With the football world talking about the performance of New York Jets star Aaron Rodgers as he's returning from an Achilles injury, one other person who gave his thoughts was former quarterback Alex Smith. It was admittedly an ugly loss for Rodgers and the Jets as they fell at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers Monday night, 32-19, but it did not come up as too much of a surprise for Smith.
There is some history between the two signal-callers as Smith was taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft where Rodgers was taken at the 24th selection by the Green Bay Packers and the rest was history. Fast forward to the present where Rogers is with the Jets after missing the entirety of last season aside from a couple of plays where Smith said on “The Dan Patrick Show” that he “wasn't real concerned with the offense.”
“To be honest I wasn’t real concerned with the offense,” Smith said. “I mean listen, Aaron hasn’t played a whole lot of football in the last year and a half right 4 plays, it’s to be expected, it wasn’t going to be smooth. They’re going on the road on Monday night and playing one of the best teams in football. I thought it was such a ridiculous task.”
“To be honest I thought their defense didn’t’ show up,” Smith continued. “This is supposed to be their calling card is this defense. And no Christian McCaffrey. I thought maybe they’d have a chance to keep them in this game and they did for the first 2 drives and that went away.”
Alex Smith says that Jets' Aaron Rodgers “looked good”
Rodgers would finish the game with 167 yards to go along with a touchdown and an interception where he showed his impressive skills some drives, but had other disappointing moments that displayed some rust. Still, Smith would be flattering towards the 40-year old quarterback saying that looking at the grand scheme of things, the Jets and Rodgers are “going to be okay.”
“I thought Aaron looked good,” Smith said to Patrick. “There’s processes in your comeback. This guy hasn’t played in the preseason, he hadn’t been tackled. Again, 4 plays in the last year and a half. I thought he moved around well, I thought he threw the ball well, I think they’re going to be okay.”
Aaron Rodgers feels “overwhelming sense of gratitude” after Jets return
Rodgers would admit the disappointing outing from himself and the Jets, but also said on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he overall felt a sense of “gratitude” since it was a long journey to get back from the Achilles injury according to The New York Post.
“Honestly, gratitude to start the game just that I was back,” Rodgers said. “Such a long road, I thought about all the different things that happened over the last year. [Wednesday] is like a year since the injury, a lot’s changed in my life in the last year.
“So, I just felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude,” Rodgers continued. “I was on the bus ride over. I was texting some people, actually texting [former teammates] Randall Cobb and A.J. [Hawk], as well. But just there’s a lot of things were hitting me, my 20th season, all the rehab that happened, all the ups and downs of the last year, and I kind of, just, the Anthem hit, and I just had a big calm that just came over me. And all the anxiety around getting hit and staying healthy just left my body, and I went out there and felt at ease about being back on the field. So it was cool.”
Rodgers and the Jets look to bounce back next Sunday when they face the Tennessee Titans.
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