceptions.

Smith has benefited from a cautious approach, averaging just 5.8 yards per attempt, with a 71% completion rate. The yards per attempt is tied with the Indianapolis Colts Daniel Jones for 28th in the league.

Those stats show that the West Coast Offense of Frank Reich is in full effect, dinking and dunking for short amounts of yards and avoiding many long throws down the field. That’s fine, but the Jets have more talent at the skill positions, and ESPN’s Rich Cimini asks to “open up the passing attack to maximize their skill-position talent.”

With Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell at receiver and a tight end tandem of Mason Taylor and Kenyon Sadiq, the Jets indeed have the weapons that can stretch things out. That’s particularly true with its solid backfield of Breece Hall and Braelon Allen.

A few play fakes and shots early in the game could loosen the defenses and allow the Jets offense to score without 19-play drives, as they experienced in their Week 1 game against Tennessee. Most NFL teams can find a way to load the box and stop the short game. The Jets need to show them there’s more to their attack than we’ve seen so far.

The ESPN rankings named the Jets’ rival Buffalo Bills for its No. 1 slot behind the strong play of quarterback Josh Allen.

This story was originally published September 22, 2026 at 12:40 PM.