EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Aaron Rodgers and this New York Jets team was a match made in heaven, at least on paper. The theory was that the Jets were a quarterback away, a team with an elite defense that had been unable to get anything going on offense due to a clown car full of quarterback incompetency. If the Jets had been even league-average on offense the last two years, they probably would’ve made the playoffs.
Historically, Rodgers has thrived with a good defense. Coming into Sunday, he’d only lost once when his defense held the opponent to 10 points or fewer: in 2010, a 7-3 Green Bay Packers loss to the Detroit Lions. And then came Sunday.
On a rainy day at MetLife Stadium, Rodgers got a little taste of what Sundays felt like for the Jets in 2022 and ’23, and it didn’t taste good.
“When your defense holds them to 10 you gotta win those 100 percent of the time,” said Rodgers, somber in his postgame news conference. “That’s on the offense, it’s on me.”
The Jets lost 10-9 to the Broncos on Sunday, a game in which Broncos quarterback Bo Nix went into halftime with negative passing yards (he finished with 60). The Broncos had fewer first downs than the Jets. They converted just 3 of 14 third downs. Only one Bronco had more than three receiving yards.
“If you looked at the stats sheet after the game and saw that you would think that we won,” Jets cornerback D.J. Reed said.
Fittingly, Zach Wilson was in the building for this Jets performance. The Jets’ former No. 2 overall pick was the Broncos’ emergency quarterback. Before the game, he shared a laugh on the field with Rodgers and Jets coach Robert Saleh. He didn’t play on Sunday, but he had the last laugh. This looked like the same Jets team that he used to lead, unprepared for the moment.
Zach Wilson and Robert Saleh chopping it up pregame 👀 pic.twitter.com/gUy8LKFzkO
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 29, 2024
Last year, the Jets were the NFL’s most penalized team. On Sunday, they were penalized 13 times for 90 yards — two others were declined. From Saleh, it was the same refrain after Sunday’s game as it was most weeks last year, as the same problems persisted week after week: “We gotta figure it out.”
Rodgers attributed it to a lack of focus. Running back Breece Hall concurred.
“I just feel like we weren’t as locked in and probably just a little antsy,” Hall said.
Those are not comments that reflect positively on the coaching staff — especially since Saleh’s message to ownership the last two offseasons was that this team was a quarterback away from figuring it out. Rodgers’ presence didn’t make much of a difference on Sunday. The Jets were 4 of 17 on third down and 0 for 2 in the red zone. Rodgers was sacked five times, hit 14 times and, per TruMedia, pressured 22 times. Hall rushed for four yards on 10 carries.
Five of the Jets’ penalties on Sunday came on false starts. Saleh attributed that to Rodgers’ complicated cadence.
“We gotta figure it out, whether or not we’re good enough or ready to handle all the cadence,” Saleh said. “Cadence had not been an issue all camp. I felt like our operation had been operating pretty good. Obviously today we took a major step back.”
The 40-year-old is known for, among other things, his complicated, ever-changing cadence (the words quarterbacks say at the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped). Rodgers often changes the words, tone and sound of what he does at the line, with the goal of drawing the defense offside or catching them off-balance.
He’s done it his entire career, and it’s often been effective. Before Sunday, the Jets had one false start penalty in three games. At the podium postgame, Rodgers seemed to take umbrage with the idea that cadence was an issue, or something that needed to be dialed back.
“That’s one way to do it; the other way is hold them accountable,” Rodgers said. “We haven’t had an issue … It’s been a weapon, we use it every day in practice, we rarely have a false start … it seems like an outlier. I don’t think we need to make mass changes based on an outlier game.”
Accountability was an issue in 2023 too, and it’s fair to wonder why the Jets were so — to quote Rodgers — “unfocused” after 10 days of rest following a dominant Week 3 win over the Patriots.
“I thought we had a great week of prep, felt great energy in the locker room pregame and even at halftime,” Saleh said. “Defensively, we came out and played really well and offensively it just wasn’t up to our standard. The reality is, it was going to be tough sledding no matter what with the way the rain was coming down. But what’s disappointing is the self-inflicted wounds. When it’s wet like the way it was today, you have to great with your detail.”
As for the weather, as Hall pointed out after the game: “When it’s a bad weather game it’s even because both teams have to deal with it.”
The self-inflicted wounds have happened throughout Saleh’s tenure, whether it was raining or the sun was shining. And things were bad on offense from the get-go against the Broncos.
Rodgers was sacked on the first play of the game, missed tight end Tyler Conklin on the next play and, on third-and-18, wide receiver Garrett Wilson fumbled it away on a catch well short of the sticks. Wilson, who is off to a slow start, wasn’t targeted again until the third quarter, and had a couple of miscommunications with Rodgers in the fourth quarter.
Then, Nathaniel Hackett reverted back to his run-run-pass tendencies to start drives, a problem that has plagued the Jets since he took over for Mike LaFleur as offensive coordinator before last season. The second drive, starting at the 1-yard line: run, run, false start (guard John Simpson), false start (Breece Hall), incomplete pass. The next drive: Hall run for no yards, Hall run losing 2 yards, incomplete pass.
Rodgers gained 9 yards on the first play of the next series … then Hall lost 2 yards, left tackle Tyron Smith was called for a false start and Rodgers scrambled for 1 yard. On his way off the field, Rodgers cursed and expressed his frustration. There was a lot of that on Sunday.
“We were kind of killing ourselves,” said Rodgers, who completed 24 of 42 passes for 225 yards. “I didn’t have a spectacular game. I missed some throws. Yeah, the weather sucks. We had some chances but way too many mental mistakes, too many poor throws and we just missed some easy stuff, some protection stuff that should’ve been easy, some route adjustment stuff that should’ve been easy. I don’t know, our focus just wasn’t as sharp as it had been the first three weeks.”
The worst drive of the game came next: Jets linebacker Quincy Williams forced a fumble on running back Tyler Badie, cornerback Michael Carter II recovered it and then after a couple of plays — a 9-yard Braelon Allen run and a defensive pass interference — the Jets had first down at the 1-yard line. They subbed in defensive tackle Solomon Thomas at fullback, plugged in tackle Max Mitchell as an extra blocker… and Hall went nowhere on two consecutive runs, among the lowlights on what was a bad day for the star running back. Hall finished with 10 carries for 4 yards — Allen, a fourth-round rookie, outplayed him. Rodgers was forced to throw it away on third down and, lining up to go for it on fourth, Simpson was called for another false start, forcing the Jets to settle for a field goal.
“We gotta get seven in this league to win,” Rodgers said.
The Jets sideline is less than enthused following the missed FG pic.twitter.com/ZTgcUPzZh0
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 29, 2024
The Jets did not get seven at any point on Sunday. It’s only the fifth time in Rodgers’ career that his offense didn’t score a touchdown in a game, and two of the other times he didn’t finish the game due to injury.
Yet, the Jets still had a chance to steal the game. Down one, they got the ball with 8:48 left in the fourth quarter. Rodgers moved the Jets to the Broncos’ 43-yard line after a 9-yard completion to tight end Tyler Conklin, a 2-yard Allen run, an 11-yard completion to Wilson and an 8-yard scramble. But on third down at the 43, Rodgers was sacked for a loss of 6 yards, forcing the Jets to punt.
Then Reed forced a three-and-out, breaking up a Nix pass, and Rodgers got the ball again with 2:31 remaining. He completed passes for 8 yards to Allen Lazard and 4 to Conklin before back-to-back-to-back incompletions on passes to Wilson and Gipson that weren’t even close, the product of miscommunication between Rodgers and his receivers. On fourth down, Rodgers was sacked again.
“We were just not on the same page,” Rodgers said.
Added Saleh: “Those are things they’ll start to get in sync, those are things that Aaron is seeing and looking for guys to look in his direction to settle into certain zones and certain windows. Those will come along. Obviously we want it to happen now but we’ve definitely gotta get in sync quicker.”
And yet, the Jets got another opportunity to take the lead after Broncos kicker Wil Lutz missed a 50-yard attempt. Rodgers got the Jets to the Broncos 32 and then Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein — automatic for most of the last two seasons — missed a 50-yarder of his own that would’ve given them the lead.
Instead, game over. It was the same old story with a familiar ending, one eerily similar to last year.
(Top photo: Mike Stobe / Getty Images)
