“I was almost in a panicked state,” said McDonald, who coaches the Jets’ defensive backs.

McDonald was fastidious in his preparation. Before games, he would lay out his outfit in front of his locker so that it looked like a ghost wearing a uniform. When he played for San Francisco, it was imperative that the red in his socks would start right below the bulge of his calf muscle. That his glove tore so close to kickoff did not bode well.

Or so he thought. That day, McDonald had two interceptions. From then on, he said, he would use a razor blade or the trainer’s athletic tape cutters to scratch a little slit in his gloves. It turned out all right for him. He made six Pro Bowls.

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There are coffee shops around the country that have fulfilled a somewhat unusual request on the day of every Jets game since 2009. It is a 16-ounce latte with honey on the bottom and a double shot of espresso, and it is the standby of Anthony Lynn, the team’s running backs coach, who, as of this season, also has the title “assistant head coach-offense.”

“I juice that baby up,” Lynn said.

On the road, Lynn tends to seek out a Starbucks. When the Jets are home, he always goes to Sweetleaf, a coffee bar in Long Island City, Queens, where he lives, and he nurses the drink on the hourlong trip to team headquarters in Florham Park, N.J.

Except for that time he forgot.

He ended up leaving the facility, driving to a Starbucks in Florham Park and returning about two minutes before the team bus would have left without him.

“It’s crazy,” Lynn said. “But that’s how we roll.”

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The most important item Austin Howard takes to the stadium on game day fits in the palm of his hand and tastes better with mustard. He always has a turkey sandwich with him, and it is always assembled the same: turkey on white with lettuce, tomato and, of course, the mustard.

“Offensive linemen, we know food,” said Howard, the Jets’ starting right tackle. “It’s very important, both from a food standpoint and a large-man standpoint. And these sandwiches are phenomenal, absolutely exquisite.”