EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Aaron Rodgers took the field Thursday night and the crowd at MetLife Stadium roared, their conquering hero arriving at his coliseum. It didn’t go so well last time, but there was no hint of “here we go again,” no reintroduction of the Same Old Jets.
Think about what this fan base has been through in recent years, long before Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon four times in his Jets debut, when all hope was lost. The feeling of last September — disappointment — was not foreign to this fan base, even if losing Rodgers so early hurt more than usual. Hope has been in short supply here in recent decades.
The Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010. In some years, most fans stopped showing up for home games around November, or even earlier, and it’s hard to blame. Last December, tickets were less than $10. On a Thursday night in late 2022, the Jets’ offense had become so hard to watch that when a practice-squad quarterback (Chris Streveler) underthrew a wide-open receiver for what should have been a long touchdown, fans cheered the missed opportunity as if the team had just won the Super Bowl because he completed a pass. The play-calling was boring. The offensive line struggled to protect. And the quarterbacks were generally inadequate.
Rodgers gave the Jets hope heading into last year’s season, and then it died on MetLife Field minutes into the season. But not anymore — not anymore.
These are better days, or at least it feels that way after Thursday night. The Jets are 2-1 for the first time since 2015. Rodgers is 40, but on Thursday he moved like he did when he was 20. He scrambled for first downs, got out of the pocket, threw on the move and completed passes under pressure. The Jets jumped out to a 14-3 lead that could have been — or should have been — even bigger. They eventually won 24-3 against a New England Patriots team that, before Week 18 of last year, had won 15 straight games against them.
This is a different offense, led by a great quarterback. In the third quarter, the crowd was chanting, “AA-ron ROD-gers!”
“AARON RODGERS!” @Nyjets fans start the chant 🗣️ photo.twitter.com/uljQlvE2O9
— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2024
Better days.
At the end of the game, Rodgers stood on the sideline hoping for a defensive stop so he could get back on the field for the winning formation. He didn’t get it, but it still felt good to win.
“It was a very special night,” Rodgers said. “All those chants are very meaningful.”
Rodgers was hit a couple of times but got back up without incident. He scrambled three times, twice for first downs.
“I’m not going to lie, the first time he ran, I started laughing,” running back Breece Hall said. “I just thought, ‘He’s crazy.’ But 40 years old, the Achilles is good, it was nice to see him run.”
According to NextGen, Rodgers completed all five of his passes while moving: 11 yards to Jeremy Ruckert in the first quarter, 27 yards to Allen Lazard in the second, four to Ruckert in the third, another 18 to Ruckert in the third and, most impressively, a two-yard touchdown throw to Garrett Wilson in the third.
“It felt great. I felt really good out there,” Rodgers said. “I felt good before the game and I was making progress. I said after Week 1 it was going to be a process, I was going to continue to extend plays as I got more comfortable and this was the first step in me feeling like I was able to play. I felt like I was myself from a couple years ago.”
G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5#NEvsNYJ on @NFLonPrime photo.twitter.com/yDB13TZbBQ
— New York Jets (@nyjets) September 20, 2024
If Rodgers continues to play at this level, an MVP level, all season long, the Jets can dream big again. He completed 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Of course, these aren’t the Patriots of old either — the Jets have more talent. But the Jets have a not-so-stellar history of failing to seize the moment against inferior opponents, and an even longer record of losing to New England.
It was clear from the start that the Jets weren’t going to rest on their laurels. They came out of the blocks on their first drive, calling six straight passing plays to start the game. Rodgers quickly got them to the Patriots’ 43-yard line on three straight completions and a five-yard scramble. On his first incomplete pass, intended for Mike Williams, tackle Morgan Moses was penalized for holding, setting them back 10 yards. They didn’t recover on that drive — that felt familiar. They didn’t recover for the rest of the night, either.
On the next drive, Braelon Allen ground out three first downs on running plays, Rodgers completed an 11-yard pass to Xavier Gipson, then went to the line, saw Lazard lined up one-and-one, and called an audible to give him the ball. Lazard was so determined to give Rodgers his first touchdown at MetLife that he practically dragged Alex Austin along with him, the cornerback holding on to his jersey for dear life as it stretched out, becoming a meme.
“When he threw that ball, I was unstoppable,” Lazard said.
— New York Jets (@nyjets) September 20, 2024
Lazard was emotional after the game as he talked about that moment, a special one between two good friends. Rodgers once stood on the table to convince the Green Bay Packers to keep Lazard — a player who had gone undrafted and had been cut multiple times — and then play him more often. The receiver owes his career and the $44 million contract the Jets gave him last year to Rodgers. Almost immediately after scoring the touchdown, Lazard — who has three touchdowns in three games — ran up to Rodgers and handed him the football.
“It was pretty emotional, just with the history that Aaron and I have,” Lazard said. “To witness that moment was special for me, special for him and something I’ll never forget. I was able to give him my jersey after the game, I got my gloves which I’m going to take home and that’s something I’m going to show my grandkids.”
The Jets came back on their next offensive possession, capping a 13-play, 91-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run by Hall. It was around this time that cameras caught an awkward moment between Rodgers and Jets coach Robert Saleh on the sideline. Saleh went in for a hug, and Rodgers appeared to push him back and say something, staring the whole time. The two insist it wasn’t an awkward moment — it was a celebration of something they’d discussed recently, the idea of giving the Jets defense a two-score lead to work with.
“It wasn’t awkward at all,” Rodgers said. “He’s not normally a hugger. I didn’t know he was going for the hug. He likes to push his chest with both hands. But he talks a lot about being up by two scores. That’s what happened.”
It quickly became clear why everyone was so excited about the two-score lead. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich uncorked a blitz-heavy defense, something he had largely avoided when calling plays on defense since 2021. Depth issues on the defensive line, following the loss of defensive end Jermaine Johnson for the season and with Haason Reddick’s continued holdout, made it necessary. It worked. The Jets had seven sacks and finished with 26 total pressures and 14 QB hits, according to TruMedia.
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The Jets outgained the Patriots by 400 yards to 139. They were 10 of 15 on third down; the Patriots were 2 of 11. The Jets converted 27 first downs — their most in a game since 2021 — while the Patriots converted just 11.
It was end-to-end dominance, and the Jets still feel like they left points on the table, committing eight penalties and being forced to take two early third-quarter timeouts to avoid delaying the game.
“Our last two games we expected to win,” Hall said. “We felt like we had the better team, the more talented team. I was happy we won, but I still feel like our offense shot ourselves in the foot when we could have done it sooner. It was good, but it’s still stuff like that that’s annoying. You win, but you look back at the film and you’re like, ‘OK, we can’t do that when we’re playing a better team.'”
But those problems, those penalties, have always been the Jets’ undoing. Even when they’ve won the last few years, it’s often been in spite of the offense, in spite of the quarterback, not because of them.
But these aren’t the Jets, not with Rodgers behind the wheel. These are the better days.
“If the expectation is that we win, then we’re going to celebrate,” Rodgers said. “But we have to expect to win. The next step is to expect to dominate.”
(Top photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)
