It wasn’t supposed to be this way so soon, but Boston is back to getting the best of us again.
New York sports was supposed to enjoy more of a leg up on — or at least equal footing with — its rival town to the northeast than it has in some time, especially with the Patriots supposedly still rebuilding and the Celtics dealing with a massive injury to their best player.
Yet, here we are, not even one month into 2026, and the Pats are back in the Super Bowl already, only six seasons after the departure of Tom Brady and two since Bill Belichick followed him out of New England.
Meanwhile, the Jets — with no Super Bowl appearances since the dawning of the Age of Aquarius — have missed the playoffs for the 15th consecutive time, the longest active streak in the NFL. The Giants have been just as putrid the past couple of years and for much of the past decade, but they at least qualified for the postseason party in 2016 and 2022, and before that they hoisted the Lombardi Trophy twice in the 21st century, besting Brady, Belichick and the Beantowners both times.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
