Most NFL players have short careers. They only have a few seasons to prove they can be difference makers at their positions, or their teams and then the rest of the league moves on fast.

It’s a stressful world, and each season just about every player needs to prove his worth all over again. But to some players, there is extra pressure to perform this season to establish themselves as impact players or earn a big new contract.

Justin Fields got another chance to start from the Jets, who were a bit desperate after moving on from Aaron Rodgers. Fields got a two-year, $40 million deal, which would either be easy for the Jets to move on from after one season or for Fields to seek a long-term extension if he plays well. 

The Jets still have plenty of talent and there’s no real competition for Fields on the roster. He should get the season to prove what he can do. However, a poor preseason passing the ball didn’t inspire much confidence heading into the season. This might be Fields’ last good chance to establish himself as a regular starter in the NFL.

The New York Jets dropped to 0-5 with a 37-22 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium in a game that showcased all that was wrong with Aaron Glenn’s team.

Any notion of the New York Jets winning their first game of the season vanished in a matter of one minute Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.

Jets QB Justin Fields was sacked five times, Breece Hall fumbled away a key opportunity in the first half, and the Jets offense couldn’t convert on two fourth-and-1 plays, all adding up to a long afternoon in East Rutherford.

The Jets offense was held to six points until the fourth quarter, the offensive line gave up five sacks to a Cowboys defense that, up until then, had no pass rush through the opening month. 10 penalties crippled the Jets.

Justin Fields threw for 283 yards and two touchdowns while running for 26, and Breece Hall rushed for 113. Dak Prescott threw four touchdown passes to continue his MVP-like pace, and the Cowboys ran for 180 yards.

The Giants jumped out to a double-digit lead in New Orleans but then turned the ball over on five consecutive possessions in a 26-14 loss to the Saints, who scored 23 unanswered points. The Giants fell to 1-4.

For a brief moment there, it sure looked like the New York Giants had turned a corner. Jaxson Dart, making his second start, had thrown two touchdown passes to establish an 11-point lead over New Orleans early in the second quarter. 

But he Giants had turnovers in virtually every possible way — gift fumbles, bad-idea interceptions — and could only watch as the Saints ran up five straight scores and 23 straight points.

“Five turnovers to zero,” Giants head coach Brian Daboll said after the game, “you’re not going to win in this league.”

And just like that, the brief flash of hope that ran through the Giants organization flickered and went dark. Dart completed 26 of 40 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns, but two interceptions were part of the brutal, repeated misfires that cost the Giants the game