Time marches on, especially in the NFL. That was one of several messages that Aaron Rodgers had for Jets reporters after today's training camp practice.
Some particular time passages came up in regard to the weekly questions about whether Rodgers will take the field for just a handful of snaps and a couple of series this preseason.
"I'm sure we'll have a conversation here, either impromptu or maybe at walk-through tonight," Rodgers said today, referring to HC Robert Saleh and OC Nathaniel Hackett. "Or in Carolina, we'll have some time. Or next week. I don't know."
But getting some game activity before the Jets' regular-season reality show begins at San Francisco on Sept. 9 didn't seem to be weighing down No. 8 that much.
"I'm not worried about it. Preseason is not real football," he stated. "Nobody likes to play anymore. Nobody likes to show anything, either. Our offense that [joint practice] against Washington? That's not our offense. We didn't run any of our stuff. You watch today's practice, you watch that practice, and you're thinking, which one is it? Well, it's this one."
Rodgers showed exactly which offense he was talking about after guiding the Jets' ones to some late fireworks against their first defense at the just-concluded practice. Among his highlights, A-Rod:
■ Drew edge rusher Will McDonald offside and on the free play dropped a 50-yarder into Garrett Wilson's basket against double coverage.
■ Completed eight of nine passes in a move-the-ball period before the offense was stopped.
■ Hit WR Irv Charles in 11-on-11s for a touchdown, then in two-minute orchestrated a 72-yard drive in less than a minute of clock time, finding WR Allen Lazard twice before hitting RB Breece Hall for the 13-yard TD and rookie WR Malachi Corley for the tying two-point conversion with 4 seconds left.
"I feel like I have an extra gear I haven't shown yet," said Rodgers, who gauged himself at somewhere north of 95% of the way back from his torn Achilles of a year ago. "I'm not sure how much of an extra gear that is yet. Maybe there's a little bit more that I can give. ... Plays like today make me feel like I'm ready to go."
But ready to make some of those plays, say, in the first quarter of the preseason finale against the Giants?
"What's there to gain?" Rodgers said rhetorically. "Just being back on the field in a situation where you can get hit ... but the way we got after our defense today, the next few days, the few times we go against 'em, I'm going to be worried about getting hit as well."
Another thing different about preseason from back in the day, when the Jets and Giants frontliners went 60 minutes against each other in their first summer meeting in 1969, is the evolving business of the game, which arose with questions for Rodgers about reports that edge rusher Haason Reddick, traded to the Jets on April 1 and now asking to be traded by the Jets without having practiced a day in green and white. When has that ever happened?
"There's always new things in the league. I've been around 20 years and I've seen a lot of stuff," he said. "I think we as players, the first thing is we want to side with the players. I've actually played against Haason before. I don't know him well. I sent him a couple of messages, I believe, when he got traded. Obviously we'd love for him to be here, but we don't judge him for trying to do what's best for him.
But Rodgers added some intriguing, terse thoughts when asked a few more questions. Would he try to reach out to Reddick? "Yeah, that's possible," he said. Does he plan to? "Yeah," he said, after a short pause and with a small nod.
And the reason he'd do that is because not all of football's dynamics have changed over the years. Earn a salary, a ring, or a piece of the 7-pound sterling silver Lombardi Trophy? You have to be in it to win it. That hasn't changed.
"I think what's best for him is to be a Jet," Rodgers said, "because this is going to be a fun ride."
