Why you can't count out Jets even without a future Hall of Famer
Silence fell over MetLife Stadium on Monday night after quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the perceived savior of a cursed franchise, crumpled to the turf with a season-ending Achilles' injury. Four plays, one pass and less than four minutes into his highly anticipated Jets debut, the four-time MVP's season — and perhaps career — ended.
Gang Green faithful have seen this movie before.
In Week 1 in 1999, Jets QB Vinny Testaverde suffered a similar Achilles injury, ending his season and New York's hopes of winning a Super Bowl.
“It brought back some bad memories,” Testaverde told the New York Post shortly after witnessing Rodgers' injury.
This film, however, had a different ending. Whereas the 1999 Jets suffered a crushing 30-28 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 1, the 2023 Jets pulled out an emotional 22-16 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
The Jets, often the laughing stock of primetime football, for once were not the butt of a joke. In place of quarterback Mark Sanchez's infamous butt-fumble, Bills quarterback Josh Allen ran into his own offensive lineman and fumbled during a critical point of the game. And it was Allen, not Zach Wilson or Sam Darnold, who appeared to be seeing ghosts, throwing three interceptions in arguably one of the worst games of his career.
New York's loaded defensive front solidified itself as one of the best in the NFL, sacking Allen five times and limiting the Bills to 97 rushing yards. The Jets formidable one-two punch at running back lived up to the hype, with Breece Hall rushing for 127 yards on 10 carries in his return from an ACL injury and recently signed Dalvin Cook showing flashes of what we've come to expect from him during his time with the Vikings. Wilson did just enough in relief of Rodgers, converting several key third downs en route to completing 14-of-21 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown.
Rodgers' injury was a gut-punch that sucked the air out of a team, but the Jets dusted themselves off, picked themselves up from the canvas and beat one of the premier teams in the NFL.
Without a future Hall of Famer at QB, the Jets path to a Super Bowl is far more difficult. But on Monday night, New York reaffirmed the true character of this team — a gutsy, hard-nosed group willing to fight until the end. This team will be a handful in the division for Miami, New England and Buffalo.
The season is far from over for the Jets after Week 1.
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