NFL
RECORD BREAKER: Aaron Rodgers Hits Unique Milestone Leading New York Jets to Victory vs Jaguars
RECORD BREAKER: Aaron Rodgers Hits Unique Milestone Leading New York Jets to Victory vs Jaguars
The Jets held off the Jaguars 32-25.
In recent weeks, Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback for the New York Jets, has been telling reporters that he hasn’t felt this good in three months. His announcement followed the release of the official injury report.
In Week 11, Rodgers was last mentioned on the injury report due to hamstring and knee problems.
The bye week followed, and he hasn’t been mentioned in the reports for the last three games.
Perhaps the strongest indication to yet that Rogers is speaking the truth was Sunday’s victory over Jacksonville.
His legs performed well, and he had one of his best passing performances of the year.
The 41-year-old quarterback got out of the pocket a few times and put together some vintage Rodgers scrambles, to the point where he actually ended up as the Jets’ leading rusher with 45 yards.
He also threw for 289 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, even though he only went 16-of-30.
Per ESPN, he became the first player in Jets history with three touchdowns, no interceptions and 45 yards rushing in the same game.
Per the Associated Press, Rodgers’ 45 yards was the second-most for a quarterback 40 years or older since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. Only Doug Flutie’s 53 yards with the Chargers in 2023 was better. Rodgers’ 45 yards rushing was also the seventh most of his career.
Rodgers was a huge contributor to wide receiver Davante Adams’ best game of the season, as the veteran had the seventh-biggest receiving day in Jets history (198 yards), caught two touchdowns and reached 100 career touchdown receptions.
Rodgers spread much of the praise around to Adams and his offensive line, the latter of which gave him some of the best protection he’s enjoyed all season.
“I’m really proud of the offensive line, I thought they played an outstanding game and I had all day to throw,” Rodgers said. “So big shout-out to the big boys, I’m gonna go love them up here on the bus.”
Per TruMedia, the New York offensive line only allowed four total pressures on Sunday, with Morgan Moses, John Simpson, Alijah Vera-Tucker and Olu Fashanu giving up one pressure each.
Based on that, Rodgers had an average of 3.26 seconds to throw, his highest time to throw this season.
One final nugget that sounds absurd? Rodgers had 23 touchdowns passes as a Jet. He tied his predecessor, Zack Wilson, for 14th on the team’s all-time list, per pro-football-reference.com