One year ago today, Aaron Rodgers came storming out of the MetLife Stadium tunnel to a roaring standing ovation for the first as the starting quarterback of the New York Jets on Monday Night Football.
Expectations were through the roof for Gang Green as the hope was that the future Hall of Famer would take this team to a whole new level after being acquired in an offseason deal with the Green Bay Packers.
But those playoff aspirations quickly went flying out the window when Rodgers suffered what ended up being a season-ending Achilles injury just four offensive snaps into the season opener against the Bills.
The 40-year-old attempted to make a miraculous late-season comeback, but with the Jets ultimately sitting on the outside looking in at the playoffs, the team decided it would be best for him to shut things down.
So after continuing his progression throughout the offseason, Rodgers was finally able to make his return under center for the team’s season opener, also on Monday Night Football, against the San Francisco 49ers.
But things didn’t quite go as well as hoped on either side of the ball, as Gang Green’s offense failed to get much of anything going, and their defense struggled mightily to stop the run in an ugly blowout loss.
Still, Rodgers was happy to see all of his hard work finally pay off.
Speaking with reporters on the official anniversary of the injury following Wednesday’s practice, the star quarterback took some time to reflect on the tough journey he had to take.
“It’s been a long year for me,” he said. “A lot has changed in the year, there was a lot of emotion, a lot of perspective and gratitude. But I feel good about what I did out there, I feel healthy and I’m glad to still be playing.”
There were plenty of negatives during his first game back, but there were also some positives, such as signature Rodgers taking advantage of a free play to find Allen Lazard downfield for one of his two touchdown drives.
Luckily for the Jets, it’s just one game, and they’ll look to clean things up as they head into their Week 2 matchup on the road against the Titans.
“We’re going to move on to Tennessee,” Rodgers said. “Then we’ve got a game four days after that, so this is a tough opener for us, travel-wise and schedule-wise. But no excuses, we’ve got to play better, I’ve got to play better, and we’ll bounce back.”
