How the Giants and Jets both opened 1-0 for the first time since 2009

Key takeaways

• The Jets beat the Titans 23-10 and the Giants beat the Cowboys 28-20 on September 13, the first time both teams opened 1-0 since 2009.
• Both teams are rebuilding after 2025 seasons that led to a new head coach for the Giants and a retooled roster and staff for the Jets.
• Preseason projections still call for modest records this year, about eight wins for the Giants and six for the Jets, not a playoff run.

For the first time since 2009, the New York Giants and New York Jets both won their season openers in the same week. The Jets beat the Tennessee Titans 23-10 in Nashville on September 13, and the Giants beat the Dallas Cowboys 28-20 at MetLife Stadium that night in a Sunday Night Football matchup.

Both teams are coming off dismal 2025 seasons. The Giants finished 4-13 in 2025 and fired coach Brian Daboll in November. The Jets finished 3-14 in Aaron Glenn’s first year as head coach, with a defense that went all 17 games without recording an interception. The two wins gave both organizations early evidence that offseason changes are working, though the schedule ahead offers a tougher test.

Two Different Wins, One Shared Milestone

In Nashville, the Jets controlled the game from the start. Quarterback Geno Smith completed 19 of 24 passes for 215 yards without a turnover, and running back Breece Hall gained 102 total yards and scored on a 4-yard run in the third quarter. New York held the ball for nearly 39 minutes and outgained Tennessee 367 yards to 195. The defense sacked Titans quarterback Cam Ward three times and recovered a fumble on a kickoff return.

At MetLife Stadium, the Giants beat Dallas by outplaying them on offense. Quarterback Jaxson Dart completed 23 of 29 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, and added 54 rushing yards. Running back Cam Skattebo ran for 81 yards and a touchdown, and tight end Isaiah Likely caught two touchdown passes for 78 yards in his Giants debut.

A Historic Defensive Drought
The Jets’ defense went all 17 games of the 2025 season without recording an interception, the first time that had happened since the NFL began tracking the statistic in 1933, according to CBS Sports.

A Giants Team Remade by John Harbaugh

The Giants enter 2026 under new leadership. Daboll was fired on November 10, 2025, after a 2-8 start, and Mike Kafka finished the season as interim coach. On January 17, 2026, the Giants hired John Harbaugh, who had spent 18 seasons as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, making the playoffs 12 times with 11 double-digit-win seasons and a Super Bowl title, to a five-year contract. Harbaugh had been fired by Baltimore after the Ravens missed the playoffs. Giants owner John Mara said Harbaugh “stood out for his conviction and vision for leading a winning organization.”

Harbaugh brought some familiar faces from Baltimore. Tight end Isaiah Likely, who caught 135 passes for 1,568 yards and 15 touchdowns across four seasons with the Ravens, signed a three-year, $40 million contract with the Giants in free agency in March. He caught two touchdown passes in his Giants debut against Dallas.

Geno Smith’s Full-Circle Return

The Jets’ quarterback picture changed just as dramatically. In March 2026, the Las Vegas Raiders traded Geno Smith to the Jets for a 2026 sixth-round pick, sending a seventh-round pick along with Smith and covering most of his remaining salary. The trade came as Las Vegas was widely expected to use the first overall pick on Indiana quarterback and 2025 Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. Smith had thrown a league-high 17 interceptions and been sacked a career-worst 55 times for the Raiders in 2025, a season in which Las Vegas finished 3-14.

Smith was the Jets’ second-round draft pick out of West Virginia in 2013, and his first stint as New York’s starter ended in 2016. His Week 1 start against the Titans was his first for the Jets in 3,612 days. Under new offensive coordinator Frank Reich, Smith distributed the ball to eight different receivers and finished with a 104 passer rating.

How Bad 2025 Was for Both Teams

Both openers followed rock-bottom seasons. The Giants went 4-13. The Jets went 3-14 in Glenn’s first year, and their defense went all 17 games without recording a single interception, the first time any team had done that since the NFL began tracking the statistic in 1933, according to CBS Sports. The unit also ranked among the league’s worst in sacks generated and in touchdowns allowed both through the air and on the ground.

Glenn dismissed nearly all of his assistant coaches after the season. The Giants’ collapse led to Daboll’s in-season firing; his only playoff trip with the team came in his first season, a 2022 wild-card upset of the Minnesota Vikings — one of only two Giants postseason trips since Eli Manning led the Giants to a Super Bowl title in the 2011 season.

His Week 1 start against the Titans was Geno Smith’s first for the Jets in 3,612 days.

What the Schedule Says About What Comes Next

Analysts aren’t projecting either bright start to turn into a sudden playoff run. The Giants’ own schedule analysis lists their 2026 slate as the 17th-toughest in the league, based on 2025 opponent winning percentage, and includes a Week 2 game at the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football, a Week 8 bye and a closing stretch built around divisional games against the Eagles. A preseason Yahoo Sports projection had the Giants winning eight games, citing Harbaugh’s record of just three losing seasons in 18 years in Baltimore and the historical tendency for teams with a new full-time coach to add an average of 1.6 wins over the prior season.

The Jets, by contrast, were projected to have the 12th-toughest schedule in the league. They host the Green Bay Packers in Week 2, take their bye in Week 13 and close the season on the road at Buffalo. The same Yahoo Sports projection had the Jets winning six games, calling that total enough to give owner Woody Johnson “confidence they’re headed in the right direction” even without a playoff berth.

The Last Time Both Teams Opened 1-0

The last time the Giants and Jets both won in Week 1 was 2009. The Giants beat Washington 23-17 under Tom Coughlin, then in his sixth season, in what turned out to be their final home opener at Giants Stadium. The Jets beat the Houston Texans 24-7 on the road under rookie head coach Rex Ryan, with rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez throwing his first career touchdown pass, also on September 13.

The two teams’ paths diverged sharply after that shared start. The Giants finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs, eliminated in Week 16. The Jets finished 9-7, made the playoffs as a wild card, and beat Cincinnati and San Diego on the road before losing to Indianapolis in the AFC Championship Game.

Photo: MjaMes1408 · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons