The final moment of Sunday's game made for useful symbolism: The New York Jets offense was lined up and ready to snap the ball, except for their quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was already walking off the field. There were no timeouts to stop the clock. Time had expired during the Jets' last-ditch drive. The game was over, and Rodgers knew a second before his teammates realized it. He was one step ahead of them, or perhaps they were never in sync to begin with.
The Jets lost yesterday, 25-22, in what might turn out to be the peak of the New England Patriots' season. They have the same record as a rebuilding divisional rival that has relied heavily on Jacoby Brissett as a starting QB, and might continue to do so after Drake Maye was concussed in the first half of Sunday's game. The Jets were supposed to be a Super Bowl contender with a healthy Rodgers; they are 2-6 and at this point would be extraordinarily lucky to reach the playoffs. Through eight games last year, they were 4-4 with Zach Wilson. How many excuses are left for Rodgers to deploy?
The Jets have done everything to placate this needy washout. They built the roster around him, making sure to include some of his old Packers buddies. They brought in Nathaniel Hackett, who had to be demoted because he sucked so badly at calling plays on offense. They fired head coach Robert Saleh when it was clear that he and Rodgers didn't get along. They traded for yet another former Packers buddy, Davante Adams, a couple of weeks ago when he was available. This roster is full of talent, and yet the results are what they are: five straight losses, three of them after Saleh's firing. Maybe the head coach wasn't the problem. Maybe it was the poisonous presence at quarterback who needs everything to be to his specifications and still fails to deliver.
"I thought we played with some passion," Rodgers said after the loss to New England. "We just execution-wise didn't do enough. Offensively we set our sights on scoring 30, and it was right there for us. We had second-and-1, couldn't convert, there's points, missed a field goal, so there we are right there." This is a man disconnected with reality. The Jets haven't scored 30 points in a game all season. They've scored 20 or more points in only four games. Instead of using the majestic plural or dropping ten-dollar words in pressers, Rodgers could start talking in the first person. Exactly whose job is it to execute, convert first downs, and hike the football before the play clock expires, if not him? Who's supposed to lead the offense to 30 points besides the quarterback?
Saleh's replacement isn't ready to give up yet. "This is a moment of darkness, and we understand that the outside world is going to get really loud right now," interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said after the game. "But the only thing I know in life is that when it gets dark and it gets hard, that you work and you point the finger at yourself and you look inward and you figure out what can I do better from an individual standpoint. If we do that collectively, which I believe we will, that's your only opportunity to dig yourself out of this."
When a reporter relayed Ulbrich's remarks to Rodgers, he said the following: "Yeah, I've been in the darkness. You've got to go in there, make peace with it." He can share more of these deep insights on Tuesday while a dead-eyed Pat McAfee massages his ego. There is no more reason to be sanguine; there never was, really. It might be only Week 8 of the NFL season, but this certainly looks like the denouement for this sorry team. The Jets would've been better off with a third round of Joe Flacco.
