One the one hand, Rodgers-to-the-Jets seems like an attempt to reincarnate Brady-to-the-Bucs. Add a Hall of Fame QB to a rising team with an excellent defense and win a Super Bowl.
On the other hand, Rodgers ain’t Brady. Brady may be an asshole, but no one can ever question his focus or his competitiveness. I won’t be surprised if Rodgers leads the Jets to the playoffs, but I also won’t be surprised if it all melts down midseason.
Just to note, as the graphic with that Schefter tweet shows a photoshopped photo of Rodgers wearing a #8 Jets jersey – the ESPN article on the trade indicates that, although Joe Namath approved of the Jets giving his #12 to Rodgers, it appears that he plans to wear #8, as it was his number at Cal.
I was also going to say, the Jets aren’t the Bucs. Their QB has been a problem but it’s far from their only problem. They have been badly managed for years. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2010 with Rex Ryan and Mark “Butt-Fumble” Sanchez.
The Jets have a lot of good, young talent. I can’t wait.
The Bucs had also been badly managed. Coincidentally, they were also coming off a 7-win season and had a 13-year playoff drought going when Brady arrived. (Cue eerie parallel music.)
Last year was Rodger’s worst in a long time, and he still was middle of the pack (pun intended) in QB rating, despite having a complete lack of proven, experienced people to throw to. He wasn’t bad, exactly, but he was completely disinterested. Which sounds a lot like Brady in his last season as a Patriot.
I would be surprised if he melts down. He’s only 1 year removed from back to back NFL MVPs, and he’s always a ton better when he has a chip on his shoulder, and boy is there a chip on there now. He’s certainly an asshole, a head case, a liar, and dumber than a box of rocks, but he’s still a good NFL QB with an incredible upside.
If he does “melt down”, I’d guess it would be because of the Jets organization, an injury, and/or the … let’s say questionable … offensive line, rather than him.
Should be an interesting year. I have seen nothing that gives me any confidence in Jordan Love, but Gutey has tried to build this team to be a defense/running game team, so hopefully that won’t be too crushing of a year.
Well, I didn’t say he might melt down, but that “it” (i.e., the situation) might. As with Denver last year – coincidentally headed by Nathaniel Hackett, who’s now Rodgers’ OC with the Jets.
They do. I mean, they went from being awful to being not too bad last year, and that’s through some good personnel. They had a decent defense. They seemed like they have potential. Maybe Rodgers is all they need, that and the people he wanted with him on offense. But…
Here’s one big difference to me though. Tom Brady wanted to win, that’s what he always wanted. He famously wasn’t demanding to be the highest-paid player in the NFL (even though he probably warranted it) because he wanted to make sure that New England had enough money to surround him with good players. He didn’t seem to be personally well-liked, but he had a philosophy that the team mattered and winning mattered.
Aaron Rodgers seems to be the opposite. To Aaron all that matters is Aaron. I get the feeling that he will want everything to be about him, and to have full control. We saw how that worked in Denver when the Broncos took Russell Wilson and let him do anything he wanted. It was a disaster.
We will see what happens in New York, but the only thing I really expect is drama. Whether the team improves or gets worse, it feels to me like taking a lit match into a fireworks factory. Add a wacky diva to a tabloid market, and grab some popcorn.
I expect the OL to be greatly improved with the return of Vera-Tucker. Remember how solid they looked with Breece Hall? Vera-Tucker was lost for the season in the same game Breece was. (At the time the Jets were 5-2.)
The only observation here I’d take issue with is “dumber than a box of rocks.”
Rodgers is extremely intelligent, both as a student of the game, and just raw intellect – witness his Celebrity Jeopardy performance. On raw intelligence alone, he may well be one of the smartest players in the league.
That said, I suspect that he’s lacking in wisdom and certain social skills, as well as not being shy about demonstrating his large ego, and being overly willing to place the blame for things going wrong on others. But, I really don’t think he’s dumb.
Yeah, dumb isnt a great word for Rodgers. But his persecution complex, his anti-vax/ivermectin views, his belief in a “cancel culture” and his fear of “woke mobs” displays a certain level of … outcome based reasoning? … lack of objectivity in analysis? that is certainly troubljng.
Rogers will certainly have his work cut out for him while playing for the Jets. Even though they finished 4th in their division, they have what appears to be a damn tough schedule for a last-place team. Eight games against playoff teams from last year: Buffalo twice, Miami twice, KC, Philly, Dallas, and the Giants. Their other games are the Pats twice, Cleveland, Chargers, Broncos, Raiders, Washington, Houston, and Atlanta.
This isn’t the forum for it, but this kind of damaged thinking seems to be mostly IQ agnostic. Plenty of smart but toxic people have fallen prey to it. Seems like this comes from a different part of the brain. Someday when we understand the brain better maybe we’ll get an answer. Safe to say he’s not entirely well and hilariously sees himself as a victim.
I’ll make the bold prediction that Rodgers flops* this year in NY. Because of Brady’s remarkable longevity, it feels less remarkable for a 40+ year old QB to be elite, but I suspect that Rodgers’ best years are now behind him and last year was less of a fluke and more of a harbinger. Add to that having to learn a new system after nearly 2 decades in the same one, with mostly new teammates on a (let’s face it) historically dysfunctional franchise, and I believe he will struggle.
Most analyses that I’ve seen say adding Rodgers makes the Jets instant playoff contenders. I don’t think that’s true, particularly in the AFC East.
*By “flops” I mean he does not perform significantly better than he did last year, which is obviously still an improvement for the Jets, but way less than what everyone is expecting.
Yes and no to that point; the Packers did adopt a new offensive system in 2019, when Matt Lafleur took over for Mike McCarthy (who had, indeed, been the head coach for Rodgers’ entire time as the starting QB up until that point).
The Jets were already close to being playoff contenders (I mean, simply ‘contending’ for a playoff slot isn’t a high bar). Even a middle of the road QB would have them there.
Rodgers playing his worst football under a new system is instantly better than the 6 TD, 7 INT season Zack Wilson had (albeit in only 9 games).
If he performs the same or even a little worse than last year, they are absolutely an instant playoff team. They started off 5-2 last year with remarkably terrible quarterback play. Middling performance would be a massive improvement.
Also, last year for the Packers was technically a successful year by the Wellington Mara standard: the last game they played was meaningful. Had they won it, they would have been in the playoffs. (At least I think I remember that. Corrections welcome.)
Last season the Jets were 7-10 and last in the AFC East. Division foe Miami was 9-8 and a wild card team. Jets lost both games to the Pats last season; had they won those two games, they are in the playoffs.
Is Rodgers worth two more wins? Last year, probably. But their schedule appears to be tougher this year than last, so his work is certainly cut out for him.
Sure, that’s what everyone is predicting and it may very well happen, but it assumes that Rodgers is walking into the 5-2 Jets from the beginning of the season and not the 2-8 Jets from the rest of the season. I don’t think it’s that simple.
The 5-2 Jets had Breece Hall and Alijah Vera-Tucker. The 2-8 Jets had neither.