Tom Rock: Jets nemesis Tom Brady can still be a thorn in their side as Raiders owner

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Tom Brady has an opportunity this weekend to do what he does best: Torment and humiliate the Jets.

He won’t even have to be there in person to accomplish it.

These days, besides his broadcasting career and remarkable ability to stay relevant in the headlines of the social pages, he is the owner of a 5% stake in the Raiders, the team that is coming to MetLife Stadium on Sunday.

His boys in black and silver hats will face a Jets squad that is about as low as it has been in several years.

The pitchforks and torches already are out for the Jets (2-5). The fans are ready to revolt, the coach can’t get out of his own way and they just lost to a previously winless Dolphins team that hadn’t held a lead all season.

And now here comes the team led in part by the person who is not only the G.O.A.T. of the sport but has been this franchise’s own personal boogeyman for the better part of a quarter-century.

Can it get worse for the Jets?

Yes, because there is a chance that Brady will wind up finding something else he is better at than the Jets beyond just playing and trolling.

He could wind up being a better owner than the one they have, too.

Not that it would take much to do that. Woody Johnson — who like Brady entered the league in 2000, although through a decidedly different door — is at the head of an organization that hasn’t had a winning record since 2015 and hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010. In case you haven’t noticed, neither streak appears to be in any danger of getting snapped this year.

It’s been so bad for Johnson and the Jets that Brady actually has more wins this decade as a starting quarterback (32 in the regular season plus another five in the playoffs) than the Jets have (30). And Brady hasn’t taken a snap in 3 1⁄2 years!

Of course, these 3-4 Raiders aren’t exactly dynastic either. They are coming off a season in which they had the worst record in the league, but they do appear to be ahead of the Jets in terms of a rebuild.

Unlike the Jets, the Raiders have a bright young coach in Klint Kubiak. Unlike the Jets, the Raiders have their quarterback of the future in Fernando Mendoza, who is waiting patiently behind Kirk Cousins for his opportunity. They’ve lost their last four games, but unlike the Jets, they started the year with three straight wins and some positive vibes.

And biggest of all: Unlike the Jets, they have Brady calling the shots.

He may have only a sliver of a stake in the franchise, but it’s become very clear since he was officially approved for that ownership slice in October 2024 that he has the ear and the trust of majority owner Mark Davis.

It was Brady who led the charge for the Raiders to acquire Geno Smith from the Seahawks in the 2025 offseason. When that and the hiring of Pete Carroll didn’t work out, he led the speedy about-face. This past offseason, Las Vegas traded Smith to the Jets.

It’s worth noting that Brady reportedly wouldn’t let the Raiders trade Maxx Crosby to the Patriots because he didn’t want to help his old team but was more than willing to send the 36-year-old quarterback — whom he beat in three of their four head-to-head matchups during Smith’s first stint with the Jets, all in one-score games — to his old rival.

Thanks, Tom!

During his playing career, Brady won 31 of his 38 games and threw 64 touchdown passes against the Jets. You’d think he’d be more appreciative toward the team that helped create him in 2001 when they knocked Drew Bledsoe out of a game and opened the door for the Patriots’ backup to take over. Nope.

He was the opposing quarterback — if not the direct engineer — in so many low, embarrassingly memorable moments in recent Jets history that there isn’t space to list them all here.

Even after he left New England and the AFC East for Tampa Bay, he had one last chance to beat the Jets and took advantage of it with a 28-24 victory late in the 2021 season.

Nor did retirement ease his thirst for continuing to kick the Jets when they’re down.

When Brady’s statue was unveiled at Gillette Stadium in August 2025, he noted that it wasn’t just for Patriots fans. “It will also give Jets fans something to throw their beer at as they leave the stadium,” he said. “Probably in the second quarter. Maybe the third.”

And earlier this year, in a Netflix documentary he helped produce about growing up a fan of the 49ers’ dynasty, he offered this observation: “I don’t think I could have been what I was if I grew up rooting for the Jets.”

Now Brady gets his first chance to face the Jets as a full-fledged NFL owner.

Physically, he’ll be in Detroit calling the Vikings-Lions game on Fox, but don’t doubt for a second that his Jets-stalking heart and stink eyes won’t be keeping close tabs on what happens in East Rutherford in the same game window. His competitive nature and contempt for the Jets would never allow him to do otherwise.

If this one turns out anything like all of his other rivalries and pursuits against them, the Jets might have to continue to live in Brady’s chilly shadow while he happily resides in their souls for one more day at least . . . and then perhaps for even longer than he did when he was a mere quarterback.