After splitting a pair of road contests to start the season, Aaron Rodgers believes the Jets offense has to do much more out of the gate. Plagued by inefficiency early against the 49ers and the Titans in Weeks 1 and 2, Rodgers got his whip out as the Green & White approach their Thursday night Week 3 contest against the Patriots.
"It doesn't really matter how close we are," he said Tuesday. "What matters is what we did on the field. How close we are is great for coaches because they can coach up the whole thing, but it would be a boondoggle to keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results. We have to change a couple of things; we have to be a little sharper. We have to start faster. We've been starting really slow the first two weeks, so we have to start faster, put something together in the first 15 and give our defense a chance to play with the lead."
In their loss to the 49ers, the Jets had 3 threes-and-outsin the first half in addition to a turnover in their own territory on 5 possessions. Then in their win over the Titans, the Jets had 2 threes-and-out and 3 consecutive punts to start the game. The Jets trailed both games at halftime after being limited to a TD in each.
Rodgers has led the Jets to 6 offensive TDs New York has recorded 3-plus offensive TDs in its first two games for the first time since 2004. He has 3 TD passes despite being limited to 38 plays in the blowout loss to the 49ers when the Green & White totaled 49 plays. In the 24-17 victory over the Titans, the offense had a slight uptick at 56 plays.
"We need to get our plays up to the mid-60s, touching 70, and then you'll have more opportunities to throw the football," Rodgers said. "The more opportunities, the more chances down the field, more yards, more points."
In his two games, Rodgers, returning to action after an Achilles tendon tear robbed him his first year with the Jets, has completed 60.6% of his passes for 343 yards with 3 TDs and 1 INT. On Thursday night, he'll face a new-look Patriots team for his first time as a Jet.
"I think you need more than a couple of games to put a stamp on a rivalry," he said. "I'm excited to play in it, I played in arguably the best rivalry in football – the Bears and Packers – it's the oldest and was a part of turning that thing around. When I first started, I was behind in the all-time series. And when I finished, we were ahead, and the Packers have beat them 10 straight. So that was fun to be a part of. These two games will be great to be a part of against the Patriots, but I don't feel like there is going to be a stamp."
Rodgers and the Jets will encounter a Patriots defense that ranks 27th against the pass (233 yds/g) and surrendered 327 yards passing to Seahawks QB Geno Smith as the former Jets QB had two receivers in Jaxon Smith-Njigba (12-117) DK Metcalf (10-129-1TD ) reach 100-plusyards receiving in the Pats' 23-20 OT loss on Sunday. But in an 16-10 upset over the Bengals in Week 1, the Pats held Joe Burrow to 164 yards and sacked Cincy's QB 3 times.
"I think they played pretty good in two weeks," Rodgers said of the Patriots. "They gave up 10 and 23, they're a typical Patriot defense. They play really sound football, smart. They have a lot of techniques you don't see across other teams. As far as some defensive line stuff, their front often can disguise the pressure pretty well, back end seems to be playing pretty good together. So, it's a really smart, stout, solid defense front to back."
Rodgers thew out the term "bucolic" when describing the protection the Jets' revamped offensive line gave him on the road.
"It's been real nice back there, not many hits, not many sacks, a lot of time," he said. "Last week, I felt better than I did Week 1 and it's just confidence, doing a couple of things, escaping the pocket. The next thing will be making a big play outside the pocket but it's all stuff I've done in practice, I've done in training camp. I think it's just doing more of it."
As he continues on his journey, Rodgers will reach another mile marker in the Jets' home deubt. Rodgers, the NFL's oldest player at 40, will match Tom Brady for the most starts by a QB on Thursday night with 17, and he'll return to MetLife Stadium to play for the first time since last September.
"I feel good about it," he said. "It's been a long time since I took the field at JetLife, so it will be a lot of emotions for sure. But we're thankfully already into the third game of the season, played two full games, body feels good, about as it good as it can on a short week. But it will be fun to be out there with the crowd. Night games – I love night games, so excited about it. No one is real crazy about Thursday games. But everybody loves the weekend after Thursday games."
