The New York Jets’ 0-6 start feels worse with two of their castoff quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and Sam Darnold, combining for an 8-3 record so far. Throw in the rival New England Patriots’ 4-2 start under a new coach and Jets fans cannot help but question their direction.

It’s not that anyone really thought the Jets should have brought back Rodgers. Darnold wasn’t going to return. It’s just that 0-6 is rough, no matter how low the preseason expectations should have been. And those former quarterbacks’ success, coupled with New England’s best start since the Tom Brady era, is part of the emotional calculus.

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“I can’t process it now,” Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner said of the winless start.

The Pick Six column asks tough questions of the Jets while weaving in thoughts on Rodgers’ Steelers and the Mike Vrabel-coached, Drake Maye-quarterbacked Patriots.

Who else was going to pay $20 million per year for Justin Fields? What was the rush for handing out top-five contracts to relatively unaccomplished holdovers? How is coach Aaron Glenn going to elevate this team?

The full Pick Six menu this week:

• Jets 0-6 while Patriots roll

• Chiefs’ best since ’22 season

• Panthers on verge of history

• Cardinals’ looming questions

• Eagles’ offensive regression

• Two-minute drill: Is Puka OK?

1. The Jets are 0-6. Their head coach does not sound like he’s 0-6. That is good. But we have questions.

Rodgers’ Steelers (4-1) have as many victories as the rest of the struggling AFC North combined. It’s early, but with Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow sidelined by injury, The Athletic’s projection model gives Pittsburgh a 72 percent chance of winning that division.

Darnold’s Seahawks (4-2, 64 percent chance at playoffs) won at Jacksonville in Week 6 and could be dangerous once they get key defensive players back from injury. Darnold ranks third in EPA per pass play (.27) and first in yards per attempt (9.6). His 11 touchdown passes match the total Fields has thrown in his last 14 starts dating to his days in Chicago. Darnold has taken seven sacks all season, two fewer than Fields took Sunday.

Pittsburgh and Seattle could plausibly win playoff games for the first time since the 2010s.

Even the Patriots have an 81 percent shot at the postseason, per The Athletic’s model. Like the Jets (0.2 percent playoff chance), they have a defensive-minded CEO head coach in his first season, with a play-calling defensive coordinator working under him.

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The Patriots rank 12th in defensive EPA per play, compared to 28th for the Jets. The schedule is part of that, but New England did beat Buffalo on the road, 23-20. The Patriots are getting much more from a longer list of defensive additions in free agency, from Harold Landry to Milton Williams to Carlton Davis to Robert Spillane.

New England is not getting as much from its additions on offense beyond Stefon Diggs, but Maye is making up the difference. He’s the first Patriots quarterback since Brady in 2011 to string together five consecutive games with a triple-digit passer rating, 200-plus yards passing and 0.1 EPA per pass play, per TruMedia. Brady’s 2011 streak lasted six games. He had an eight-game streak during New England’s 2007 undefeated regular season.

Maye’s five-game run is already the third longest for the Patriots since Brady was drafted in 2000.