It’s up to Rodgers to stop the Jets' tailspin because there’s nobody else who can
Aaron Rodgers, you are out of excuses. You are out of hands to play. You are out of demands that need to be met. And the Jets are running out of time. The New York Jets lost what many considered to be a game they needed to win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, once again falling […]
Aaron Rodgers, you are out of excuses. You are out of hands to play. You are out of demands that need to be met. And the Jets are running out of time.
The New York Jets lost what many considered to be a game they needed to win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, once again falling short on prime time. The Jets are 1-3 this season in prime time with their lone victory coming against the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football back in Week 3.
The loss to the Steelers is another chapter in a season thus far filled with dominant highs and head scratching lows. The Jets currently sit at 2-5 and what was once a Super Bowl or bust team, is looking more like a complete tear down.
Rodgers is not solely to blame, but he does deserve the lion’s share of how this team has underperformed this season. After the game he seemed despondent while trying to say the right things and figure out what is going wrong for a team with so much promise.
The fact is, that the New York Jets have given Rodgers everything he has asked for, and then some. The Jets began the Rodgers era by bringing in Nathaniel Hackett to be the offensive coordinator even before Rodgers was on board, but that turned out to be an unmitigated disaster, a problem the Jets only rectified last week. The Jets upgraded the offensive line, the brought in Allen Lazard, and just this week they traded for Rodgers' long time BFF, Davante Adams. To this point, all of that has led the team to two victories in seven games.
The Jets did what so many desperate franchises do when they get a glimmer of hope, and they turned complete control of the team over to a star player. Sometimes it works, like with Tom Brady and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and sometimes it fails like everywhere LeBron James has been in recent years.
The Jets have been so desperate for a quarterback after failing to draft a franchise player for decades, that when they thought they MIGHT get Rodgers they pushed all in and Rodgers was all too happy to abide. For years, Rodgers felt unappreciated with the Green Bay Packers that the lure of being so desperately coveted by a starved franchise was simply too good to pass up. The problem is that both sides forgot that it takes more than “being happy” to win games.
Which leads us to today. The Jets waking up this morning heading into Week 8 with a mountain to climb if they want any chance at making the playoffs.
To date, the Jets feel like a boat with five holes in it and only four ways to plug them. When they get one problem solved, another one pops up. No matter what they do, there is a leak somewhere. Offensive line blocks, QB makes a bad throw. QB makes a good throw, it bounces off receiver for an interception (I’m still reeling about that one). Offense scores, defense gives it right back.
The steadying force for this team is supposed to be their veteran, first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback. And it has to be because it can’t be the head coach because they fired him two weeks ago. But to this point all we have seen is Rodgers play inconsistently. We have seen him look like the player we watched in Green Bay for years and we have seen look like the 40-year-old man that he is. It’s the former that breeds the frustration when seeing the latter.
It's time for Rodgers to repay what the Jets have given to him. He has gotten all he wanted from the Jets. Is it so much to ask for a playoff run in return?
