One series, four plays, 94 seconds. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the summary of Aaron Rodgers’ brief stint with the New York Jets this season.
Who knows, maybe it’s also the summary of his career under this prestigious green helmet, and the future will tell us, even if Rodgers said Friday that he plans to play football again, without specifying when.
Meanwhile, the Jets paid Rodgers US$75 million for two seasons, which works out to US$37.5 million per season, which works out to about US$9.3 million for each ball handed to the famous quarterback in 2023. .
We can assume that the bosses of the Jets are furious, their feeling of having been cheated can only be matched by that of the fans of Guns N’Roses at the Olympic Stadium in 1992.
Your grandparents will tell you, if they haven’t already: you should hardly rejoice in the misfortune of others. But in this case, all the same, it is a misfortune that happens to a big fan of conspiracy theories, who also prides himself on having seen flying saucers, and then it happens to the organization the most dysfunctional in the history of football, except for the Ottawa Rough Riders, who have already drafted a dead player.
We see two more problems between now and January: The Jets still have 16 games to play, and what’s more, they’ll have to play them with Zach Wilson at quarterback.
Good luck with that.
***
You know who raised their hand quickly Tuesday morning, after the announcement that Rodgers’ season was over? Colin Kaepernick, who let the Jets know that he is available, if they feel like it. Kaepernick, by the way, has been available for seven years, but the phone doesn’t seem to ring very often, let’s face it. But we must admire the resilience of the former 49ers, which is reminiscent of a character from Greek mythology, a man called Sisyphus, who spent all his time rolling his rock for nothing to the top of a hill. If so, he might still be there.
Of course, the whole world held its breath hoping to see Tom Brady arrive as a savior in New Jersey, but everyone forgot one very simple question: But why would Tom Brady want to play for the Jets?
Exactly.
***
The other thing, of course, is that you shouldn’t go into fear with the results of the first week. The Steelers aren’t as bad, the Bills aren’t as bad, the Browns aren’t as good, and so on. You know who ever won a Super Bowl after a week of play? Person.
Which does not mean that we should ignore everything.
We insist: it’s just a match. But here, we have two teams who have landed abroad in the Giants and the Steelers, in two stadiums that are often not very welcoming, and we have two teams who gave the local players a try. There are no other words: a rinse.
Injuries can ruin seasons and plans, of course, but if the Cowboys and Niners don’t suffer any damage at important positions, they can already be booked into the conference finals. Our deepest apologies to the Eagles fans, who will have to live in denial once again, also with the guilt of having won a Super Bowl thanks to a quarterback who played four good weeks of football in his life.
In the American Conference, we will say it, it is much more complicated.
The Chiefs will get back to winning if their receivers finally learn to catch passes (the possible return of Travis Kelce for Sunday’s game in Jacksonville would do the world of good, if that turns out), then the Bills and Josh Allen will do well against the Raiders on Sunday, just like the Bengals and their star quarterback, Joe Burrow, who has 275 million reasons to be much better than that against the Ravens, in front of his own people at that. And finally, are the Jaguars serious? We’ll see, they host the Chiefs…
It’s going to be another fabulous weekend.
