The New York Jets fell to 2-6 last weekend after falling to lowly New England. I think it quite safe to say that the Aaron Rodgers experiment is never going to meet expectations.
Personally, I have always thought that the expectations were never realistic. Rogers, as he reached his 40s, has become injury-prone. He is also on pace for one of the worst seasons of his career.
Multiple defensive coaches and defensive players have commented that Rodgers has lost his mobility and is jumpy when facing pass rushes. This has led to interception issues at key moments for the Jets.
The Jets had visions of Super Bowls when they acquired Rodgers in 2023, but their playoff drought is likely about to hit a 14th consecutive season. Rodgers, who turns 41 in December, is running short on time to change the narrative of his Jets tenure.
For some reason, the expectation, especially in New York, is that he should be looking like the MVP from 2021 when he played for Green Bay. True, he’s probably doing better than most 40-year-old quarterbacks in the past (other than the GOAT Tom Brady), But asking Rodgers to be the savior of a franchise is a bit much.
Rodgers has been a lightning rod for negative media coverage. He repeatedly blames teammates for the team’s struggles. He missed part of training camp for a “scheduled vacation.” He lobbied hard for a coaching friend to be his offensive coordinator. He asked for and got former teammates added to the Jets’ roster. Many also believe he asked for and got his head coach (Robert Salah) fired a few weeks back.
Meanwhile the losses keep piling up and his ‘personnel demands’ are not working. In fact, the so-called savior may end up losing more games than the quarterback he replaced.
