EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — Aaron Rodgers reached out to his head coach with a message and an acceptance.
“Two points ahead,” he told Robert Saleh as the New York Jets took a 14-0 lead over the New England Patriots.
Then he pushed his trainer.
Consider it a misunderstanding.
Rodgers and Saleh were united in their message: They had a two-point lead on their team’s game plan and agreed on the importance of this crucial moment on the way to the 24-3 victory on Thursday Night Football.
But their celebrations contradicted each other. When Rodgers chested and Saleh hugged him, gravity separated them rather than united them, downplaying a moment that seemed threatening on the internet.
“It wasn’t awkward at all,” Rodgers said. “He’s not usually a big hugger, so I didn’t know he was going for the hug. He also likes to do the chest bump with both hands. But he talks a lot about two-sixty lead.”
“So I just gave him a nudge and said, ‘Two points ahead.'”
The explanation matched the initial lip-reading attempts, but either way there was cause for confusion: Two-point leads have been rare for the Jets in recent years. There were, frankly, no reasons to celebrate either.
The Jets will need time to learn how to celebrate, just like they needed time to get in shape with the four-time MVP at the helm.
But when the Jets ended a 15-year streak without consecutive wins against the Patriots, a raucous prime-time crowd saw more than just the division records changed.
For the first time in his time with the Jets, Rodgers looked dominant. The Jets looked great. And after a long break, a complementary brand of football returned to the Jets.
The game spoke volumes about what the Jets could become this season and how. And it also served as a warning to the Patriots that went beyond the loss.
Rodgers turns back the clock and leads the Jets again
Allen Lazard was amazed long before his visits to the end zone.
The veteran receiver, who spent all seven seasons of his career on the same roster as Rodgers, had experienced this magic before.
But did Rodgers really escape the pocket on the second play of the game, fake a pass and gain a 5-yard first down?
Would the 40-year-old quarterback, who tore his Achilles tendon 374 days ago, really throw such a powerful throw from the platform so quickly?
“I mean, this herbal remedy must really work,” Lazard told Yahoo Sports after catching three passes for 48 yards and the game’s first touchdown. “I might have to try it out here soon, so hopefully I’ll still be playing when I’m 40.”
The Jets’ first touchdown against the Patriots was more of a testament to Rodgers’ intellectual than physical mastery. The quarterback calculated his chances of success by isolating Lazard on the left. Rodgers released the ball almost immediately after the snap when Lazard baited his defender with a particularly flat route.
Then Lazard suddenly stopped and started again while scoring a 10-yard touchdown. It was the Jets’ first touchdown of the night, but far from the last.
“Our biggest focus was beating them in the second half and so on,” Lazard said. “That’s what good teams do. We want to be a great team.”
The Jets’ running back was responsible for the second point: Breece Hall’s touchdown, which was so close that it was disputed, gave the Jets the long-awaited two-point lead.
Now the Jets defense could further frustrate Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett by activating the pass rush up front with the obvious pass attempts while an opportunistic secondary is salivating in the back.
But Rodgers wasn’t done yet. He knew that opposing defenses had spent three weeks trying to shut down receiver Garrett Wilson. They often protected themselves with two high-ranking safeties, even though Wilson was facing top cornerbacks: Charvarius Ward of the 49ers, L’Jarius Sneed of the Tennessee Titans and now Christian Gonzalez of New England.
But with 6:24 left in the third quarter, the Jets were 2 yards away from a home run after Rodgers found Wilson for 8 yards. Wilson asked his quarterback in the huddle to hit him again, and Rodgers happily obliged with a run-pass option.
Rodgers threw the ball in the air and Wilson caught it in the air. “It’s a really tough catch for a mere mortal,” Rodgers said, “but (Wilson) made it look easy.”
This is how most Jets saw Rodgers’ first full home game against the Jets, in which he completed 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 118.8.
Lazard recalled a moment they spent in the weight room before the season opener when Lazard walked in and saw Rodgers squatting. He thought he saw four plates and a 25-pound dumbbell, but maybe it was three plates and a 25-pound dumbbell, he guessed. Whether 325 pounds or 425 pounds, Lazard knew that was not normal for Rodgers’ age and health.
“That was way more than a 40-year-old can do,” Lazard said. “And for him to lose his Achilles tendon… that’s unbelievable.”
Will the Patriots learn the hard lessons from the Jets QB?
The magic of Rodgers’ night stood in sharp contrast to the Patriots’ quarterback situation.
After defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 and then forcing the Seattle Seahawks into overtime before losing in Week 2, New England was never able to mount any real resistance through four quarters.
Brissett completed 12 of 18 passes for 98 yards and posted a passer rating of 80.3 after throwing for 149 yards and a touchdown in Week 1 and 121 yards in Week 2. But Brissett’s limited production wasn’t New England’s main problem. The quarterback and offensive line’s inability to handle the Jets’ pass rush was.
After allowing three sacks against the Bengals and just one against the Seahawks, the Jets sacked the Patriots seven times and hit their quarterbacks 15 times. Brissett lasted the first 50-plus minutes of the loss before the Patriots handed the final series to 2024 third-round draft pick Drake Maye.
Brissett was pressured 13 times, which is the highest pressure rate he’s ever faced in a game with at least 10 attempts, at 56.5%, according to Next Gen Stats.
Maye completed 4 of 8 passes for 22 yards and a passer rating of 56.2, and also ran twice for a total of 12 yards. His play showed what should already be clear to the Patriots: The quarterback may not be the only problem in their offense, but it is certainly not their solution yet.
With his eight pass attempts, Maye came halfway to the total the four-time MVP achieved on the other side of the field in his rookie year.
Rodgers did not start a single game in his first three years after the Packers drafted him in the first round in 2005, and did not attempt more than 28 passes in any of those seasons.
The ten Pro Bowls, the regular playoff appearances and the Super Bowl title are far from a sure outcome just because teams rest their quarterback. But on Thursday, a long-suffering Jets team showed the Patriots what can be possible when a team assembles talent to surround a quarterback before asking him to improve the team. The Jets showed New England what a quarterback’s game can look like when a gunslinger is given adequate time to develop physically and mentally.
Rodgers’ ability to control the offense, avoid a three-and-out on the night and avoid turnovers while repeatedly moving the Jets down the field represented the opposite end of the quarterback play spectrum than what led the Carolina Panthers to bench 2023 first-round pick Bryce Young after just two games of the season.
The Patriots have seen examples this week alone of the risk and opportunity they are taking in developing Maye.
You should listen to them.
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo declined to confirm whether he might replace Brissett with Maye as the starter, saying “I don’t know” if there will be a quarterback change, but the coaching staff will “wait and see where it goes” as players compete weekly.
The Jets all over the stadium breathed a sigh of relief that the quarterback question was no longer her Problem – and they continue to learn to line up not only on the field but also when celebrating.
“If we expect to win, we celebrate, but we should also expect to win,” Rodgers said. “The next step is to expect to dominate.”
