The New York Jets and Giants got their seasons off on much different footing. The Jets were unable to do much on offense in a 24-9 loss to Baltimore, while the Giants stunned Tennessee with a 21-20 walk-off win.
Yet while the Jets and Giants may be on different playing fields in terms of results to start the year, both teams got interesting news in regards to future matchups.
The Jets have one of the hardest schedules in football in 2022, but their week four opponent is expected to be without their top player.
TJ Watt left Sunday’s game in Cincinnati with a pec injury. There has been a lot of speculation, but it looks like the reigning defensive player of the year suffered a partially torn pec and will only be out for six weeks.
That means the Steelers will be without their top defensive player for their contest against the Jets.
New York struggled to protect Joe Flacco on Sunday, so not dealing with one of the most feared rushers in football is far easier.
Giants observe NFC East Injury Concerns
The other team in New York also got some interesting injury news on future opponents.
The Dallas Cowboys suffered a few major injuries of their own for the squad. Both offensive lineman Connor McGovern, and safety Jayron Kearse are expected to be out for multiple weeks. That means the Giants’ week three opponent will likely be down multiple offensive linemen and a starting safety.
It only got worse for Dallas though in week one.
Dak Prescott, who currently sports a 24-6 record against the entire NFC East throughout his career, suffered a broken hand in Sunday night’s loss to Tampa Bay.
Speculation has grown about how long Prescott will be out, however, the expectation is that the pro-bowler will miss at least four weeks of the season.
Prescott sports a 9-2 record against the Giants with both losses coming in his rookie season. Nine straight wins against the G-Men go to the wayside with Cooper Rush now the expected quarterback.
While Rush is a former Giant himself, he poses a far lesser challenge than Prescott has over the last few years.
Both the New York Jets and Giants received major help on the injury front over the last few days. Future matchups with the Steelers and Cowboys are expected to pose far lesser challenges with top stars like Prescott and Watt both expected to be out.
As both teams have learned though, that doesn’t mean victory will be assured.
