Aaron Rodgers and the Jets open the season against the 49ers on Monday Night Football on ABC 7
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Are you ready for football? ESPN begins its 19th Monday Night Football season on Monday, Sept. 9, with the New York Jets taking on the San Francisco 49ers on ABC 7 New York!
Coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET on Channel 7, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes.
The Super Bowl hopes for the Jets last season essentially ended after just four plays when prized offseason addition Aaron Rodgers went down with a season-ending Achilles tendon injury.
New Niners defensive end Leonard Floyd has a long history against Rodgers that includes personal success, team disappointment and the memorable sack that ended Rodgers' season after four plays in 2023.
Floyd will square off against Rodgers for the 11th time in his career, with seven of those coming when Floyd played in Chicago and Rodgers in Green Bay. Floyd has sacked Rodgers 10 times - third most of any player - but was on the losing end in nine of those games.
That includes the opener last season, when Floyd's sack of Rodgers led to the season-ending torn Achilles tendon in the Jets' 22-16 overtime win over Buffalo.
"It was just a regular football play for me, a regular sack on the quarterback," Floyd said. "He just happened to get hurt."
The heartbreak for the San Francisco 49ers came on the final play of the season, when they allowed a touchdown pass by Patrick Mahomes in overtime to lose the Super Bowl.
While the 2023 season couldn't have been much more different for the Jets and 49ers, they head into the opener of this season on Monday night as two of the teams with the best odds to win the title that has eluded both franchises for decades.
The Jets come into the season with the longest active playoff drought in the NFL, having not made the postseason since 2010.
The Niners have come as close as possible in recent years, only to fall short. They blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl in the 2019 season to Kansas City. They lost back-to-back NFC title games to the Rams and Philadelphia in 2021-22 and then another Super Bowl to Mahomes and the Chiefs last season.
Jets coach Robert Saleh is downplaying the meaning of his return to the Bay Area, where he served as defensive coordinator under Kyle Shanahan on the 49ers for four seasons before getting hired by the Jets,
Saleh helped install the defensive philosophy still in place in San Francisco after helping the team reach the Super Bowl in the 2019 season. Now he looks forward to the test of playing against a top opponent.
"To be able to go out to their place on Monday night is a pretty cool opportunity for our guys to go compete against one of the best teams in the league," he said.
ESPN will have plenty of coverage leading up to kickoff. Monday Night Countdown's season debut (6 p.m. on ESPN) and an NFL Live two-hour episode (3-5 p.m., ESPN) will be broadcast from inside Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.
Monday Night Football voices Joe Buck and Troy Aikman embark on their 23rd season together, the longest broadcast partners in NFL history. Emmy award-winner Lisa Salters returns for her 13th season - her third with Buck and Aikman - extending her run as MNF's longest tenured sideline reporter. Laura Rutledge will join the broadcast in Week 1, reporting on the 49ers while Salters reports on the Jets.
In addition to the main game broadcast, Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli - the industry's signature alternate telecast presented in conjunction with Omaha Productions - is set for its fourth season, with Jets-49ers marking the first of 11 editions for the 2024-25 season. Peyton Manning and Eli Manning will welcome future Hall of Famer Bill Belichick as a featured guest in the first half with additional guests in the second half on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
ESPN Deportes has Spanish-language coverage led by Rebeca Landa returning to the booth as play-by-play commentator alongside Sebastian Martinez-Christensen, who debuts as game analyst. In addition, MJ Acosta-Ruiz will serve as the new sideline reporter. John Sutcliffe will continue to be part of the team, providing reports from the site, and Katia Castorena will report from site for select MNF games.
Information from ESPN and the Associated Press
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