Two distinct formulas were used to reach this Super Bowl and guess what? The New York Jets and Giants actually have those formulas in place! It’s true.
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The Super Bowl matchup is set, and the two teams have taken different paths to get there. The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will face off for the league title. It’s worth looking into the blueprints they followed and if the New York teams can learn anything (or already have) from that scaffolding of a roster.
Let’s start at head coach, where the Patriots went the route of an elite, veteran, defensive guy who wore out his welcome in his first stop despite success. That was Mike Vrabel. Everyone knew he was a good coach; he has proved it again. In Seattle, the Seahawks sought out the opposite: an unproven, young, up-and-coming defensive coordinator. This is the other pathway to finding elite coaching, and it obviously panned out with Mike Macdonald.
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At quarterback, the teams kind of flipped scripts. The Pats took the young, unproven prospect to build around; Seattle found the retread, veteran QB looking to bring stability. Both worked out as well as either archetype possibly could. The rest of the rosters/game plans are somewhat similar. Both teams lean heavily on the run game and defense to win. As we mentioned earlier this postseason and at times during the regular season, we may officially be seeing the end of the air raid generation.
As far as New York goes, what do these things tell us about the New York Giants’ and New York Jets’ chances of finding success? Are they learning from the winners, or ignoring the writing on the wall?
New York Jets and Giants Mirror Winning Formulas
Todd Salem: Giants have nailed it and the Jets are much closer than I thought.
The Giants are following the New England blueprint almost to a tee. They just signed their elite, veteran, defensive coach who wore out his welcome at his previous stop despite great success. That’s John Harbaugh. They also already drafted and have high hopes for their young prospect at quarterback, who could possibly (plausibly) be in line for a Drake Maye-like leap in 2026. If they manage to hold onto what was a deep running back room and great pass rush, the only thing separating them from New England would be a defensive secondary.
On the Jets’ side, they tried to do the Seattle blueprint and failed in ’25 but may do so again in ’26. The unproven, up-and-coming defensive coordinator is already in-house. Aaron Glenn struggled in year one. That isn’t a death sentence by any means. Macdonald was solid but failed to make the playoffs in year one and then took a leap into Coach of the Year territory in year two.
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The second piece is hitting on a veteran quarterback. Justin Fields was certainly not that guy this season. Prior to Sam Darnold proving everyone wrong (again), many were suspicious of the Seahawks’ offseason decision to replace Geno Smith with him. They, including myself, thought it was a lateral move at best. Boy was that wrong. It remains to be seen what route the Jets will take at QB for next season, but rolling the dice with another vet could pay dividends since there is only one supposed franchise QB in this upcoming draft.
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Obviously, building these blueprints doesn’t guarantee success. Denver had the same thing built as New England but saw an injury derail their ultimate goal. Other teams also have all the answers at coach and QB but still came up short because of any number of other circumstances. But despite those caveats, I’m certainly pleased with how the Giants are building around the most important pieces of an organization, and realizing how closely aligned the Jets are with what Seattle just did actually has me higher on them than I would’ve thought…as long as Glenn can actually build a defense!
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Dan Salem: Both teams know how to win the offseason.
The great thing about the NFL is that it’s fairly easy to turn your team around quickly, as in one to two seasons. The bad thing about the NFL is that everyone knows this and follows one of three blueprints to do so. Two of the major blueprints are evident in New England and Seattle, as well as in our two New York teams, although at opposite ends of the success spectrum. There is reason to feel great about where both the Jets and Giants sit heading toward next season, but execution is everything. Show it on the field, because the rest is just noise.
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Can the New York Giants pair a great offensive coordinator with Jaxson Dart? Are the New York Jets able to hire a great offensive coordinator and bring in either a rookie QB or proven veteran? As the Jets straddle between the two winning formulas of our Super Bowl combatants, the Giants have already chosen their path. Both New York teams also need strong defensive coordinators to actually find success with the formula at hand, which brings us completely full circle back to our conversation of a week or so ago. Coaching matters!
Every player in the NFL is great at football. Some are slightly better or get hurt much less, but it’s often coaching that determines which players become stars and which simply play the game of football at its highest level. Not to rain on your parade, but the idea that Brian Daboll is a quarterback whisperer keeps nagging at the back of my mind. He pushed Josh Allen to greatness, then moved on to get the most out of Daniel Jones in New York. That carried forward for Jones in Indianapolis. Daboll ended his stint with the Giants by proving that Dart is excellent and ready to be the starter. Now Daboll is gone, off to make Cam Ward great in Tennessee. His track record says that it will all stick for Dart, but Dart is so much younger and less proven than Allen or Jones was when Daboll said goodbye. How much of his coaching will be missed by Dart next season? Can the Giants fill that void?
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I’m nervous for Dart as an outside fan who wants to see him be better than Drake Maye. I’d say the Jets are in an enviable position, getting to choose a quarterback who fits their offense, but that’s rarely how things go. They no longer know what their offense is and the available QBs may not fit what it ends up being. Wow, that was a lot of talk about offense for a league that is now leaning so heavily on defense. You know why? Teams still must score points. More than their opponents, no matter how few the defense allows. I don’t feel good about the Giants or Jets right now, but I’m willing to chalk it up to the bad taste that has set deeply into my mouth over the past decade of crappy football. Prove me wrong. Please, show me the light.
Meet our Sports Writers:
Dan Salem is Lead Editor and Co-owner of BuzzChomp. He’s an award winning Actor, Director and Producer. Visit M Square Productions for his film work, or get lost in his old-school comedy on Pillow Talk TV. You can follow him on X, TikTok and Instagram. His latest film ‘Alone’ is now on Amazon.
Todd Salem is a Staff Writer and Contributing Editor at BuzzChomp. He’s also a champion of fantasy football and fantasy baseball, dominating leagues for over two decades. Comment below on his unfiltered opinions.
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Photo Credits: nfl.com via Getty Images
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