Football practice can be drudgery to many players on many levels of the game. But the long-timers, the ageless warriors, the future Hall of Famers don't have to be convinced about the goodness of even a good walk-through.
Like Aaron Rodgers, of course. He said he felt "like a jackrabbit, man, I got a lot of energy." And one reason was Wednesday's practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.
"It feels real good. It's been a long stretch," Rodgers said of those health issues — knee, ankle, hamstring — that nagged at him since Game 4 against Denver. For the first time in six weeks, Rodgers on Wednesday was listed as "full" for the first practice of a week. "I worked a lot with Dave [Zuffelato, head athletic trainer], he's a fantastic guy to work with. He's been helping me out and I do a lot of stuff on my own.
"But it feels good to be able to practice on a Wednesday. I love to practice. We're a little banged up at a lot of positions, there was a lot of walk-through stuff, but it was good to be out there."
Another reason for A-Rod's exhilaration at practicing is the reason all teams still practice three days a week before each game. At the risk of oversimplification, it prepares you in general for the next game, and specifically for the challenges of the next opponent.
"This league is anything but linear," the 20th-year QB said. "The only thing linear about it is that it doesn't wait for you. If you want to be a great team, you've got to practice like a great team. And I think the last few weeks we've practiced a lot better. But there's still that a standard that we just need to come up an extra notch. And when we do that, which I'm confident we will, then the consistency I think shows up on gameday."
Which leads to this week's opponent. The Cardinals at 5-4 are in sole possession of first place in the NFC West for the first time since 2022. They've won three in a row, two of them at their State Farm Stadium nest in Glendale, AZ, against visiting teams that thought they were at that notch above to compete with these Birds but still the Cards won both.
Rodgers knows a similar fate awaits his Jets if they're not ready for this 'Zona test and the ember of their win over Houston last Thursday to climb to 3-6 could go out before it even gets started.
"Every challenge is different," he said. "This is a long road trip to a division leader. We don't need any extra motivation. We know what we're playing for."
They also know that Rodgers' and the offense's second half against the Texans was something they were waiting to see. Three long drives, three touchdown passes, two of the one-handed circus variety by Garrett Wilson, one by recently arrived old reliable Davante Adams. The Jets know they need to replicate those kinds of plays, not over two 30-minute halves a year apart against Houston but for 60 minutes at a time, starting Sunday afternoon in the desert.
"We've just got to remember what we did in that second half," he recalled. "Execution was good, details were good. We had nine MAs [missed assignments], I think, in the first half and three or four in the second half. We used to always say anything under 10 is a good game. You'd like to be in single digits in MAs. We were almost double digits in the first half.
"I think there was a weight lifted off," Rodgers continued about that second half that just could be a building block for the final eight games. "There's a baseline level of energy and enthusiasm that we held ourselves to in training camp, and we haven't necessarily been there the entire time. We've got to find a way to bring it every single day .The key for young players is that consistency starts the minute you walk into the building, and everything you do needs to be intentional. And that starts with the conversation you're having, the time you get to work, the way you take notes.
And the way all players attack the seeming mundanity of a half- or three-quarters speed practice session.
"I didn't like it — I want more reps," he said. "But I understand this is the way it is. We've got a lot of guys banged up. We're in Week 10. We only had a few live reps. We've got to make walk-through reps a challenge every single play, get everyone dialed in on all those reps.
"We're starting to do some of the right things, but we're a work in progress, too."
And that's why work on a seemingly ordinary first Wednesday in November brings a smile of anticipation to this quarterbacks' face.
