Aaron Rodgers may still be rehabbing his Achilles injury, but he doesn’t agree with fans who are beginning to throw in the towel on the 2023 New York Jets season.
New York sits at 4-6 and is closer to attaining the top overall pick in 2024 than actually competing for a playoff spot as of this moment. It also doesn’t help that the Jets have also made a quarterback change – benching former second-overall pick Zach Wilson in favor of career journeyman Tim Boyle.
Despite all these concerning trends on their recent three-game losing streak, Rodgers has made it clear that a 4-6 mark can certainly be corrected throughout the final seven games.
“There have been some 4-6 teams that made runs over the years,” Rodgers said on the Pat McAfee show Tuesday afternoon. “Back in 2016, there was a team that people counted out, went on a run, and won eight in a row and reached the NFC Championship game…The season is definitely not over. It’s not dead. There’s a lot left to play for.”
Rodgers later cited the Jets 2009 squad as another example. The ’09 Jets started 4-6 in the regular season before rattling off five of six wins to end the regular season and ended up reaching the AFC Title game as well.
New York could go on a similar run this season but having Rodgers back would be a major help. Gang Green’s starting quarterback announced that his rehab continues to get better each week and is jogging on a treadmill as he recovers from a torn Achilles he suffered in Week 1. Throughout the season Rodgers has made it clear that he would like to play in 2023, but would need to have the team stay in the playoff hunt for that to be a reality.
To even get to that point though, the Jets offense will need to suddenly fix many of their current issues. New York is still deal last in third-down conversion rate and among the worst in almost every offensive category. Things seemed to reach a breaking point in Buffalo when head coach Robert Saleh benched Wilson for Boyle and is riding with Boyle for Friday night’s contest against the Miami Dolphins.
“If you watched the way Tim played in the preseason you’d be pretty damn impressed,” Rodgers said of Boyle. “It’s just about understanding what we’re trying to do…We need a spark. I feel for Zach. He’s such a great kid… This has been a tough go for all of us.”
Rodgers made it clear Tuesday that not all of the Jets’ offensive problems were Wilson’s fault. New York has gone through 14 different offensive linemen appearing in games this season, and seven different combinations to start.
They’ve also struggled to get anything going in the run game while the receiving core outside of Garrett Wilson has been pretty nonexistent. Despite all those struggles though, Rodgers himself feels like things could have been different if he had been playing.
“I have some personal guilt around the whole thing and I’m pissed that I haven’t been able to play and frustrated if I was out there, there would be different narratives around our team and Zach would be able to learn and grow without the pressure on.”
Gang Green is in a difficult spot entering Thanksgiving weekend., They are only two games out of the final wild-card spot in the AFC Playoffs but are also just a game and a half out of acquiring a top-five pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Friday’s contest against the AFC East-leading Dolphins could ultimately determine where the team ends up going by season’s end. To a player like Rodgers who has seen this type of turnaround happen before, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that New York can save their season.
