Aaron Rodgers played in his second game for the New York Jets on Monday Night Football, after suffering an Achilles injury last season in the first game. Rodgers didn't show much in his return, completing 13 of his passes for 167 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The Jets ended up losing to the San Francisco 49ers, and ESPN's Chris Russo put the blame on both sides of the ball, but most specifically Rodgers.
“I mean, this is ridiculous. That performance by the defense especially,” Russo said on First Take. “I’m not gonna even kill Rodgers. Now, he can’t move; he can’t move. He’s very nervous about this Achilles. He’s gonna be a sitting duck back there all year long. He can’t move. He’s nervous about these Achilles; he can’t do anything. [Nathaniel] Hackett isn’t freaking Bill Walsh. And [Robert] Saleh, one thing about Saleh…
“Let me get this straight: Saleh, who has done nothing for three years, who’s supposedly this defensive guru, he’s got three months to figure out something against [Kyle] Shanahan, and [Brock] Purdy had all day. They ran for 147 yards, and they had three guys out. I mean, the Jets defense, can you try? Where is the sense of urgency? This is the Niners on Monday night, ABC, the first game of the year; you’ve done nothing in a season, and all of a sudden, you lay an egg like that?”
Russo then made a bold statement about Rodgers.
“I gotta listen to Rodgers tell me, ‘Well if you jump off the bandwagon, you're not coming back on.' Aaron, you've played one game. Go back to Green Bay,” Russo said.
It was obvious that Russo was upset, especially telling Rodgers to go back to the team that he was drafted to.
Aaron Rodgers opens up about Week 1 loss to 49ers
After the game, Aaron Rodgers denied that the reason for his play was because of a lack of reps in the preseason and getting acclimated to the new pieces on the team.
“That's an excuse for sure. I'm not going to use that,” Rodgers said. “I don't think we should. We expect greatness when we step on the field. There were moments that felt really good, but not sustained. We felt like if we could just get a first down, we'd be rolling. We had those three-and-outs, which really hurt us. I think a lot of stuff is correctable, which is great for coaches but frustrating for players. We know how close we were/are, but there's no time for that. We're going to move on to Tennessee quickly and then we've got a game four days after that. This is a tough opener for us, travel-wise and schedule-wise, but no excuses. We have to play better. I have to play better. We'll bounce back next week.”
Rodgers the the Jets have a chance to get on track in Week 2 against the Tennessee Titans.
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