Jets fans, it’s just not happening. Tom Brady isn’t going to leave the lush retirement life to rescue your team.
And yes, speculating about Tom Brady heading to NYC is a thing. Zach Wilson, in a loss to the Cowboys, kind of looked the same as he did last year. (That’s why the Jets signed Aaron Rodgers.)
Brady hosts a podcast with broadcaster Jim Gray. And even Gray was curious about whether his friend might go back to the game. Who cares if Brady turned 46 last month. Brady didn’t even want to entertain the idea of a comeback.
“No, no, no — next question!” Brady told Gray. “You already know. I love being with you guys on Mondays and I love what we got goin’.”
The Jets quarterback situation is one of the most discussed issues in the NFL. After all, Aaron Rodgers sucked in a lot of league oxygen this spring and summer after he switched zip codes from Green Bay to one near Florham Park, N.J. where the Jets have their offices. Then the former four-time NFL MVP suffered a complete tear of his left Achilles on the fourth offensive snap of the Jets season opener against the Bills. With Rodgers out for the season, coach Robert Saleh turned to Wilson, the No. 2 pick of the 2021 draft.
Wilson lost his first, post-Rodgers’ start, 30-10, to the Cowboys. The Dallas defense, surely a reincarnation of the original Doomsday, intercepted Wilson three times. And the Cowboys also sacked him three times. Basically, the Dallas D kept Wilson uncomfortable the entire game, save for a long completion to Garrett Wilson. He completed only 12 of his 27 passes for a paltry 170 yards. Wilson also rushed five times for 36 yards to lead all Jets rushers. Wilson’s QB passer rating is 36.3. To think, there are seven NFL quarterbacks lower than Wilson.
Now, do you really think Tom Brady would want to come back to this mess?
Saleh, in a press conference Monday, indicated the Jets aren’t looking for a veteran quarterback, at least not this week.
“Anyone who watches football — and you look at it from a global standpoint — will see that he’s so much improved in the pocket, his presence in the pocket,” Saleh said, via ESPN. “I thought he delivered a lot of really good passes. … He took care of the ball. He scrambled when he needed to. (And) he stepped up in the pocket when he needed to.
“Did it get away from him in the fourth quarter, when I felt like he was trying to make a play with us being down three scores? Yeah, he made a couple of throws that he didn’t need to make. But up until then, I felt like if we could have just got them the damn ball and gave them some more opportunities, I think people were seeing that he was playing pretty well up until when it was garbage time and he was trying to force the ball.”
Still, maybe Tom Brady should pick up if he sees a Jets number pop up on his phone.
More must-reads: