The Week 1 matchup between the Jets and Steelers on Sunday afternoon should be called the Revenge Bowl.
Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Glenn and Justin Fields will all be looking for some measure of revenge in the season opener even though none of them were willing to talk about it this week.
“I’ll just be excited for week one,” Rodgers said when he was asked about the significance of his return to MetLife Stadium on Wednesday.
Glenn and Jets general manager Darren Mougey decided to release Rodgers shortly after they were hired.
When he was asked this week about what he saw from Rodgers on film last year when he was with the Jets, Glenn wasn’t interested in answering the question.
“That’s been gone,” Glenn said. “I’m not going to answer questions about guys that aren’t here and what I saw. Right now, I’m looking at what our guys can do. I’m not going to sit here and answer questions on what I saw back then. It’s not relevant to right now.”
Don’t let their coyness fool you. Week 1 is big for Rodgers, Glenn and Fields.
Rodgers, the four-time NFL MVP, was released for the first time in his career in March. In 2023, the Jets made the blockbuster trade for Rodgers, hoping he was the missing piece of the puzzle to pair with their elite defense. However, after a catastrophic two seasons that began with an Achilles tear in the 2023 opener and ended with a disjointed 5-12 season, in which both their coach, Robert Saleh, and general manager, Joe Douglas, were fired, Rodgers was gone.
Rodgers said his goal was to bring another Lombardi Trophy to the Jets organization. Instead, he was flown out from his California home to New Jersey just to be told he was being fired and would be released ahead of the new league year. During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” in April, Rodgers said Glenn seemed concerned that his presence on the Jets roster would undermine his authority. Rodgers also said Glenn failed to show him the “ample respect” during their Feb. 6 meeting.
Ultimately, Rodgers landed with the Steelers after signing a one-year, $13.65 million contract before the team’s minicamp in June. Now, Rodgers has a chance for revenge against the man who handed him a pink slip, reportedly one minute into their conversion in Florham Park.
“Aaron, he was one of those guys who was almost like a bright spot,” Jets left guard John Simpson told the Daily News. “So, when I see him, I’m going to be excited.
“I guess for us, it is not paying too much attention to that and just focusing on the game plan and executing the plan. It is going to be crazy for sure, but it is going to be exciting.”
Sunday is equally as crucial for Glenn because he is coaching in his first NFL game in charge after climbing the coaching ranks, including his three seasons in Detroit as defensive coordinator of the Lions. His job is to turn the Jets from a perennial losing organization that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010 into winners.
To help with that, Glenn wants to change Gang Green’s culture by upping their level of physicality and mentality. He wants to build the Jets into a bully who punches teams in the mouth.
One of Glenn’s first decisions as coach was to release Rodgers, which wasn’t popular with a segment of Jets fans who thought the future Hall of Famer still gave the team the best chance to win. Then the Jets signed Fields to a two-year, $40 million deal. Still, to this day, Glenn has never given a specific reason for releasing Rodgers, but he did say during the spring that it had nothing to do with his headline-dominating persona.
After two years of Rodgers buzz, Glenn has built the culture in a far different way. He is a believer in “moving in silence.” So much so that some of the players inside the locker room were reluctant to discuss Rodgers this week.
Now, he is giving the keys to Fields for at least one season to prove that he can be the franchise quarterback many expected him to be when he was drafted by the Bears in 2021. Throughout the spring, training camp and now entering the regular season, Glenn has expressed his confidence in Fields. He believes the relationship between a coach and a quarterback is essential to the success of a team.
“I do believe that the head coach-quarterback relationship has to be on point,” Glenn said. “I do believe that, because you want to be wired a certain way as far as how you think the game should be going, especially in game management situations.
“You have to be on the same page. There’s a number of coaches, like I don’t know if [Bill] Belichick and [Tom] Brady, I don’t know if he was an extension, but the thing is they understood each other, and to me, I think more into that aspect than anything else.”
Fields can also have a bit of a redemption story with a victory against the Steelers.
After a disappointing three seasons with the Bears, Fields was traded to the Steelers last year to be Russell Wilson’s backup. He eventually started in six games, winning four of them, but Pittsburgh still decided to start Wilson after he was fully healthy.
Fields understands the stakes this season. He has been criticized for holding onto the ball too long and for his lack of accuracy. In 50 career games, Fields has thrown for 7,780 yards, 45 touchdowns and 31 interceptions with a 61.1 completion percentage.
Glenn and the Jets are hoping Fields’ mobility can unlock a rushing attack that finished last in attempts and next to last in rushing yards per game last season.
Much like Rodgers and Glenn, Fields has been coy about playing against his former team, but the best revenge is having massive success.
“Like I told you guys before, I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason,” Fields said. “Like I said, I was in a spot last year where I was able to see the game from a different perspective. I learned a lot from, you know, Russ [Russell Wilson] and all the other vets there.”
