Aaron Rodgers knew the question was coming. As a soon-to-be 20-year NFL veteran, he’s heard them all.
So when the Jets quarterback appeared on Mad Dog Sports Radio's Schein on Sports with Adam Schein on Thursday, he had a response queued up for when the topic turned to embattled Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett,
Jets fans, who were skeptical when the organization hired Hackett last offseason because of his relationship with Rodgers, grew more frustrated when the team’s offense tanked after Rodgers went down with a ruptured Achilles on the season’s fourth snap. Tomes have been written about the Jets’ struggles to put up points, with Hackett generating a significant portion of the blame for his failure to adjust to life without his good buddy.
It was so bad that the Jets allegedly looked into adding another offensive assistant this offseason, presumably to stand at the ready if the offensive functionality under Hackett’s system/play-calling failed to improve early on.
For multiple reasons, the Jets passed. That meant Jets fans are stuck with the Rodgers/Hackett combination in 2024, where the expectation is that it can perform at NFL standards. For 17 games.
When Schein asked Rodgers why the fans should trust a coach who was also excoriated in his previous gig as Head Coach of Denver, Rodgers replied, "You should trust me. And I trust Nathaniel. So, to me, that's end of story."
Is it?
As a tortured Jets fans, I’m not disposed to trusting anyone, even a future Hall-of-Famer. This team hasn’t been to the playoffs in 14 years, with just one winning season in the interim. It’s why I didn’t immediately buy into the hype from last season following the pre-Draft trade for Rodgers with Green Bay, though never in my worst nightmares did I imagine it would go sideways that quickly.
Hope? Pray? Maybe. But trust? You’ve got to be kidding.
Let’s not forget that the last time Rodgers was great in Green Bay—and he was NFL MVP great then--was three years ago. In 2022, he broke his thumb on his throwing hand in Week 5 and suffered his third losing season of his career. Whereas Rodgers led the league in rbsdm.com’s expected points added per play over the 2020-21 seasons, he plummeted to 21st among the 32 qualifying QBs that last season in Green Bay.
The Packers obviously saw the writing on the wall, and, as they tend to do, had a succession plan in place, with Jordan Love taking the role Rodgers played when the Jets acquired aging QB Brett Favre in 2008. When the Jets offered two second-round picks (which could have been a 2024 first rounder had Rodgers played 65% of the snaps) plus some pick swaps, including one where Green Bay moved up two slots in the 2023 first round, everyone seemed happy with the deal. The Jets finally secured a capable quarterback, one who presumably had the goods (and football acumen on the field) to overcome any Hackett Handicap.
Of course, it didn’t work out so well for New York, with the understudies scuffling to a second consecutive 7-10 record. Rodgers will turn 41 in December and admitted he isn’t at 100% following his Achilles rehab (though there’s plenty of time until the September 9 opener at San Francisco).
Father time strikes in different ways, but he always strikes at some point. Then, while the mind might say “go”, the body retorts with, “Hey, slow down, old fella.”
We’re not going to know where Rodgers stands on that timeline from reports of his play at organized team activities through the preseason. Those are run at different speeds than NFL games that count. Only then can we get a semblance of whether Rodgers has still got “it.”
If you recall the small sample of Rodgers on that cursed Monday night versus Buffalo, he didn’t look all that mobile. While left tackle Duane Brown’s whiffed cut block on Bills edge rusher Leonard Floyd (who is now a 49er) was the proximate cause of the injury, Rodgers probably held onto the ball a tad too long for the play design, just like he did when he took what I thought was an unnecessary hit on his first pass attempt.
While I’m not going to draw conclusions based on such scant evidence, how am I supposed to simply trust that Rodgers’ body will be able to deliver what his mind wants at NFL speed one year later and at worse health?
Show me.
The only thing that fans can trust Rodgers for will be to change the play calls that Hackett sends in. His expressions during the games he attended while wearing a headset was all you needed to see.
As far as Hackett and his prevent offense goes, it is mind boggling that Douglas and Saleh have hitched their future employment on Hackett’s wagon.
Another Rodgers injury, you will definitely see a convoy of Mayflower Moving Company trucks clogging the streets of Morris county next January.
If Hackett was kept to keep Rodgers happy, it will only prove that Woody Johnson is totally clueless.
Two of my favorite quotes from Hackett last year were;
Around the 8th game of the season, “ I didn’t know that Breece Hall was such a good receiver. I guess he never saw 2022 game film of him or watched any practices last august.
Also, about Lazard “ he is currently having a rough stretch, possibly because we ask him to do so much”. Like what, actually catch the ball, line up right, don’t get penalized.
The Jets offense in the red zone last year was comparable to 1970 football. As predictable as Monday following Sunday