There was always a chance it would play out this way for the Jets and Aaron Rodgers.
New York lost to the Buffalo Bills 23-20 on “Monday Night Football” to wrap up Week 6 in the NFL. The Jets have lost three in a row and are running out of buttons to push.
Owner Woody Johnson, after seeing his team embarrassed in front of his diplomat pals in London, tried his last best option when he fired head coach Robert Saleh. The Jets also stripped hapless offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett of his playcalling duties.
New York looked better but couldn’t overcome a flag-filled, mistake-prone performance. Rodgers turned back the clock with a Hail Mary touchdown before halftime, but even that wasn’t enough. Buffalo held on. Now, at 2-4, a team with Super Bowl or bust aspirations is a relatively long shot to even make the playoffs.
So, now what? It’s a question that ESPN’s Troy Aikman was wondering himself after calling the Monday night barn-burner for the worldwide leader.
“I don’t know where they go from here, quite honestly,” Aikman said on “SportsCenter” after the game. ” … I could see this totally unraveling. I know the players won’t agree with that, but I could see it happening because they put so much into this week to win a game and get back on track. The owner says this is the best team he’s had in 25 years, all those things, but they didn’t get it done. So they’re right back where they were, now what’s the answer for them? They don’t have it.”
The result didn’t come as much of a surprise to NESN.com’s Mike Cole and Ricky Doyle, cohosts of “The Spread” podcast on NESN’s podcast network. The guys opened their Week 6 episode by breaking down the firing, with neither expecting it to make much difference or the Jets.
“I think this is the first in the line of guys who are going to lose their jobs because the Jets overcommitted to Aaron Rodgers and it didn’t work out,” Cole said. ” … if this is fully Woody Johnson’s call, this is emblematic of ‘You sold out for one guy. You can’t just give up on that midstream. You need to figure out, pull all the levers you can to find a way to make it work, and if at the end, you’ve fired everyone, that’s what it is because it was probably going to end that way anyway if it didn’t work.’
“Joe Douglas, you’re next. Nathaniel Hackett, watch out below. Aaron Rodgers, this thing is done after this year if you ask me. It’s not shocking, I don’t think it’s fair, but like, that’s the NFL. I don’t think it addresses their issues at all, and I don’t think it’s gonna make a difference at all. I think they’re dead in the water.”
This was always on the table in the range of outcomes for the Jets’ Rodgers experiment. Granted, the four-time MVP tearing his Achilles in his first game with his new team last season threw everything out of whack. But he’s 40 years old, and even though he’s able to channel his old self — evidenced by Monday night’s heave for Allen Lazard — his best football is behind him. That the Jets didn’t better prepare for that is puzzling.
“They’re kind of operating as if this is prime Aaron Rodgers, even though it’s not, rather than playing to his strengths,” Doyle argued. ” … It has serious long-term implications, but in the short term, it doesn’t look very good, either.”
The Jets do open as slight 1.5-point road favorites against the Steelers in Week 7, another primetime tilt. If there’s any hope for the future, it’s at least partially tied to the Jets having what looks like an easy schedule the rest of the way. With how Gang Green has played through the first month and a half, though, that’s not enough to inspire much confidence in a turnaround.
To hear more from “The Spread,” listen to the entire Week 6 episode on Spotify (new episodes drop each Thursday) or wherever else you get your podcasts.
