One of the top five quarterbacks of all time, Aaron Rodgers, put on a show and had the type of performance the New York Jets had been starving for when they acquired him from the Green Bay Packers last season.
The star veteran signal caller was poised, and dominant while leading the Jets to a 24-3 rout over the offensively challenged New England Patriots in a much-anticipated homecoming Thursday night that the fans have been waiting over a year for. Rodgers said he is now starting to feel like himself again, the four-time MVP. That revelation is scary for the rest of the league if true.
“We’ve been improving, but it hasn’t been good enough for some people outside of the rooms,” Rodgers said after the game. “So, to have a performance like tonight, I don’t know how many yards we finished with, but it feels really good.”
The Jets were like a well-oiled machine, accumulating 400 yards of total offense and 27 first downs, taking the Patriots to the woodshed and thoroughly outperforming them in the home opener on a night when everything clicked, well almost.
The only thing that left us scratching our heads was an awkward moment during a sideline celebration between Rodgers and coach Robert Saleh after Breece Hall’s touchdown run put the Jets up by two touchdowns, 14-0, in the second quarter. The quarterback slapped hands with Saleh, who then went in for an embrace, and Rodgers gave him a slight shove and walked away.
“He’s not a big hugger, usually, so I didn’t know he was going for the hug,” Rodgers said. “He likes to do the two-hand chest push as well. But he talks a lot about two-score leads, so I just kind of gave him a push and said: ‘Two-score lead.’ That’s what happened.”
They might need to work out the kinks if Rodgers and the offense are going to continue to play the way they did Thursday night.
The 40-year-old Rodgers looked about ten years younger, routinely making several plays with his legs and almost making everyone forget about the torn Achilles tendon that ended his season last year after only four snaps.
“Yeah, I’m not going to lie, the first time he ran, I kind of started laughing in the back of my head, like he’s crazy,” Hall said. “Forty years old, Achilles is good. It was cool to see him run.”
Rodgers’ arm was like a cannon. He was surgically precise on several throws, finishing 27 of 35 for 281 yards and two touchdowns.
The Jets scored three touchdowns on offense for the third consecutive game to start the season, the first time they have done that since 1989, 35 years ago. New York had a first down on every drive, the first time it has done that since Week 3 against the San Diego Chargers in 2008.
“There’s nothing fluky about the production the offense has had from a scoring standpoint,” Saleh said Friday morning. “It’s just a matter of being able to do it more consistently, drive in and drive out. I think it’s only going to get better as the year goes on.”
Embed from Getty ImagesThe pass rush is working. After the Jets lost Jermaine Johnson to a season-ending torn Achilles tendon, there was doom, gloom and concern New York would have trouble getting home to the quarterback and bringing him down. And that is made even worse by the fact Haason Reddick remains a contract holdout. But the Jets will not let that stop them and they already have 14 sacks, including five by Will McDonald, through three games.
If there is anything Rodgers needs to work on, it is his clock management skills. The four-time MVP has always liked to run down the clock before snapping the ball while analyzing the defense, what Saleh says is part of the quarterback’s “super power.” But Rodgers has cut it to close for comfort a few times this season. Saleh had to burn timeouts twice early in the second half against the Patriots to avoid five-yard delay of game penalties. It also happened against the Tennessee Titans last week.
“It’s going to be a year-long thing, guys,” Saleh said with a smile. “If we have to sacrifice a couple timeouts for Aaron Rodgers to be his best, we’re fine with it.”
After being a nonfactor with just two catches for 16 yards in the first two games, tight end Tyler Conklin had a career-high 93 yards receiving on five receptions against New England. Rodgers liked to use his tight ends in Green Bay and this could be a sign of things to come and a budding rapport with Conklin.
“He’s a dog, man,” wide receiver Garrett Wilson said. “He deserves everything that he did (Thursday) and what’s about to come his way because the world doesn’t know.”
It is a little bit of nitpicking after such an overall dominant performance by the team, but the usually reliable place kicker Greg ‘The Leg’ Zuerlein missed a 45-yard attempt that would have given the Jets a 17-3 halftime lead.
Saleh said the “early feel is decent” that it is not a crippling season-ending knee injury for right tackle Morgan Moses, who exited the game on the final play of the third quarter and did not return. Moses was scheduled to have more tests Friday. … Linebacker C.J. Mosley sat out with a toe injury, but Saleh said if it had been later in the season he might have given it a go and is “confident” he should be ready for the next game. “To make such a small injury worse, in the grand scheme of things it probably wouldn’t have been worth it,” Saleh said.
A number that stood out for the Jets was an efficient 10 of 15 on third down against the Patriots, the first time they had at least 10 conversions in a game since 2017.
After a brutal three games in 11 days to start the season, the Jets get a mini bye week before preparing for a home game against Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos on September 29.
