The NY Jets were widely seen not only as a potential playoff team in a loaded AFC but as true Super Bowl contenders entering the 2024 season. Much of that offseason hype could be attributed to the man they expected to have under center, Aaron Rodgers.
On paper, the Jets were seen as one of the most talented teams in the NFL. But they don't play football games on paper. The Jets needed to prove that they were worthy of the hype.
They didn't necessarily do that during their first two games of the season. The Jets stumbled out of the gate in Week 1 and rebounded with a tight win over a below-average Tennessee Titans team in Week 2.
The Jets looked like a flawed team with an aging quarterback who was still attempting to shake off the rust after missing the entire 2023 season due to a torn Achilles. They didn't look like NFL bottom-dwellers, but they certainly didn't look like Super Bowl contenders either.
That changed on Thursday night as the Jets cruised to a dominant 24-3 win over the New England Patriots. The narrative changed — and once again, much of that is due to the team's quarterback. This game marked Rodgers' first vintage performance as the Jets' QB.
Rodgers finished the game completing 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns. Yet that excellent stat line somehow doesn't capture the brilliance he put on display for a national audience on Thursday Night Football.
This didn't look like the same hesitant and still rusty Rodgers we had seen in Weeks 1 and 2. It didn't even look like the broken thumb Rodgers who was playing with a poor supporting cast in 2022.
This looked like 2021 Rodgers. This looked like MVP Rodgers.
The four-time MVP asserted his dominance with his arm, brain, and even his legs. After looking strikingly immobile in each of the Jets' first two games of the season, Rodgers turned back the clock and certainly didn't look like a 40-year-old quarterback playing his third game since returning from injury.
In fact, a remarkable statistic from Next Gen Stats shows just how mobile Rodgers was on Thursday night. The future Hall of Famer was credited with sprinting (defined as reaching greater than 12 mph) 136.21 yards in Week 3. That's the most he's sprinted in a game since 2018.
Rodgers looked every part of the elite quarterback who won consecutive MVPs just a few years ago. He looked like vintage Rodgers — a version that many, including even the most optimistic of Jets fans, were skeptical we'd ever seen again.
The Jets traded for Rodgers with the hope that he would make them true Super Bowl contenders. They didn't want to settle for mediocrity. They didn't want to take a chance on another young QB. They wanted one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.
On Thursday night, we saw exactly why the Jets made that decision. It's important not to overreact after just one game, of course. The Jets aren't going to defeat their opponents by three scores every week.
But we've now seen what this Jets team is capable of. More importantly, we've seen what Rodgers is capable of. If Rodgers can play at this level, the Jets are legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Thursday night was a message to the NFL — the Jets are worthy of the hype.
