Pure Deja-vu for Jets fans. This isn't the first time this has happened.
Jets fans going into the 1999 season were talking about the Superbowl. They were in the AFC Title game the year before, but fell to the Broncos. The Broncos went on to win it all, but that was John Elway's final season. With him retired, the door seemed to be wide open for the Jets. Massive optimism for them going into the season. It didn't happen as quickly as Rodgers, but in week 1 vs the Patriots, QB Vinny Testaverde went down and was lost for the season with an Achilles injury. And it was one of those non-contact injuries. His leg just gave out on him on that turf.
What's really crazy about this 1999 opener, is that this is probably the biggest reason why the Patriots were the dominant force that they were from 2001-2019. Everyone talks about the Mo Lewis hit on Drew Bledsoe in 2001, but we likely don't even get to that without this 1999 game. If Vinny doesn't get hurt and the Jets have a great season, maybe Parcells doesn't resign after the season. And even if he did still resign, maybe Bill Belichick actually remains the Jets head coach and doesn't resign himself after just one day after being named the head coach. And with Belichick in New York, the Patriots have to look elsewhere for their next head coach. And who knows where Tom Brady ends up, or if he even gets a chance to see the field.
