Jermaine Johnson II discusses Jets' Super Bowl goal after tough season

Defensive end Jermaine Johnson II made it known that the New York Jets haven't changed their goal from 12 months ago despite all that's occurred since the club acquired quarterback Aaron Rodgers in April 2023. 

"Super Bowl," Johnson told Coral Smith of the NFL's website. "Do or don't."

Jets players openly discussed pursuing a Super Bowl title throughout last year when Rodgers was healthy and working alongside offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. 

However, the future Hall of Famer went down with a torn Achilles four offensive snaps into the regular-season opener, and Hackett failed to turn backup Zach Wilson into a championship-caliber QB1. 

Specifically, ESPN stats show that the Jets finished the 2023 regular season ranked 31st in the entire NFL with an average of 268.6 offensive yards per game. They were 29th with an average of 15.8 points scored per contest. 

Since the start of the new league year in March, Jets general manager Joe Douglas has taken multiple steps to bolster the team's offensive line and keep Rodgers on his feet for more than a handful of plays this September. 

The hope is that the Jets defense won't have to routinely carry the team to wins during the upcoming season, but Johnson suggested he and others on that side of the ball wouldn't shy away from similar challenges later this year. 

"I mean, that's the goal every single game, is to pitch a shutout, zero points on the board," Johnson remarked. "So regardless of what the offense was going through, we know as a unit on defense that we had a standard we had to uphold that we set for ourselves, and that's zero points on the board. So I mean, we didn't get that done, and so until that's done, every single game, zero points on the board, we're not satisfied, and to be quite honest, we probably still won't be."

As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Jets at +200 odds to claim the AFC East division title for the 2024 season. At that same time, DraftKings had the Jets tied for sixth among the betting favorites at +1100 odds to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LIX. 

"In order for us to get to a Super Bowl, we have to go 1-0 every single week," Johnson added during his comments. "The defense's goal has to be to pitch a shutout every single week, and so that's where we're keeping our heads right now, and the goal is that if you do that enough times, we're in the big one."

Rodgers turns 41 years old this December, so his window for guiding the Jets to the "big one" before he retires seemingly is already closing.