“The Jets kind of owe us one.”That was Mike North, the NFL’s vice president of broadcast planning, when the 2024 schedule was released two years ago. The Jets found themselves in historic territory with six night games in the first 11 weeks, the most for any team since the 1970 merger. That came a year after they had five primetime games, when the NFL was trying to capitalize on the excitement of Aaron Rodgers’ arrival.The “owe us one” — which angered Jets fans and people in their building — was a reference to Rodgers tearing his Achilles four plays into the season, rendering those four other primetime games much less appealing. That 2024 slate also included three games in the first 11 days. The Jets started 2-1, fell apart, Robert Saleh was fired and the franchise was thrown into disarray. That wasn’t because of the schedule, but it didn’t help.It’s 2026, and the Jets made scheduling history again, or at least franchise history: They are not scheduled to participate in a single primetime game this season. (The only two games after 1 p.m. Eastern are at 4:05 p.m. at the Chargers and at Arizona.) It’s the first time since 2007 that the Jets weren’t pegged for primetime, and they’re joining four other teams without a primetime game, all of them viewed as likely bottom dwellers (Titans, Raiders, Dolphins and Cardinals). Perhaps fittingly, New York will face all four of those teams this season too.Damned if you have expectations; damned if you don’t.One benefit: Head coach Aaron Glenn prefers to “move in silence,” and the Jets won’t find themselves on a national broadcast at any point this season. It will allow them to succeed, or suffer, in silence.And playing at 1 p.m. isn’t necessarily a bad outcome — ask the players, they’ll love it — but there are some other issues with the schedule that make it clear the NFL wasn’t going to do anything to make it work in the Jets’ favor. Three of their first four games are on the road, and three of those are against NFC North teams expected to contend for the playoffs: vs. the Packers in Week 2, at Detroit in Week 3 and at Chicago in Week 4. They open the season in Nashville against Robert Saleh’s Titans — a game that feels as “must-win” as a Week 1 game can. From Weeks 2 through 6, the Jets will face four teams that finished with a winning record in 2025 — though that doesn’t guarantee anything in 2026.Even worse: The Jets’ bye week isn’t until Week 13, and the four-game stretch leading into the bye is unrelenting: another three-road-games-in-four-weeks stretch at the Chiefs in Week 9, Chargers in Week 11 and Dolphins in Week 12, with a home game against the AFC East-favorite Bills in Week 10. They also will end the season on the road (at Buffalo) in Week 18, as they have in all but one season in the last 10 years (2024).