After a year of waiting, the Aaron Rodgers-led New York Jets are a tough watch
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – New York Jets players and coaches often talk about how they can’t resort to finger-pointing even when things are at their worst – which they are right now.
Late Sunday in the fourth quarter, there was a play, a reporting error that fit perfectly into a season of misery and confusion. But that play was set up by a decision made a few minutes earlier on the other side of the ball.
It felt like a game the Jets would win. They stole the momentum back early in the second half, with a takeaway on a forced fumble and a Breece Hall touchdown a few plays later. They went up 24-16 on a Kenny Yeboah touchdown reception early in the fourth quarter. The Colts cut it to a two-point game, and then Aaron Rodgers worked the offense up the field, killing the clock and getting them to the Colts’ 25-yard line with 3:30 left. On fourth-and-2, Rodgers went to the line of scrimmage. Jets cornerback DJ Reed thought they were going to go for it. Instead, Rodgers tried to shut down the Colts. It didn’t work, so the Jets called a timeout. Anders Carlson converted a 35-yard field goal. Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich took this as a vote of confidence in a Jets defense that, in the 2022 and ’23 seasons, often did its job at the end of games.
“When we saw the field goal team going through, we were all happy, let’s do what we do,” Reed said. “That’s what we’ve been doing for the past three years.”
That’s not what they did on Sunday. This is 2024.
On the second play of the drive, Anthony Richardson sent it out for Alec Pierce down the right sideline. Cornerback Sauce Gardner relayed the route to safety Jalen Mills, who had to be in position to prevent Pierce from catching and possibly even intercepting the ball. Instead, Pierce caught it easily, a gain of 39 yards.
At the end of the play, Gardner ran over and pointed to Mills. Literally pointing fingers. Twice.
What a pass from Anthony Richardson! @Colts are threatening 👀
📺: #INDvsNYJ on CBS/Paramount+
📱: pic.twitter.com/xTTdoEKmMs—NFL (@NFL) November 17, 2024
“It’s a play that shouldn’t have happened,” Gardner said.
A few plays later, Richardson ran for a four-yard touchdown. The Colts didn’t convert on their two-point conversion, but that didn’t matter. The Jets offense, without any timeouts, fumbled on the first snap and then killed the clock on second. Rodgers was sacked on third down and the clock was running out. The Jets embarrassingly lost another game they should have won. Final score: 28-27. The Jets’ record: 3-8. The Jets’ season: in the toaster.
“It’s hard to process,” Reed said. ‘That’s what you play for. You want to play meaningful football in November, December, January… We want to stay together. We have to stick together. The outside world will point fingers – and that’s understandable – but the lads in the dressing room have to stick together and I feel like we’ve got the right character lads to do that.
In what may have become the most disappointing season in Jets history, it’s clear that even if the Jets have the right character guys, they don’t have the right guys.
The Jets are at the point in the season where their offense is being booed off the field in their home stadium in the first quarter. The point is that when fans cheer, it’s usually in a mocking tone, like when the Jets offense converted its first first down on Sunday just as the first half was about to end, or when Gardner made an impressive tackle in the second quarter after weeks of struggling to get opponents to the ground.
They had to combine a winning defense with one of the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks to become a bona fide playoff contender. Since Robert Saleh was fired and replaced by Ulbrich, the defensive coordinator, the defense has instead looked like one of the NFL’s worst, allowing 26.2 points per game, failing in fundamental areas and collapsing in key moments.
“I noticed that,” Reed said. “We haven’t played at our level defensively in the last few games. We’ve given up touchdowns, or given up explosive plays. I can’t really explain what it is. Coach Ulbrich has a lot on his plate, but he’s a grown man and he can handle it. I think it just comes down to executing and playing our role. I feel like we don’t execute, whatever we’re told to do, we just don’t execute on the field.
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And there’s the Rodgers part of it all. Earlier this week he was asked if he still planned to return in 2025, coming off the end of the worst season of his career. He replied tepidly: “Yes, I think so.”
Sunday’s show didn’t make it feel like Rodgers’ return to the Jets would be a good thing, for team or player. The 40-year-old didn’t even surpass 100 passing yards until the third quarter. He seemed unwilling (or unable) to throw the ball down the field, and he apologizes for that – last week he said the offensive line needs to block longer, on Sunday he blamed his lack of deep throws on the Colts having a two-high played defense – aren’t quite able to sniff.
Over the past two weeks, Rodgers has been 1 of 6 on passes thrown more than 10 yards downfield, with the lone completion coming on a nice sideline throw to Xavier Gipson in Sunday’s fourth quarter. Those moments have been few and far between, and the Jets offense has somehow become less explosive since trading for Davante Adams. Rodgers finished Sunday with 184 yards on 29 passing attempts.
Ulbrich was asked if Rodgers’ restraint is holding back the Jets’ offense. He deviated in his response.
“We’ll take a closer look at the tape,” Ulbrich said. “There is of course an element to it: injuries will hinder everyone in these kinds of situations, but it is never down to one man. It comes down to protection, receivers, running backs, the running game, all those things. So I know Aaron would like to play better, but that doesn’t just apply to him, it applies to all of us.”
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Rodgers simply doesn’t look like Rodgers anymore, even if no one in the Jets organization wants to admit it publicly.
“Yeah, I mean, it wasn’t my best performance,” Rodgers said. “I felt like I did some good things but unfortunately in this game sometimes you have to make a decision and choose a side and sometimes you choose the right side and sometimes you choose the wrong side… It’s just one of those strange things. Sometimes you pick the right side and get lucky, and sometimes you don’t, and you have to look at that damn tablet and see that a man was open.
He was asked if this type of struggle was something he had not dealt with before – he backtracked on the statement.
“It happens all the time,” Rodgers said. “It happens all the time, but sometimes you just pick it right and you get on the right track and it seems to pick right all the time. Sometimes it is a suspicion. I’m making progress. Sometimes in these two situations I should have skipped a progression and just trusted the guy to be open. Sometimes it hits you, sometimes you wish you had just stayed with the progression. It’s the beauty and the frustration of the game.”
The Jets are 3-8. Their expectations for the playoffs, if there are any, range from one to four percent depending on your source. There’s plenty to be frustrated about. And none of it is pretty.
“It’s very hard to fathom,” Reed said. “I’m still processing it right now.”
(Top photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)
