New Year, New York? Resolutions for Jets and Giants to have happier, healthier 2024

There’s always something refreshing about tearing off that final page of the calendar and looking ahead to the 365 (plus a bonus 366th this coming time around) opportunities that lie ahead. All those empty, open boxes that can be filled with hopes and dreams and potential and success. It’s easy to be optimistic when nothing has had the chance to go wrong yet.

Even when it comes to the Giants and the Jets!

Sure, there is technically one last game after today on each of their schedules to be played next weekend before the lockers are cleaned out and the offseason begins. But by all conventional calculations the two New York area football teams have reached the goal they have been striving toward for the last four or so months, the place where they have wanted to be since the time in September when their 2023 dreams began to splinter apart.

Welcome, finally, to next year.

Here, then, are some New Year’s resolutions to help guide the two teams toward more happiness, more health, and more victories in 2024. Like most resolutions we know these won’t all be kept, but at least this provides a blueprint for what the next 12 months could look like.

TURN THE RIVALRIES INTO RIVALRIES AGAIN

This is one they can start at right away. The Jets have lost 15 straight games to the Patriots and the Giants have lost 13 of their last 15 against the Eagles. Guess who they each play in Week 18? What a perfect opportunity to start 2024 off on the right path. These upcoming games do come with complications, of course. Many see it as a no-win situation for the Jets because if they do pull out a victory it will likely give New England a better draft pick than they have. The Giants, too, are jockeying for one of those precious early single-digit picks come April. But the urgency to end those horrendous trends against teams in their divisions whom they face at least twice a season every season needs to take precedence over any gamesmanship regarding the draft. Come April just trust your scouting, use your assets to make the moves you think are necessary and land the players who will help turn things around. For now, though, focus on being competitive so that when the 2024 schedule does begin in September we aren’t still talking about how long it has been since you beat so-and-so.

EARN A HOME PLAYOFF GAME

This was the 14th season of football at MetLife Stadium, which means that the two teams who call it home will have played a combined 28 seasons worth of home games in the building… and one playoff game between them. That was way back on Jan 8, 2012 when the Giants beat the Falcons on their way to Super Bowl XLVI. Since then the stadium has hosted more Super Bowls and Wrestlemanias than home playoff games, more Rolling Stones and Beatles (well, Beattle, as in Paul McCartney) and Taylor Swift tours than Jets or Giants postseason performances. If either of the teams manages to secure one of these rarities it technically wouldn’t take place until January 2025, but the work to earn it needs to occur in 2024 so let’s strive toward this goal anyway.

WIN A REGULAR SEASON AWARD

The Jets and Giants have managed to earn a few honors over the years, mostly for their rookies of the year. Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson hit that exacta last year and the Giants have had Saquon Barkley and Odell Beckham Jr. win those titles in the last decade. But New York hasn’t had an MVP since Lawrence Taylor won for the Giants in 1986 and the Jets have never had one. Frankly, the two teams haven’t really had anyone even in the conversation for those trophies since then. The only offensive or defensive Player of the Year around here since L.T. was Michael Strahan in 2001. This one is a big ask, but there are certainly going to be opportunities for players such as Gardner, Breece Hall, Wilson, maybe Barkley or Dexter Lawrence or Quinnen Williams too, to become even brighter standouts and contend for the hardware that comes at the end of each season. Who knows, maybe Aaron Rodgers has a fifth MVP season in him.

DITCH THE TURF

The artificial surface at MetLife Stadium is like the Bermuda Triangle: There may not be any statistical evidence to prove a higher rate of incident but that doesn’t make it any less haunted. So just get rid of the turf and put in some natural grass. There are plenty of norther-tier cities that have real grass which holds up to the elements – Chicago, Cleveland, Washington, Pittsburgh – and two others – Philadelphia, Green Bay - that have hybrids which are close to the real thing. Even if the turf at MetLife has nothing to do with the injuries that occur there (and try telling that to Aaron Rodgers or anyone else who has been carted off the field there) just eliminate the potential argument and do away with it for good.

QUIT CEDING POWER

The Jets are paying Aaron Rodgers to play quarterback, not run the organization. And yet it feels as if every decision that the team makes goes through him. Yes, he is a different type of player than anyone else the Jets have ever encountered, but he’s still just a player and needs to be put in his place once and for all. If that means dumping the offensive coordinator whose one great credential seems to be that he amuses Rodgers in meetings, or parting ways with either of the receivers brought in to placate Rodgers in his first year with the Jets, then do it. Rodgers is a Jet, and that’s great. Use it, enjoy it, build around it. But stop treating Rodgers like he is the Jets, because his loyalty to the franchise is always a darkness retreat away from evaporating.

FIX THE OFFENSIVE LINES

It is the bane of both organizations as neither has been able to complete a competent rebuild of the all-important position group. No other team in the NFL has allowed more sacks this season than the Giants (77) or the Jets (63). There have been some promising developments such as Andrew Thomas and, when he can stay healthy, Alijah Vera-Tucker. And the two centers the teams drafted in April – John Michael Schmitz and Joe Tippmann -- seem like they might be able to stick around for a while. Overall, though, these teams need to figure out why they consistently whiff on big-time picks up front (Evan Neal, Mekhi Becton) and find some future Pro Bowlers the way consistent playoff teams do.

DON’T LET PRIDE DICTATE DECISIONS

Let’s say, for instance, you took a quarterback with the second overall pick in the draft. Or maybe you made a panic purchase at the position this year and dropped $160 million on one with a losing record over his lifetime. There are no good reasons to keep doubling down on those decisions. Move on from them as best you can, whether it be by trading Zach Wilson and freeing yourself from the anchor that he (rightly or wrongly) represents for the Jets franchise, or not letting Daniel Jones’ presence interfere with the addition of a new quarterback in April who you can hand pick and mold to your liking.

KEEP FOCUSING ON CHARACTER

Back in college Breece Hall made headlines with a snappy quote regarding his Iowa State team, saying “five-star culture” will always be able to beat “five-star talent.” The Jets and Giants need to remember that too. They generally do a good job of it and over the years have added some quality people to their rosters including notable recent free agents Bobby Okereke and Solomon Thomas. But it’s just as important to keep those character guys around, too, especially when they can still contribute at a high level. Yes, this means Saquon Barkley. Stop messing around worrying about market value and all the analytics regarding running backs and this year make him what he should have been for the past few seasons, a Giant for Life.

CLEAN UP THE PENALTIES

The Jets lead the NFL with 123 penalties against them this season. That’s unacceptable. With so many of them being sloppy and downright silly ones like the two on Thursday night for 12 men in the offensive huddle and not lining up properly, the onus is on Robert Saleh to fix it. How? He doesn’t seem to know, at least according to the answers he gives in his press conferences. He’ll have six months to figure it out.

KEEP EMOTION AWAY FROM STAFFING DECISIONS

It’s pretty clear Brian Daboll and Wink Martindale don’t see eye-to-eye. That’s cool. Neither of them is going to change anytime soon, so the question is whether they can continue to coexist together or if Martindale will have to hit the road. Once this season officially ends, they very much should try to mend whatever wounds have become infected between them in 2023 and push forward together. There were enough shortcomings in the way Martindale’s defense performed this season to at least consider a big change in leadership there. If the two coaches do part ways, though, make sure it’s about the football and not the feelings.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.