FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- When it comes to recent AFC East history, the New York Jets are like the orange ghost named Clyde in the "Pac-Man" arcade game -- the most erratic of the four ghosts, the one always lagging in the pursuit of Pac-Man.
The Jets have finished last seven times in the last 10 seasons, in large part because they've been dominated within their own division. Their 13-47 divisional record over that span, including a staggering 4-26 on the road, is easily the worst in the NFL and 19 games behind the next-closest AFC East opponent, the Miami Dolphins (32-28).
It's no wonder their division-title drought is older than rookie sensation David Bailey. They last won the AFC East in 2002, the year before Bailey was born.
Every year sparks new hope, this notion that the Jets -- finally free of the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick vice grip -- will rise up and put up a legitimate fight against the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and Dolphins (though Miami looks down and out this year).
And it never happens.
Well, here they go again, preparing for their first divisional game -- Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS) against the Patriots (3-2) at Gillette Stadium.
There's a good vibe around the Jets (2-3), coming off a win and an eight-sack performance against the Cleveland Browns. Now there's an opportunity to make a statement that things are going to be different, that Clyde is re-programmed and no longer wandering aimlessly around the maze.
In coach Aaron Glenn's first year, the Jets went 0-6 in the division.
"There's a premium on this one because it is our first one [in the division]," wide receiver Garrett Wilson said Wednesday. "I don't know how to exactly put it, but it's a big-ass game."
Since Wilson's arrival in 2022, their divisional record is 6-18, with the three most recent wins coming against a backup quarterback (Miami's Tyler Huntley, 2024, Week 18), a quarterback on the verge of being benched (New England's Jacoby Brissett, 2024, Week 3) and another backup (New England's Bailey Zappe, 2023, Week 18).
True, they did defeat Buffalo's Josh Allen in the 2023 opener, but that victory will forever be tarnished by Aaron Rodgers' season-ending Achilles' injury.
From 2020 to 2022, the Jets lost 15 straight in the division.
As a rookie, Wilson heard about the Patriots' dominance, how they owned the rivalry with a 12-game winning streak at the time. Wilson noticed how it weighed on the Jets' organization. It ballooned to 15 games before the Jets finally ended the misery in the 2023 season finale. Now Wilson wants the current rookies to understand the importance of the AFC East games.
"To put yourself in the hunt, it's how did you stack up with the teams you play twice a year?" he said. "And this is our first one."
There's an old saying in football, that divisional games count more than non-divisional ones. Makes sense, especially when you consider the tiebreaking criteria. There's also symbolism, meaning: If you can't handle the playground bullies in your own neighborhood, how do you expect to do it crosstown?
It's fitting that the Jets play their first divisional game in Foxborough because -- let's be honest -- it's where they get pushed around the most.
Before their win over Zappe & Co. in the 2023 finale -- Belichick's final game as the Patriots' coach -- the Jets had gone 12 seasons without a victory at Gillette. It came in the 2010 AFC Divisional playoffs, probably their best moment as a franchise since Super Bowl III in 1969.
Since then, they're 1-14 in Foxborough, including six losses by 14 or more points. So, yes, a win Sunday would be massive for Glenn, who is trying to establish credibility for the franchise.
"We really don't focus on what happened in the past when it comes to us -- we just focus on what's happening right now -- but, yes, division games are definitely crucial," Glenn said. "Sometimes people say they count as two games, but the only thing that we're focused on is, this is the one game that we have to play, this is the one game we want to win, this is the one game that we're prepared for and look to win."
The Patriots with Brady and Belichick had a stranglehold on the division for two decades. When they split up in 2020, it figured to create parity in the AFC East. The Jets, for one, have failed to capitalize on the opening -- four last-place finishes and a 6-30 division record. The Robert Saleh-Zach Wilson-Rodgers era was a bust, and now they're one-plus season into the Glenn regime.
Meanwhile, the Patriots, after a brief post-Brady/Belichick swoon, reinvented themselves with coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye.
"I think it means the world," nickelback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. said of Sunday's matchup. "I think it means everything to this team, this organization, that if we go over there to the defending division champs and get a dub, man, I think that'd be awesome."