Early in the third quarter of the Jets' 32-26 OT loss to the Dolphins Sunday in South Florida, Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams connected for their 79th TD pass and moved into fourth place all-time as a QB-WR duo.
"I didn't know about where we stood until after the game and 'Tae actually texted me that," Rodgers said during his weekly appearance on the The Pat McAfee Show. "So that was pretty cool to be in that group of four. Obviously played against Peyton (Manning), and Jerry (Rice) and Steve (Young) and Joe (Montana) were three of my favorite players, being a Niners fan growing up, so that was pretty cool."
Manning-Marvin Harrison (112 TDs), Young-Rice (92 TDs) and Dan Marino-Mark Clayton (82 TDs) are the only three duos ahead of Rodgers-Adams. Their 79th score looked easy as Rodgers took a shotgun snap, sprinted right and uncorked a perfect ball to Adams with CB Kader Kohou trailing.
"I like thinking about the simplicity of the game and it's a beautiful game in so many respects," Rodgers said. "The touchdown to break Favre's Packers record (No. 443 ironically went to Jets WR Allen Lazard on an 11-yard TD) was double stick, which is a concept as old as the West Coast offense and that was pretty sweet.
"The one on Sunday to put us into fourth was Q8. Q8's been around since the early 80s Bill Walsh. It was sprint-right option is what it was called and now it's just called Q8 where you're just trying to get the edge right there. Nice job by Ruck (Jeremy Ruckert) helping me get the edge, Tae's just getting a release and G (Garrett Wilson) running the whirl, getting his guy out of there outside release. It takes all those guys to do it, but I just love the beauty in the game is in its simplicity."
Rodgers played his best game of the season against Miami, hitting on 69.2% of his passes for 339 yards and 1 TD. It marked the first time in 35 starts that Rodgers had passed for 300+ yards, but the Jets lost their seventh game by 6-points-or-less.
"Well, it's an L, so that's the first way [I view the game]," he said. "We did some good things at offense. We've done a lot of good things on offense throughout the year, just in spurts. I felt like we were more consistent for four quarters. Didn't get to touch the ball in overtime, but more consistent for four quarters. We started off and scored on five straight possessions, which we haven't done all year – two touchdowns, three field goals. Then we had a couple three-and-outs, we put together a drive to take a lead and then didn't touch the ball again. So that was kind of the way it went."
The Jets totaled 402 yards of offense as Adams (9-109-12.1) and Wilson (7-114-16.3) both topped 100 yards and rookie RBs Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis, subbing for Breece Hall, ran 21 times for 83 yards and added 7 catches for 65 yards.
"I was proud of our young guys in the backfield, our rookies who were playing with Breece out. Isaiah and Braelon did really nice job," Rodgers said. "Obviously, Garrett had a big, productive day. Davante had a big, productive day. We had some penalties that hurt us and situational football for sure and came up short."
Since Week 8, Rodgers has 10 TDs and 1 INT. He'll face a Jaguars defense Sunday in Jacksonville that ranks No. 32 in pass yards/play (7.77) and No. 28 in scoring (26.5).
"We get paid for the 18 weeks of the season, playing 17 games, so you keep playing if you're healthy," Rodgers said. "I feel like that's your responsibility. It turns into what are you playing for? I think first and foremost is pride. Pride encompasses everything. It's your pride and performance, love for the game, love for your teammates, regard for the opportunity. Then there's other things that I'm sure can be motivation for people talking about stats and bonuses and different things that come into play, whether you're 10-3 or 3-10. I'm sure there'll be motivation for guys in that way, but I think at the end of the day, it comes down to playing for pride and playing because you love the game. Obviously, it's been a tough season for us, but there's one way to finish this thing and that's the right way. That's going out, not changing the way you prepare and not changing your approach and going out and being a true professional. "
