Jets vs. Aaron Rodgers: Franchise already won by getting rid of quarterback
Aaron Rodgers during his time with the Jets, and Aaron Rodgers with his new team, the Steelers. Credit: Jim McIsaac; AP/Gene J. Puskar
FLORHAM PARK, N.J.
No matter the score, no matter the outcome, no matter how the rest of this season plays out, the Jets can rest assured of one thing regarding their Week 1 game against the Steelers on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
They’ve already won.
They accomplished that victory in the offseason when they cut ties with Aaron Rodgers and decided they were going to move forward rather than try to recapture the past . . . or, more to the point, Rodgers’ past.
They are so much better off without him. Maybe not Sunday, maybe not even in 2025, but absolutely for the next several years.
If there was any hesitation regarding that decision — and judging by Rodgers’ own take on the brief meeting he had with Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey in New Jersey that was a cross-country flight to the football guillotine, there was not — it should have been crystallized this week based on what Rodgers has been saying.
Nothing. That’s what he’s saying. Absolutely nothing.
No little jabs at the Jets, no comments about returning to MetLife Stadium, no smirks to old pals who remain on the roster. No anecdotes or accusations. No podcasts, even.
See? He can do that when he wants to. He can do what he always said the Jets needed more of and eliminate the “B.S.” that distracts from football. He just never wanted to.
His true feelings eventually will emerge, whether in a postgame news conference or some future documentary he’s making of himself. But he stayed locked in his lane as Pittsburgh’s Employee Number 8.
To be clear, Rodgers was never a bad teammate while here. Most of those who played with him speak highly of him and recollect with fondness their bonding sessions talking about football and life . . . even if it was hard to find one who has communicated with him since his departure.
And he wasn’t a terrible player, either, especially later last season, when he finally seemed to be coming around from the Achilles injury that defined his tenure here.
But he was an awful Jet. Awful for the Jets.
All of those things can be true at the same time.
He set the franchise back years, to the point that Glenn has had to come in and essentially start from scratch with the cornerstones of culture and philosophy.
Coming into 2023, the Jets were a team that was competent quarterback play away from contending for at least a playoff berth, if not more. They just picked the wrong quarterback.
Not all of that is Rodgers’ fault. The Jets gave him too much freedom, too much of a say, too much leeway. They fawned over him and gazed up at him. But Rodgers took advantage of it all to the detriment of the only organization that was willing to give him a chance when he emerged from that darkness retreat, dumped by the Packers and 90% sure he would retire.
How’s that for gratitude?
The Rodgers Era here certainly would be viewed differently — though there is no guarantee it would be better — had he not gotten hurt four snaps into his first game here. That creates one of the great coulda-beens in local sports lore, joining a long list of recent twists that includes everything from Kevin Durant’s toe going over the three-point line to Aaron Judge crashing into the wall at Dodgers Stadium to Plaxico Burress accidentally shooting himself in the leg to derail what was shaping up to be a Giants season better than either of their two most recent Super Bowl campaigns.
But the fact is Rodgers failed. He didn’t bring the Jets a trophy. He didn’t change their lot or their luck. He didn’t even leave them in a better place than he found them.
“Obviously, I got the opportunity to play with a living legend in this game,” wide receiver Garrett Wilson said on Thursday. “As far as the way things went, that’s the game we play. When it came to Sundays, we didn’t play our best football. And we have another opportunity to make right on that starting on Sunday. That’s the exciting thing for everyone in this locker room that was here for the last two years. The expectation is still there. The expectation is greater. We know what we missed out on. Let’s go out [Sunday] and play good ball.”
This might not be easy to endure for Jets fans. Rodgers might be able to rekindle his MVP magic for the Steelers, might even be able to do for them what he couldn’t for the Jets. That would be tough to watch.
Ask Giants fans what it was like last year watching Saquon Barkley dominate the league and then win a Super Bowl for the Eagles. Hint: It wasn’t fun.
That same narrative could take place this year. At least the Jets have to face Rodgers and the Steelers only once in the regular season, and they get it out of the way quickly. Like ripping off a bandage.
Is Rodgers a better player and passer than Justin Fields, the quarterback who replaces him for the Jets? His four MVPs and Super Bowl trophy say definitely in terms of historic careers, and there is a good chance that he will remain that even now despite being nearly twice Fields’ age.
Is Mike Tomlin a better head coach than Aaron Glenn? At this point, he has a 191-to-zero advantage in career wins plus a Lombardi Trophy to say so.
Do the Steelers have a better roster than the Jets, one that looks more like a postseason team on paper filled with the kinds of mercenary veterans and splashy newcomers the Jets spent the previous two seasons collecting and trying to surround Rodgers with? Yes.
Advantage: Steelers, Steelers, Steelers.
These Jets have something the Steelers don’t have, though. They have the hard-earned perspective and wisdom that Rodgers is not necessarily the answer to a team’s problems. For them he was the problem. And no matter how things play out on Sunday, they should be grateful he is no longer theirs.
The best Jets win of Rodgers’ tenure, undoubtedly and ironically, was the first one, when he got hurt and they were able to come back and beat the Bills in overtime without him.
The second-best win will be Sunday, regardless of the outcome, when he finally and fully is exorcised from their universe.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
