One year later, the most famous Achilles tendon in the sports world has healed, reinforcements have arrived and the mission for 40-year-old Aaron Rodgers is the same as for 39-year-old Aaron Rodgers:
Win a Super Bowl.
Lead the Jets to the playoffs for the first time since the 2010 season.
Lead the Jets to a division title for the first time since the 2002 season.
Lead the Jets to their first Super Bowl since January 12, 1969.
Find a way to beat Patrick Mahomes and deny him a third straight win if his Chiefs get in your way.
Be the savior you were hired to be a year ago.
Rodgers has been through hell waiting to return to this moment with a stopover in Egypt, a moment where he can establish his eternal New York legacy alongside Broadway Joe Namath.
If he can win his own elusive second Super Bowl title.
With the players around him – Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson – and a strong offensive line that he loves so much and whose anchor – if he stays healthy – is Tyron Smith, as well as an elite defense and a superior kicking game – Rodgers doesn’t have to be yesterday’s MVP.
But that doesn’t mean he can’t surgically destroy the defense again with his great football mind and great football arm.
And an ancient, beautiful chip that, all these years later, has nothing to do with the draft day when the 49ers from his hometown selected Alex Smith first in the 2005 NFL Draft and he sat alone in the green room until the Packers threw him a lifeline with the 24th pick.
“I’m very proud of my performance and when I step out on the field I expect great things,” Rodgers said. “Because I’ve done it before. So that’s the standard I hold myself to.”
He played four snaps in the 2023 home opener against the Bills on September 11 before Leonard Floyd, now an edge rusher for the 49ers, ruptured his Achilles tendon and ended his dream with the Jets. He did not play a single snap in the preseason games.
“I think you always have something to prove,” Rodgers said. “The older you get, the more I think who you are changes.”
He knows exactly who he needs and wants to prove it to him.
“I’ve always played with something on my shoulder,” Rodgers said. “You have to, you know, make things from time to time. It’s kind of a matter of proving it. Who would I have to prove it to? Only myself.”
His teammates see a hungry Rodgers. “I don’t think he’s ever lost courage,” Allen Lazard told the Post, “from when he fell behind in the draft, to the injuries he’s had throughout his career, to the bad years he’s had and the years he won the four MVPs, and I think he’ll always have that courage regardless.”
No one sees a 40-year-old quarterback on the Jets. “The way he is on the field, you would have thought he was 24 or 25,” Lazard said, “the way he plays out there and throws the ball.”
CJ Mosley: “He throws the ball left and right, he moves, he’s mobile, it’s fun to be around him and play with him.”
Rodgers sees a certain maturity in a player-led team that is better prepared for the inevitable adversity. “We can’t afford any leaks or people abandoning ship,” he said.
He understands that as a leading surfer, he can’t ride the euphoria-disaster wave of the Jets’ Super Bowl or the old Jets’ headlines. “You have to find a way to be a point of stability for the team,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers will take a moment Monday night at Levi’s Stadium to enjoy being back playing the childhood game he has missed so much and loves so much.
“During the national anthem, there is always a moment of reflection where you can collect your thoughts and send gratitude to the universe for the opportunity to be on the field in protective gear,” Rodgers said.
At the start of training camp, he told us the destination was New Orleans, site of the 2024 Super Bowl. I asked him on Thursday if New Orleans was still the destination. “Of course,” Rodgers said.
Win the Super Bowl.
