Hmmm, I didn’t word that as clearly as I should have.
McCarthy was fired partway through the 2018 season; the Packers then hired Lafleur during the ensuing off-season. LaFleur had not been an assistant coach under McCarthy, and came from a different coaching tree (primarily working under Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay as an assistant), and thus, the offense he brought to Green Bay was distinct from the offense which McCarthy had run.
For context on the difference Vera-Tucker and Breece Hall might make, consider the two games the Jets played against the Dolphins last season, first with both then with neither.
Without those guys, the Jets lost 11-6. With those guys the Jets rolled 40-16. Looking at the box score on that win, Zach Wilson posted a solid 14-21 for 210 yards, 0 TD 0 Int. How did he do that? By throwing to Breece Hall, who caught 2 passes for 100 yards even. Take away Hall and Wilson’s numbers become 12-19 for 110 yards. (Hall also ran 18 times for almost 100 yards, averaging 5.4 per carry. Hall is to the Jets what Barkley is to the Giants.)
Now I grant you that Tua missed both of those games, and you can’t really count on that again. Although it would not be surprising if he missed more games this coming season. By the same token you could say that Hall and Vera-Tucker could go down again, but at least they are changing the field surface this year at MetLife to help mitigate the injury issues.
There is real reason to be optimistic for the Jets this season, and they do not need Rodgers to be great to realize their potential.
In 2021, the Rams had Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp and won the Super Bowl. In 2022, the Rams had Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp and went 5-12. Just because something and someone was doing well/going right in one season does not mean they necessarily pick up where they left off the next season.
I’m not saying they won’t - it could very well be that Rodgers is just the ingredient needed to take the Jets to the next level, as everyone is predicting. And Breece Hall will return to strong form, etc. But I also think it’s possible that Rodgers is pedestrian, struggles to integrate, maybe gets injured, and that some of his surrounding players don’t return as strong or in the same way. I don’t think the prevailing narrative is a given.
But the narrative isn’t that Rodgers is some kind of miracle worker.
The narrative is that the Jets, except at QB, actually has a reasonable team put together and a decent QB puts them in contention. It doesn’t even have to be Rodgers. A middle of the road QB should produce results for them.
As for Stafford and Kupp, different stories. The 2022 Rams saw the departure of several players in the off season and the ones they had left got injured (due in part to some of those departed players). It’s hard to keep a super team together - lots of egos and high salaries to satisfy if you spend big to create a narrow championship window for yourself.
That’s not the case with the Jets. They don’t have a lot of high priced vets that are at risk of leaving. Or didn’t. They spent this offseason on such to attract Rodgers. And that’s the real risk - that they will let Rodgers make too many calls on personnel and plays, like Wilson did in Denver.
Again, nobody is claiming there’s a magic bullet. Just that even a decent QB makes them a threat and a top tier QB makes them more of a threat and with a few lucky breaks, even a shot at making a deep playoff run.
Not just miserable quarterback play but quarterbacked by a guy they actively despised, key injuries, very young team, tough schedule, close losses… I think there are a lot of reasons to believe they would be better this year even without a big upgrade at QB. It’s pretty tough to make the playoffs in that division, though.
For clarity, I think the Jets have zero chance to win the division. I see them as a strong bet to win one of the three wildcards, though.
I was talking to my barber the Jets fan about exactly that premise, with some comment along the lines of “Not like they’re going to leapfrog the Bills…” and his reply was “I don’t know about that, they could.” That’s the kind of optimism that I might agree is a bit unrealistic, but with three wildcard slots I would put my preseason money on the Jets getting one of them.
Here’s a cursed take on the Rodgers situation.
Rodgers was profoundly bored in Green Bay. His disliked the coaching staff and had no confidence in his WRs. He felt like he was the only thing holding that team together. The result was that he wasn’t preparing. He wasn’t interested in running the game plan. He was spending most of his time avoiding hits and playing hero ball, chucking the ball downfield whenever he was frustrated. His narcissism was eating him alive.
In New York, things are completely different. He’s somehow managed to get a chip on his shoulder. He goes into full-on fuck you mode. He’s in unfamiliar surroundings in New York, he doesn’t have whatever distractions he found in Wisconsin. He spends all his down time watching tape, having meals with Hackett and Lazard and they devise a bunch of new offensive gimmicks. While he’s not picking on the NFC North any more, he’s also not playing 6 games against teams that know him inside and out. Rodgers was right that the offense in Green Bay was remedial, and they create something dynamic with those young players. Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson challenge for the league lead in rushing and receiving. Basically he plays every game as if he’s facing the Bears.
Yeah, I don’t believe for a second that’s how it will play out. Nope, not at all.
As much as I think the Rodgers acquisition will not help the Jets as much as they hope, I would indeed rather be a Jets fan than a Patriots fan at this moment. I cannot see any reasonable scenario in which the Pats reach the playoffs next season. Karma is coming after two decades of the Patriots feasting on the AFC East.
FWIW, USA Today ranked Rodgers as the sixth-best QB in the AFC, behind Mahomes, Allen, Burrows, Jackson, and Herbert.
I think he’s better than Jackson and Herbert. He could fall off a cliff at some point, and I certainly would rather have those guys for 2-3 seasons…but for this season, Rodgers is a better bet. It’s not that close.
I put him ahead of Jackson for sure, with two league MVPs since Jackson’s one in 2019. That league MVP is pretty much all Jackson has on his resume, isn’t it? How many playoff games has he won?
Lamar Jackson is 1-3 in the playoffs. He’s never taken the Ravens to the conference championship game.
Rodgers is 12-10, with 4 of those wins coming in 2011, when the Pack won the Super Bowl. He took GB to four other conference championship games.
IWO, there’s no way Jackson should be rated higher than Rodgers.
Lamar is staying with the Ravens. Terms not yet revealed:
God damn it. Now the entire fucking broadcast is going to be talking about Lamar instead of the rookies.
Jackson’s deal: 5 years, 260 million.
He is now the highest-paid player in the league.
Don’t worry. ESPN will find plenty of time to talk about the draftees’ dead parent.
But “only” $185 million guaranteed.
That’s the key. He was previously asking for over $200M guaranteed, which the Ravens were not comfortable with. Jackson has had some injury problems recently (which is understandable for a running quarterback who gets physical). That would be risky.
Now Jackson gets a good payday, but not all of it guaranteed. Note that Jalen Hurts recently got signed to a 5 year, $255M contract, but $180M guaranteed. You literally add $5M to each of those numbers, and you get the contract Jackson got. Who wants to bet that he went in and said, “I’m better than Jalen Hurts, I want more than him!” And Baltimore said, “Okay, what if we just add $5M on top of his, is that good?” Then Jackson gets the satisfaction of being the top guy, and Baltimore can justify it by saying that it’s not much more than Hurts got, and Jackson is arguably better. (It’s arguable; Jackson has certainly achieved a lot more, but Hurts is younger, pick what matters more to you.)
Exactly how I picture it going down.
I’m glad they were able to resolve this without an ugly standoff or Lamar playing a season on the franchise tag.
Former NFL player Henry Ruggs III to be sentenced to 3-10 years in prison. He’s the former Raiders WR who killed someone while driving at 156 mph, drunk at twice the legal limit and was carrying a loaded gun.