The Jets’ 2025 season has become one long revenge-fueled humiliation ritual

The New York Jets’ 2025 season is starting to feel like one extended humiliation tour with revenge narratives sprinkled in. Every week, it feels like another familiar face is lining up across from them, representing another reminder of what’s gone wrong, who’s gotten away, and how cyclical this franchise’s misery has become.

The next chapter in this seemingly never-ending revenge tour seems likely to come in Cincinnati in a few weeks. That's because the Bengals, who play the Jets in Week 8, acquired veteran quarterback Joe Flacco in a trade with the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday.

Flacco is not only expected to be the starter when the Jets face the Bengals in a couple of weeks, but he's already immediately being thrust into the starting lineup this Sunday. In a corresponding move, the Bengals also released Mike White from their practice squad.

As Brian Costello of the New York Post put it, "it always comes back to the Jets."

Joe Flacco is the latest to join in on the Jets' revenge tour

It almost feels like this season has been designed to torment and humiliate the Jets with ghosts from their past. It started with the Aaron Rodgers revenge game in Week 1, in which the former MVP torched the Jets' secondary on his way to a 34-32 victory in his Steelers debut.

But while the Rodgers revenge narrative could've been seen coming months in advance, few probably expected Elijah Moore to follow suit with a 31-yard rushing touchdown against his old team in Week 2. It's Moore's only touchdown of the season to date.

Week 3 brought even more vengeance against the Jets, as Haason Reddick and Todd Bowles got the last laugh when the Buccaneers walked off against Gang Green.

Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield even made it clear that this was a personal revenge game against Jets defensive coordinator Steve Wilks when speaking to reporters after the contest. Somehow, it feels like everyone wants to stick it to the Jets.

After a brief reprieve during a rare non-revenge-filled Week 4 loss, the Jets faced their former offensive coordinator, now Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer, the following week. Schottenheimer secured the revenge win, while ex-Jets defensive lineman Solomon Thomas added a pair of pressures and a run stop for good measure.

Fans would be wise to smash the over on John Franklin-Myers sack projections ahead of the Jets' Week 6 matchup with the Denver Broncos. And that brings us to Flacco and the Bengals in two weeks.

Another familiar face, another revenge game — it feels like the Jets’ 2025 season was scripted for former players and coaches to get back at them. If the pattern holds, the Jets might be in for yet another public lesson in humiliation.

What did the Jets do to deserve this? What did Jets fans do to deserve watching yet another parade of revenge games? Somehow, week after week, the humiliation keeps piling up, and there’s no end in sight. This is who the 2025 Jets are.

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