Jets' Aaron Rodgers clarifies comments about possibly playing soon

Injured New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers raised eyebrows when he indicated following the club's 27-6 home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night that he was "a few weeks" away from returning to the lineup. 

Rodgers acknowledged during a Tuesday appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" that he probably isn't playing before November comes to an end. 

"I didn’t realize that was going to get caught there," Rodgers said about his postgame conversation with Chargers safety Derwin James, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "That was said a little tongue in cheek there. It’d be nice to be able to be back in a couple weeks. That’s probably not anywhere near a realistic timeline." 

Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles in Week 1 but has made a remarkable recovery and was spotted throwing deep passes ahead of Monday's game. It was rumored last month that the future Hall of Famer who turns 40 years old on Dec. 2 wanted to play in Week 15 or 16 assuming the 4-4 Jets are still in the playoff race. 

"I said it smiling, joking," Rodgers added about the comment he made on Monday night. "He was talking about how he’s excited for me to get back on the field at some point, I joked it would be a few weeks. Obviously going to be more than a couple weeks." 

The Jets are responsible for what is, statistically speaking, one of the worst offenses in the NFL with Zach Wilson serving as Rodgers' replacement. New York not acquiring a proven veteran such as Joshua Dobbs before the trade deadline could ultimately keep Rodgers sidelined through Week 18 unless Wilson starts stacking wins beginning with this coming Sunday's primetime game at the 4-5 Las Vegas Raiders. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, oddschecker listed the Jets as 1.5-point favorites against the Raiders.