The Jets can send an early thank-you note to the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals. With those teams defeating the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills respectively, the Jets find themselves with a golden opportunity in the month of November.
The Dolphins now sit at 6-3 while the Bills fell to 5-4. Miami is off next week as they travel back from Germany. What that means is that if the Jets can win their next two games — Monday against the Los Angeles Chargers and Sunday night against the Las Vegas Raiders — then they will move into a tie with the Dolphins at the top of the division at 6-3. Miami would still have the tiebreaker at that point thanks to a better division record (MIA 2-1, NYJ 1-1).
Still, having a chance to pull even with the Dolphins for the division lead with both games still to play against Miami is a huge opportunity for the Jets, who haven’t won the AFC East since 2002. Win these next two and the Jets set up a major game in Buffalo in Week 11. The Jets can get the season-sweep of the Bills, which could go a long way toward helping them reach the playoffs.
Do that and Black Friday becomes more than just a shopping day for the Jets. Black Friday becomes a battle for the division lead against the Dolphins at MetLife.
The Jets, thanks to their own doing and some help from others, have a very important month of football ahead of them.