Aaron Rodgers and the Jets Have Entered the Doom Loop Phase
Question: When a quarterback throws two touchdowns with no interceptions, finishes with a 114.7 passer rating, leaves the field with a 5-point lead with under 3:00 to play only to see his defense squander that lead, while giving up touchdown drives on the last two possessions, whom do you put the blame on?
Answer: That's a trick question. Because it depends. In 99.9% of cases, you'd put that all on your defense. But if said quarterback was supposed to be the savior of your franchise, got to handpick his offensive coordinator and a good half dozen of his teammates, generated 162 net passing yards and made history:
... with 10 total 1st downs against the league's 22nd ranked defense and lost at home to a team that came in 4-6? You can be damned certain the QB is going to be the one taking all the drone strikes.
Which exactly what's happening to Aaron Rodgers after the Jets latest cataclysm. Yet another winnable game that the guy who was actually being talked about at the One True GOAT not all that long ago could not make winnable. And that ended with a sack he couldn't afford to take against a 3-man rush:
What's more, the Clown Car that has always been the Jets just continues to take on passengers as it burns rubber doing donuts around the Big Apple Circus.
In this case, Jeff Ulbrich chose to settle for the extra point and an 8-point lead early in the 4th quarter instead of trying to make it a two score game with both teams struggling offensively. And this being the Jets, that went against everything they'd agreed on before the drive. Which came as news to Rodgers, who seemed as confused as anyone:
On their next possession, staring at a 4th & 2 from the Colts' 17 with a 24-22 lead, they put their faith in their field goal kicker instead of the guy who's supposed to be the best QB they've ever had. To which Rodgers responded, “If we were a great team, we would have scored seven there." There is no lie in his words.
But if you're one of those cruel, sadistic types who gets perverse joy out of watching this franchise suffer (I raise my hand to that), the real pleasure doesn't simply come from the result. Though there is that:
It's from the reaction to the result.
And this is how it's going to go the rest of the season. Rodgers and the Jets are like two toxic personalities who blame all their past relationship problems on their exes. So they decided to get married thinking they'll somehow make it work. And sure, it might have seemed magical for a little while there when it was new and exciting and the sex was great. And only now have they come to realize what the rest of us saw coming from the beginning. It's not their exes; it's them. They each come with emotional baggage they brought into this mix. And they're a terrible fit for each other. And the best they can hope for is a swift and easy annulment.
As far as the future for either, it's painfully obvious that what everyone is saying online is true. Rodgers is checked out. He's just trying not to get injured, wins be damned. He can collect his check and ride off into the media career sunset. It's going to be tougher on the Jets, who way overspent in terms of trade capital to land him. Even if they decide to tank from here:
Yet with a subpar quarterback draft class coming up, their prospects are dim. Suffice to say that from where I'm standing, rooting for one of the few teams that are actually doing just as bad at the Jets, I'd much rather be us than them.
So all I can do is try to enjoy the final seven games of the Aaron Rodgers Era in New York as much as possible. That is, if he lasts until the end of the season.