Aaron Rodgers bought the information on Tuesday that was broadly feared since he departed the Jets’ Monday evening recreation in opposition to the Buffalo Payments: He had torn his left Achilles’ tendon and can miss the season, the league mentioned in a social media submit.
After an extended and glittering profession because the Inexperienced Bay Packers quarterback, Rodgers had come to the Jets at age 39 within the hopes of pushing the group to a Tremendous Bowl, which the franchise had not gained for the reason that days of Joe Namath. With the group stocked with an elite protection and younger stars at key positions, Rodgers’s expertise and management had been considered the ultimate puzzle piece to a group that would contend for a championship.
However the star quarterback was sacked simply three and a half minutes into his first recreation at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday. Although he stood for a second after being felled by Payments defensive finish Leonard Floyd, he quickly sat down on the turf. He was helped to the sideline, then carted off to the locker room. TV cameras confirmed Rodgers sporting a protecting boot.
On Tuesday, the Jets mentioned in a submit on X, previously referred to as Twitter: “Not the best way any of us needed it to go, however we all know the dedication you’ve made to this group will proceed to affect us transferring ahead.”
After confirming that Rodgers would want surgical procedure to restore the damage, Coach Robert Saleh spent a lot of a information convention Tuesday to reiterate his confidence within the group and in quarterback Zach Wilson, 24.
“I don’t know why individuals are attempting to place an obituary on our group identify,” Saleh mentioned. He added: “Now we have all the religion on this planet in Zach and the very best half about Zach is that all of us do consider that he’s leap years forward of the place he was a yr in the past.”
For now, the Jets flip to Wilson, the backup quarterback who helped the group rally to a 22-16 win in Monday’s recreation in opposition to the Payments. Rodgers and Wilson are pals, and with the veteran’s arrival, Wilson had embraced his position as Rodgers’s understudy to enhance downside areas in his mechanics and approach. However Saleh declined to supply specifics on how the offensive technique would change below Wilson, saying it will differ relying on the sport plan.
Saleh additionally mentioned the group would elevate Tim Boyle from the observe group and can look to signal a free agent to the quarterback room.
The Jets have had a star-crossed historical past since Namath led them to an upset Tremendous Bowl victory within the 1968 season. Since then, the group has struggled to search out one other franchise quarterback able to main it again to a title recreation, utilizing first-round draft picks on Richard Todd in 1976, Ken O’Brien in 1983, Chad Pennington in 2000, Mark Sanchez in 2009, Sam Darnold in 2018, and Zach Wilson in 2021.
The Jets had additionally tried luring an M.V.P. quarterback from the Packers, buying and selling for Brett Favre in 2007. These acquisitions every fell in need of reworking the Jets offense into title contenders.
There was hope Rodgers may change that lengthy historical past of inefficacy when was acquired in an April commerce in alternate for draft picks. His lengthy profession has put him within the prime 10 of many passing classes, he has gained 4 Most Useful Participant Awards, and within the 2010 season he took the Packers to their solely Tremendous Bowl victory of this century.
Rodgers’s arrival had stoked the hopes of Jets followers and his teammates. “Bringing a man like him into the constructing simply excites everybody usually as a result of the résumé he has, the character he’s, the man that he’s, that brings a spark to all people,” mentioned defensive sort out Quinnen Williams, at coaching camp in July.
The match appeared good: Rodgers threw himself into the lifetime of town, turning up on the Tony Awards, Knicks and Rangers video games, the U.S. Open, and a Taylor Swift live performance at MetLife.
In Rodgers’s absence, expectations for the Jets at the moment are, as in so many different years, severely diminished.
Santul Nerkar contributed reporting.
