New York (AFP) – Aaron Rodgers gave New York Jets fans what they’d waited more than a year to see Thursday, throwing for two touchdowns and looking sharp in a 24-3 NFL victory over the New England Patriots. Rodgers made his first start at the Jets’ MetLife Stadium since his debut with the team was cut short after just four plays when he suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon.
After two road games in the young 2024 campaign — a defeat at San Francisco and a victory at Tennessee — the Jets faithful gave Rodgers an ecstatic welcome in their home opener, and he didn’t disappoint. The 40-year-old, who moved to the Jets prior to last season after earning four NFL Most Valuable Player awards with the Green Bay Packers, scrambled effectively when he needed to, piloting a precision offense that had the Jets in front on his 10-yard TD pass to Allen Lazard in the first quarter.
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“I felt pretty good tonight,” Rodgers said. “I was doing some things I did as a younger man. I’ve said that as the games go on, I’m going to feel more comfortable moving around a little bit and there were a couple times where I needed to extend plays … sometimes, games like this, you need those little extra plays that I used to do a lot when I was a younger player. It’s nice to have that element back.”
New York opened the scoring with an eight-play, 73-yard drive capped by Rodgers’ pass to Lazard, who eluded Alex Austin and found the end zone. The drive was aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty on New England’s Jahlani Tavai, who slammed Jets running back Breece Hall to the turf after stopping him for no gain on a play. Rodgers completed 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards. He connected with eight different receivers and hit Garrett Wilson with a two-yard scoring pass in the third quarter. Breece Hall had a one-yard touchdown run and Greg Zuerlein booted a field goal in the fourth quarter for the Jets, who had lost eight straight home games to AFC East division rivals New England.
“I feel great to be able to play an entire game in front of our amazing fans, (against a) division opponent,” Rodgers said. “(I) feel like we started faster than we have. We were way more efficient. Got a lot of guys involved.”
The Jets defense was impressive, too, giving up just 139 total yards and 11 first downs. Will McDonald had two of the Jets’ seven sacks, and Chuck Clark had a sack, and forced and recovered a fumble from Pats running back Rhamondre Stevenson.
New England quarterback Drake Maye, the third overall pick in the NFL draft, made his NFL debut, coming in with less than five minutes remaining in place of Jacoby Brissett, who was sacked five times. Brissett completed 12 of 18 passes for 98 yards. Maye had the Pats on the Jets’ seven-yard line before he was sacked for the second time on the final play of the game.
© 2024 AFP
