One of these times, he may not get right back up. Maybe it’s off another sack, or just a big hit, but Aaron Rodgers will reveal — once again — that he’s not superhuman.
His arm is as alive as it has ever been, he can still move within the pocket and out of it, but the one thing that the Jets’ 40-year-old quarterback cannot do is continue to take this level of a beating and stay in the game.
The Broncos showed how to get to the quarterback last week, and then the Vikings did exactly the same in their 23-17 victory in London on Sunday. The Jets must figure out a fix, because they’re lucky that they haven’t lost their signal-caller yet.
“I’m definitely banged up,” said Rodgers, who finished 29 of 54 for 244 yards and two touchdowns to three interceptions.
The ground game is a problem. Breece Hall, whom the Jets wanted to run their offense through, crossed the pond with a 3.1-yard-per-carry average and somehow saw that drop. He rushed for just 23 yards on nine carries — a 2.6 average. He hasn’t topped 62 rushing yards once this season.
Allen Lazard dropped four passes against the Vikings, including a touchdown. That, combined with Mike Williams‘ invisibility (two catches on four targets for 25 yards) will only turn up the pressure on Joe Douglas to get something done with the Raiders for Davante Adams.
But there is no more alarming development than that of the deterioration of the Jets’ pass protection.
The Jets played two very good defenses in their first three games (49ers, Titans), then the Patriots. In those games, they allowed 10 quarterback hits and five sacks. Not great numbers, but nothing overly troublesome. Then the Jets played Vance Joseph and his position-less, blitz-happy, organized-chaos scheme with the Broncos. They hit Rodgers 14 times and sacked him five. The Vikings and Brian Flores deployed a near-identical approach. Rodgers went down three more times and was hit 11.
That’s 25 hits and eight sacks in their past eight quarters.
Rodgers went down in the fourth quarter against the Broncos. He stayed in but was in noticeable pain. The same thing happened in the second half against the Vikings. Rodgers’ leg twisted awkwardly in a pile. He crawled around for a few moments before leaving. He came back on after a Viking roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Jets a free first down.
“There are a lot of things that made some noises on the way down,” Rodgers said.
After the Broncos loss, Rodgers said that he was dealing with injuries to both of his knees. He announced a low-ankle sprain after the loss to the Vikings. Before the game, in a sit-down with NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt filmed earlier in the week, Rodgers admitted that he’s battling Father Time.
He and Father Time are exchanging “body blows” right now, he said — that they’re currently in a “stalemate.”
The Jets are more prepared for a Rodgers’ potential absence than last year. They signed veteran Tyrod Taylor in free agency. He’s capable of filling in on spot duty. But he is not Rodgers. The Jets’ hopes of the playoffs or more ride on Rodgers’ shoulders. And Rodgers can only do it if he’s on the field.
“Minnesota has an exotic pressure system and a couple of those losses were in 1-on-1 situations,” coach Robert Saleh said. “We have to be better on (those), but we’re always going to do our best to protect the quarterback.”
The NFL is a copy-cat league. The Vikings took what the Broncos did and expanded on it. You better believe that the Bills, Steelers, Patriots, Texans and the rest of the Jets’ opponents will do it, too.
The Jets are lucky that Rodgers rallied to finish the past two games.
If the hits keep piling up, he may not be able to.
