EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Aaron Rodgers took the field on 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 wasn’t a hint of “here we go again,” no reintroduction to the Same Old Jets.
Think about what this fan base has been through over the years, long before Rodgers tore his Achilles four plays into his Jets debut, when all hope was lost. The feeling last September — disappointment — wasn’t foreign to this fanbase, even if losing Rodgers so early hurt more than usual. Hope has been in short supply around here over the last few decades.
The Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010. Some years, most fans would stop showing up for home games around November, if not earlier, and it was hard to blame them. By December last year, tickets cost less than $10. On a Thursday night late in 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’ve been a long touchdown, fans cheered the missed opportunity like the team just won the Super Bowl, simply because he completed a pass. Play-calling was boring. The offensive line struggled to protect. And the quarterbacks have been, mostly, inadequate.
Rodgers gave the Jets hope leading up to the season last year, and then it died on the MetLife turf minutes after the season began. But this is not that — not anymore.
These are the 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 was moving like he did in his 20s. He scrambled for first downs, got out of the pocket, made throws on the move and completed passes with pressure bearing down on him. The Jets jumped out to a 14-3 lead that could have — 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 chanted: “AA-ron ROD-gers!”
“AARON RODGERS!” @Nyjets fans get the chant going 🗣️ pic.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 onto the field for the victory formation. He didn’t get it, but it still felt good to win.
“It was a really special night,” Rodgers said. “All those chants are really meaningful.”
Rodgers was hit a few times but popped back up without issue. He scrambled three times, twice for first downs.
“I ain’t gonna lie, the first time he ran I started laughing,” running back Breece Hall said. “I was just like: He’s crazy. But 40 years old, the Achilles is good, it was good to see him run.”
Rodgers completed all five of his passes while on the move, per NextGen: 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 side-arm two-yard touchdown throw to Garrett Wilson in the third.
“It felt great. I was feeling really good out there,” Rodgers said. “I felt good pregame and I’ve been progressing. I said after Week 1 it’s going to be a process, I’ll continue to extend plays as I feel more comfortable and this was the first step in like I know I’m capable I’m playing. I felt like I was myself from quite a few years ago.”
G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5 G5#NEvsNYJ on @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/yDB13TZbBQ
— New York Jets (@nyjets) September 20, 2024
If Rodgers is going to play at this level all season, an MVP level, the Jets can dream big again. He completed 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Sure, these aren’t the Patriots of old either — the Jets have more talent. But the Jets have a not-so-rich history of failing to meet the moment against inferior opponents, and an even longer track record of losing to New England.
From the beginning, it was clear that, finally, the Jets weren’t going to rest on their laurels. They came out firing on the first drive, calling six straight passing plays to start the game. Rodgers quickly got them to the Patriots’ 43-yard line after three straight completions and a five-yard scramble. On his first incompletion, intended for Mike Williams, tackle Morgan Moses was called for holding, knocking them back 10 yards. They didn’t recover on that drive — that felt familiar. The rest of the night did not.
On the next drive, Braelon Allen grinded out three first downs on running plays, Rodgers completed an 11-yard pass to Xavier Gipson and then went to the line, saw Lazard lined up one-on-one and called an audible to get him the ball. Lazard was so determined to get Rodgers his first touchdown at MetLife that he practically dragged Alex Austin with him, the cornerback hanging onto his jersey for dear life as it stretched and became a meme.
“When he threw that ball, I wasn’t going to be stopped,” Lazard said.
https://t.co/7oEsvnmQEw pic.twitter.com/og5EI2mVPB
— New York Jets (@nyjets) September 20, 2024
Lazard was emotional after the game speaking about that moment, a special one between two close friends. Rodgers once stood on the table to convince the Green Bay Packers to keep Lazard — an undrafted player cut multiple times — and then to play him more. The receiver owes his career, and the $44 million contract the Jets gave him last year, to Rodgers. Almost instantly after scoring the touchdown, Lazard — who has three touchdowns in three games — ran to find Rodgers and handed him the football.
“It was pretty emotional, just with the history that Aaron and I have,” Lazard said. “To be part of that moment was special to 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 I’m gonna take home and that’s something I’m going to show my grandkids.”
The Jets came back on their next offensive possession and closed out a 13-play, 91-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run by Hall. It was around this time that cameras caught what looked like an awkward moment between Rodgers and Jets coach Robert Saleh on the sideline. Saleh went in for a hug, and Rodgers appeared to shove him back and say something, glaring the whole time. The two insist it wasn’t an awkward moment — it was a celebration of something they’ve 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 a big hugger usually. I didn’t know he was going for the hug. He likes to do the two-hand chest push. But he talks a lot about two score leads. That’s what happened.”
It soon became clear why everyone was so excited about the two-score lead. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich uncorked a blitz-heavy defense, something he’d mostly avoided doing while calling plays for the defense since 2021. Depth issues on the defensive line, after losing 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, per TruMedia, finished with 26 total pressures and 14 QB hits.
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The Jets outgained the Patriots 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 only converted 11.
It was end-to-end domination, and the Jets still feel like they left points on the table. They committed eight penalties, and were forced to take two early third quarter timeouts to avoid delay of game penalties.
“Our last two games we expected to win,” Hall said. “We felt like we had the better team, better talent. I was happy we won but I still feel like our offense was shooting ourselves in the foot when we could’ve put it away earlier. It was good but it’s still stuff like that that’s irritating. You get the win but when you go back and watch the film it’s like OK, we can’t do that if we’re playing a better opponent.”
But those issues, those penalties, used to kill the Jets. Even when they’d win over the last few years, it was often in spite of the offense, in spite of the quarterback, not because of them.
But these are not those Jets, not with Rodgers driving the car. These are the Better Days.
“If the expectation is winning then we’re going to celebrate it,” Rodgers said. “But we should expect to win. The next step is expecting to dominate.”
(Top photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)