It’s crazy how much the football gods hate the Jets. The New York Jets are the most cursed franchise in all of the NFL as after spending an entire offseason in hope and anticipation of Aaron Rodgers’ arrival, the star QB tore his achilles after just four plays vs. the Bills.
This was like putting a wet, damp, sticky blanket all over the New York Jets and their fans in the middle of a blizzard.
The New York Jets may have had one of the worst season openers in NFL history as their new franchise QB Aaron Rodgers could only manage 4 snaps against the Buffalo Bills in both teams’ season opener before tearing his achilles and being out for the remainder of the season. And, even though the Jets won the game, their season is over already.
Now, before I get into the nitty-gritty of the implications of this injury, let me just say that I feel utterly and completely sick for Aaron Rodgers and Jets fans. There’s not a single player in the NFL who deserves to suffer an injury and even less so an injury as severe, serious, and career-threatening as an achilles tear.
And a guy like Aaron Rodgers, who has been one of the most consistently great quarterbacks in NFL history over the last 18 years, most definitely doesn’t deserve to have his career on the brink due to a freak accident.
Rodgers really looked like he was enjoying his football again as he was getting along with the young Jets players, attending a bunch of classic New York social and sporting events, becoming a mentor for the young players and Zach Wilson, and was a huge factor in the decision making behind the scenes for the Jets franchise…which is something he’s wanted for a long time during his years with Green Bay.
Along with the huge fanfare and hype from the media, fans, and even the players themselves on the Jets Super Bowl chances, Rodgers really seemed to be the shining, hope-filled light for a franchise that has been mired in crap for the better part of the last 50 years. And now that crap has been dumped back on this franchise entirely due to the Jets offensive line.
Of all the things the Jets improved on this offseason, such as the quarterback spot with Rodgers, the running back room with Dalvin Cook, the wide receivers/TEs with Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, and C.J. Uzomah, and supplemented their all-star caliber defense with Adrian Amos and 1st round pick Will McDonald IV, New York failed to fix one MAJOR ISSUE: the offensive line.
With a 300-year-old and injury prone Duane Brown at left tackle and bust 1st round pick (who’s also extremely injury prone) Mekhi Becton at right tackle, the Jets practically set Rodgers up to fail given how POOR his protection was.
Seriously, in Rodgers’ four snaps, he was pressured on three of them, he was sacked on two of them (one was a penalty that was called back), he torn his achilles on a woefully poor cut block by Brown, and the other play was a Breece Hall run for 42 yards,
Sure, the O-Line was very good in the running game as they helped the rushing attack gain 172 yards, but they gave up 3 sacks (1 on Rodgers), 8 QB hits, 6 TFL, and saw both Aaron Rodgers and Zach Wilson run for their lives under the pressure of a Bills defensive front without Von Miller. Yes, the Bills have a very good defense, but they were without their most dangerous pass rusher and still managed to get the QB on the ground nearly 15 times. That’s bad.
But what’s even worse is how this affects the Jets season as without Rodgers sitting under center and taking the snaps, New York is missing the playoffs and will most likely finish bottom of the AFC East division…again. Sure, the Jets won this game due to their defense turning Josh Allen into prime Jameis Winston, but will the defense be able to win 9-11 games with just a single TD from the offense in each game for the remainder of the season?
Maybe, but I highly doubt they’ll have more wins than the Dolphins (who are the AFC East frontrunners right now after torching the Chargers for 36 points in their opening day win), the Patriots (who were a poor opening 10 minutes away from defeating the defending NFC champion Eagles), and the Bills (who will not play nearly as poorly on offense as they did last night) when the season comes to an end this January.
And that’s who the Jets need to beat out to make the playoffs as they aren’t going to be able to overcome a combination of the Bengals, Ravens, Browns, Chargers, Broncos, Raiders, Titans, Jaguars, and their three AFC East rivals for the three Wild Card spots.
I feel really bad for Rodgers, but at the end of the day, this is still the New York Jets. And what can go wrong in New York most definitely will go wrong and then some.
Images Source: Featured Images:
