After coming back for his 20th NFL season after surgery and rehab on a torn Achilles tendon, Aaron Rodgers on Christmas Eve said that one of his goals was to play the Jets' entire 17-game season. And after dealing with a knee injury sustained in last week's game against the Rams, Rodgers said he's ready to face the Bills on Sunday -- the Jets 16th game and final one of the calendar year.
"Yeah, I'm gonna play, and it feels pretty good," he said about the knee,
Rodgers has been dogged by a series of ailments throughout the season. In the 19-9 loss to visiting Los Angeles, he crumpled to the MetLife Stadium turf awkwardly early in the fourth quarter on Kam Curl's strip-stack and forced fumble that was recovered by Jared Verse. On Tuesday, Rodgers described the injury as "a little MCL" (medial collateral ligament), said he did not have an MRI, adding that "I've had a lot worse."
Jeff Ulbrich, the interim head coach, said on Monday that if he was a "betting man" he'd wager that Rodgers would be under center for the Jets (4-11) at Highmark Stadium against Buffalo (12-3). The Jets' last victory at Buffalo, 13-6, came almost exactly five years ago on Dec. 29, 2019.
"Basically, there is no way I'm not playing," Rodgers said. "It's important, especially [since] we've been out of the playoffs for a few weeks now. So that's one of the final goals is to play all 17."
The Jets will host Miami on Jan. 4 or 5 in the season finale.
"That was one of the goals, for sure," he said of going the distance. "Definitely felt like midseason that that was going to be difficult. But right now looks like, for sure, 16, and hopefully get through this one and get to 17.
"I mean having surgery in the offseason is always difficult on the body and mind, so to get through the season and not have to have offseason surgery would be really nice, and would definitely make me feel better about where my body was at moving forward."
So far this season, Rodgers, 41, has completed 62.8% of his passes for 3,511 yards with 24 TDs and 8 INTs. He is one scoring toss away from reaching 500 TD passes in regular-season play.
