On Thursday night, the New York Jets(2-1) got the performance they expected when the team traded for star quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The 40-year-old quarterback was 27/35 for 281 yards and two touchdowns, and the Jets defense sacked New England Patriots quarterbacks seven times and kept them out of the end zone as they dominated the Patriots(1-2) 24-3 at MetLife Stadium in New York’s home opener.
Last season, Rodgers played one series at MetLife Stadium and left with a torn Achilles. However, on this night, he left a winner.
Yeah, it was a really special night,” he said. “All those chants are really meaningful. I was kind of hoping for a stop there to be able to take a final knee on the field, but yeah, special night.”
For the third consecutive game, New York scored three touchdowns, marking the first time the team has done so since 1989, and Rodgers believes this performance is something for the offense to build on.
“Well, I would have loved to score on a first possession, but I felt like, I don’t think we had a three and out all night,” Rodgers said. “Sounds about right, so we were efficient offensively, good on third down, spread the ball around a lot, ran the ball pretty well, pass protected pretty well. I moved out the spot a few times, halfway decent, so a lot of good things to build on from this game.”
There was an interesting exchange between Rogers and Jets head coach Robert Saleh. After Breece Hall’s one-yard touchdown run gave New York a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, Rodgers went over to Saleh, and it appeared Saleh was going to hug Rodgers; however, Rodgers seemed to push him off.
Following the game, both Rodgers and Saleh explained what happened.
“He’s not a big hugger usually, so I didn’t know he was going for the hug,” Rodgers said. “He likes to do the two-hand chest push, as well. But he talks a lot about two-score leads, so I just kind of gave him a push and said, “Two-score lead.” That’s what happened.”
Saleh added on the exchange: “Yeah, part of the things that we’ve been talking about is just getting the defense a two-score lead. And it was a two-score lead, so I guess he just wanted to see something on defense. He was just reminding me that we had a two-score lead.”
It could be something or nothing between Rodgers and Saleh, but at the end of the day, the Jets are 2-1 and finally have a quarterback that could take them far.
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