This isn’t how the Jets’ season was supposed to go.
They weren’t supposed to be 3-7, clinging to worsening playoff odds in Aaron Rodgers’ return from an Achilles tear.
They weren’t supposed to be a bottom-third offense, averaging only 298.5 yards and 17.7 points per game with weapons such as Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson and, as of four weeks ago, Davante Adams.
And they certainly weren’t supposed to be the subject of an ESPN deep dive exploring what’s gone wrong for Rodgers and the Jets.
But that’s where they find themselves.
On Wednesday, three days after a 31-6 loss to the Arizona Cardinals dropped the Jets’ playoff probability to 14%, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, ESPN published a long-form feature titled “Inside Aaron Rodgers’ complicated relationship with the Jets.”
In it, author Tim Keown writes about the dynamic between Rodgers and his teammates, and how Rodgers’ “ongoing torment of ‘bringing guys along’ and ‘being a better leader’ and ‘setting the tone’ always carries an undercurrent of superiority, a verbal pat on the head.”
“They talk about the nagging injuries and the shaky offensive line and the inability to sustain a running game,” Keown wrote. “They’re all lighting candles at the same altar. They say it’s a team game. They’re all in it together. One man can’t change a culture overnight. Mostly, though, they speak of him like he’s a famous piece of art.”
The 5,000-word report is the result of Keown spending three weeks of practice and four games around the Jets and Rodgers, who turns 41 next month.
“The driving force in me wanting to play my best is not wanting to disappoint him,” rookie running back Braelon Allen said of Rodgers, according to ESPN. “There are challenges, especially with how particular and detailed he is within the scheme. He expects everyone to be where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there. It’s a lot, you know?”
The Jets acquired Rodgers, a four-time MVP, in a trade with the Green Bay Packers before the 2023 season, hoping to end a playoff drought that dates back to 2010 and a championship drought that goes back to 1969.
They entered last year with Super Bowl aspirations, but those quickly dissipated when Rodgers suffered his season-ending Achilles injury four snaps into Week 1.
The Super Bowl hopes returned in 2024, but the Jets have not met expectations, with five consecutive losses between Sept. 29 and Oct. 27 dropping them toward the bottom of the AFC standings.
Rodgers, who led the Packers to a Super Bowl title in 2011, has completed 62.4% of his passes for 2,258 yards, 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions this year. He’s been hampered at times by hamstring and knee issues that have seemingly inhibited his ability to escape the pocket.
“We just gotta do a better job of servicing him and making the game as easy for him as possible,” Hall said, according to ESPN.
Amid their rough start, the Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh after Week 5 and traded for Adams, a favorite target of Rodgers in Green Bay, after Week 6.
“He’s achieved a lot, obviously,” Adams told ESPN of Rodgers, “but I think he’s driven by not being able to win multiple Super Bowls. He’s won one, but he’s been in situations where he’s had the opportunity to almost taste it, almost touch it. Not being able to secure a championship at a higher rate is something that has, I won’t say bothers him, but it has motivated him to continue on at this old age.”
ESPN’s feature also describes the drama involving since-traded wide receiver Mike Williams, whom Rodgers told reporters ran the wrong route on a late-game interception in the Jets’ 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 6.
Asked if he liked being called out publicly, Williams told ESPN, “No, no no,” but that “it is what it is.”
“People were sending [the video] to me,” Williams said. “They’re asking me if I saw it. I’m like, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I see it, but what am I supposed to do, though? I’m grown. It doesn’t affect me any kind of way. Not like I’m going to go home and cry, you know? Beat myself up about it? Nah. Nah.”
The Jets sent Williams to the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this month. He hauled in the game-winning touchdown pass in his team debut Sunday, helping the AFC North-leading Steelers improve to 7-2.
Rodgers’ Jets, meanwhile, remain only two games out of a playoff spot in the top-heavy AFC, though the current No. 7 seed, the 5-5 Denver Broncos, hold the tiebreaker after a head-to-head win at MetLife Stadium in Week 4.
The Jets host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and the preparation stays the same, focus stays the same,” Rodgers said Tuesday on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“I think you’ve got to handle it with humility. Been a lot of pies to be eaten around here this year, flavored humble. But you’ve got to hold on to that beautiful thing in life called hope, and that’s just that there’s a chance. We’re not mathematically eliminated. There’s a lot to play for.”
