Why Jets' win over Eagles proved they can hang with NFL's best

It is not just that the Jets stunned the previously undefeated Eagles.

It is not just that the Jets improved to 3-3, very much a contender in a wide-open AFC.

It is not just that the defense forced four turnovers, the final coming on a Tony Adams interception that led to the go-ahead touchdown.

It is not just that the perpetually woebegone Jets will enter their bye week with legitimate hope.

What is the most overwhelmingly positive development of the Jets’ first six games is they have stayed afloat through an especially difficult pocket of their schedule despite injuries thinning the cream of their roster. The Jets are supposed to be losing plenty of these games because they are, on paper, the worse team. The Jets are supposed to be losing plenty of these games because backups are receiving too much time.

The fact that the Jets are winning some of these games is lending increasing belief. You don’t have to believe Robert Saleh’s group is going to the Super Bowl. But you can believe the Jets can play — and beat — teams that have Super Bowl aspirations and Super Bowl pasts.

“I think we’ll always be in all these games,” Saleh said after Sunday’s 20-14 win over the Eagles, last season’s NFC champs. “I think we can go toe-to-toe with anybody. It says a lot about this group and how mentally strong they are.”

And physically strong. The Jets are .500 through six games despite one total pass attempt from Aaron Rodgers. The Jets forced Jalen Hurts into three interceptions despite missing perhaps the biggest strength of their defense in cornerbacks Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed. Their nickel corner, Michael Carter, missed time late, too, with a hamstring injury.

Bryce Hall and Craig James became everyone’s favorite football cliche: the next men up. The next men to make life hell on opposing quarterbacks.

The Jets have yet to allow a quarterback to throw for 300 yards. They picked off Josh Allen three times and held the Bills QB to 236 pass yards, while Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes threw for a season-worst 203.

“These first six weeks we’ve played a gauntlet of quarterbacks,” said Saleh, who jogged off the field after the game and jumped into the arms of GM Joe Douglas. “I know we haven’t gotten all wins, but we’ve embarrassed all of them.”

Only Dak Prescott has enjoyed a nice game against the Jets’ defense, and that came back in Week 2, fresh off the loss of Rodgers and in what was Zach Wilson’s easily worst game, which put the Jets in several holes.

Wilson might not be a Pro Bowler, but he was the more effective quarterback Sunday and has begun to learn to eliminate the big mistakes, with one interception in his past four games.

The Jets do not need him to carry them to wins, but they do need him to find Garrett Wilson (eight catches for 90 yards) and let the offense’s biggest difference-maker be Breece Hall, whose 8-yard touchdown run finally gave the Jets the lead. Hall and the running game have had to weather the loss of Alijah Vera-Tucker (torn Achilles), probably their best offensive lineman, but they shrugged off that huge loss, too.

With the Jets’ deep defense and talented offensive pieces flexing, Rodgers watched it all from the sideline. Just over a month from surgery on his torn Achilles, the 39-year-old threw on the field before the game with no crutches in sight. Rodgers already has spoken about the possibility of rushing back from this injury this season as if he were eluding a blitz. Achilles injuries typically take 8-10 months to heal.

Could he actually slice that return timetable in half? Probably not, but it is getting easier to believe that good things can, indeed, happen to the Jets.

Following the bye week, the Jets will play a “road” game against the Giants, and there is little questioning which is the more talented team right now. Afterward will be winnable games against the Chargers and in Las Vegas before a rematch in Buffalo with a Bills team the Jets already have beaten. Can they be 7-3 entering a MetLife Stadium matchup with the Dolphins?

Probably not — but it’s not impossible, either. The Jets are making it increasingly easier to believe.

Today’s back page

Closing the book on Max Scherzer’s complicated Mets legacy

The Max Scherzer comeback is here. The gun for hire is working again, recovered enough from a right shoulder injury to crack the Rangers’ ALCS roster. Scherzer now looms for perhaps a Game 3 start after the Rangers beat the Astros, 2-0, on Game 1 Sunday night. It is time to begin writing the Rangers chapter of his legacy, which is a good excuse to examine his complicated legacy with the Mets.

Scherzer’s lasting reputation with the Tigers, through five great seasons but without a title, was one of unfulfilled excellence. Nationals fans remember him as a legend who demanded the ball, miraculously bounced back from neck spasms in the World Series and rose to the biggest moments. He was well-liked with the Dodgers but a playoff dead arm dented his brief tenure. Most Mets fans, judging from social media, remember Scherzer as a choker.

Mad Max was Bad Max when the Mets most needed him. In 2022, the Mets needed one win in Atlanta in the second-to-last series of the season to secure a division tiebreaker, which would have paved the way toward the NL East title. In the second game of the series, Scherzer became the losing pitcher on the night the Mets’ division lead finally fell, allowing four runs on nine hits over 5 ⅔ innings in a 4-2 loss.

Six days later, the Mets gave Scherzer the ball for Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Padres. A day that might have started his legend in Queens instead ended with his getting booed off the mound. Scherzer couldn’t complete the fifth inning and allowed a stunning four home runs, setting the tone for what would be a disappointing end to a 101-win season.

Scherzer returned this past season, but any sense of momentum from last year’s too-short run vanished.

He struggled early then got ejected and suspended in his fourth game of the season due to a sticky-substance violation.

He returned and initially remained in a funk while citing discomfort below his right scapula that he pitched through.

The Mets could not find any semblance of a rhythm, and during the most crucial stretch of the season — when owner Steve Cohen and then-GM Billy Eppler were debating whether to buy or sell — Scherzer’s arm helped inspire the fire sale. From June 7 to July 22, Scherzer pitched to a 5.09 ERA, the Mets losing five of his nine starts. Yet again, he shrank when the moment grew.

Ater just a season and a half, Scherzer was gone. He had demanded a conversation with Mets brass after David Robertson was shipped to the Marlins, and that conversation led to Scherzer being sent to the Rangers. Even on his way out, Scherzer hurt himself with segments of the fan base because he became the bearer of bad news, sharing that Cohen and Eppler told him that the Mets would be taking a step back in 2024, which prompted Scherzer to waive his no-trade clause.

What a strange exit to an eyeblink of a tenure that arrived with unfamiliar cheers and ended with surprising jeers. The next time Scherzer pitches at Citi Field, he will be booed because of the few performances that will stick out. Forgotten will be what he represented.

Maybe trading for and extending Francisco Lindor marked the new era of Mets baseball under Cohen.

Signing Scherzer, though, turned the Mets into the superstar destination they had never been before.

Scherzer — a future Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star and postseason legend — choosing the Mets and their $130 million introduced the baseball world to a briefly lived but fascinating superstar era in Queens that confirmed a lot of the fears of small-market owners and confirmed the dreams of Mets fans.

And on the mound, apart from the two games Mets fans will remember the most, Scherzer was… mostly good!

His 2.29 ERA in 23 starts in 2022 was the best mark of his career — achieved during a season he turned 38. He led a pitching staff that was among the league’s best because of his influence as much as because of his pitching.

Remember all that huddling in the dugout with the day’s starting pitcher during games Scherzer didn’t start?

Remember when a bounce-back season from Taijuan Walker was partially credited to the wisdom of Scherzer, essentially serving as another pitching coach whose words carry significant weight?

Remember when Scherzer brushed aside his past differences with Justin Verlander and OK’d the signing of the other Hall of Famer who was set to be his co-ace?

Of course, it didn’t all work. Scherzer’s stuff or his health or his arm let him down in too many critical moments before he abruptly left. All that is left from Scherzer’s tenure is a bill that Cohen continues to pay, top infield prospect Luisangel Acuña and maybe something less tangible: the ambition that Scherzer represented.

We know that Cohen will go all-in to win a title because he went all-in for a generational pitcher who cost generational money. Scherzer was far from perfect with the Mets, but he joined an organization widely regarded as a laughingstock and immediately elevated it into a potential powerhouse. The hope might have ultimately been misplaced, but Scherzer represented hope nonetheless.

Quick thoughts on a busy October Sunday

• The banged-up and Daniel Jones-less Giants played the Bills much tougher than expected, but the first and second half ended with heartbreak in a 14-9 loss.

The Giants (1-5) wasted an opportunity in the closing seconds of the second quarter, when they whiffed on scoring any points by running at the 1-yard line. Saquon Barkley was stuffed, and they could not get off another play.

In the fourth, the Giants were down five and given several lifelines — a missed Bills field goal and then a Buffalo penalty in the end zone that brought the ball to the 1-yard line for one final play — but they again couldn’t take advantage. Tyrod Taylor tried for Darren Waller, who asked for a penalty flag that didn’t appear.

• The Liberty survived. Jonquel Jones led the way with 27 points and Breanna Stewart added 20 plus 12 rebounds in an 87-73, Game 3 win at Barclays Center that prevented the Aces from sweeping. Game 4 will be Wednesday night in Brooklyn.

• Cool news from the baseball world: According to The Athletic, San Francisco Giants assistant coach Alyssa Nakken interviewed for the team’s vacant manager position. She is believed to be the first woman to officially interview to be a major league manager.