The Jets are 2-1 for the first time since 2015, riding a two-game winning streak into a mini-bye ahead of Sunday's game against visiting Denver. And a big reason is "AA-ron ROD-gers!" as the MetLife Stadium faithful chanted during Thursday night's 24-3 shellacking of former arch-nemesis New England. See postgame remarks from Aaron Rodgers.
The Jets scored on their second possession of the game and never looked back, but. ... "Well, I would have loved to score on a first possession, but I felt like, I don't think we had a three-and-out all night. Sounds about right, so we were efficient offensively, good on third down, spread the ball around a lot, ran the ball pretty well, pass protected pretty well. I moved out of the spot a few times, halfway decent, so a lot of good things to build on from this game."
Meet the new guy, same as the old guy: "I was feeling real good out there. I felt good pregame and I've been progressing. I said after Week 1, It's going to be a process of continuing to extend plays. Once I feel more comfortable and this was kind of the first step and playing like I know I'm capable of playing. It felt like I was myself quite a few years ago.
Rodgers ran the ball 3 times for 18 yards and led the Jets in yards per carry average (6.0): "I mean I did the classic 2008 run to the sideline and Julius Peppers drilled me, where I just kind of gave up, thought I wasn't going to get touched. I am 40 and there's really fast guys in this league, so I got to finish the play out of bounds, but yeah, every time I get drilled or tackled out of bounds like that, it's another, beats the confidence for me."
His first TD pass at MetLife went to a former teammate, Allen Lazard: "After the first touchdown, I felt good. I felt like we had a lot of good drives. We backed up a number of times and switched the field position and then got points out of drives."
The Jets extended their lead to 14-0 in the second quarter, the two-score advantage coveted by HC Robert Saleh. The two men met on the sideline. Awkward moment?: "No, there was nothing awkward at all. He's not a big hugger usually, so I didn't know he was going for the hug. He likes to do the two-hand chest push, as well. But he talks a lot about two-score leads, so I just kind of gave him a push and said, 'two-score lead.' That's what happened."
Hanging in the tunnel before the game, thinking about. ...: "I was hoping I wouldn't have to make a decision about whether to carry a flag or not [as he did last year before his season-ending injury 4 plays into the Monday night game] because I was probably going to be the only guy that wouldn't. I am stitious, maybe not superstitious, but I think I would have passed on that. I felt a really good calm about it honestly. I didn't think a whole lot about it. Obviously, it was emotional to come back home for the first time since then, but I really think the first week kind of took a lot of the fears and anxiety of playing out and tonight I felt like I played pretty free."
