As long as Aaron Rodgers, Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams are together, it's worth celebrating their skills that not only can possibly help bring two season-ending wins over division foes but also secure the records and goals that are available to all three beginning Sunday at Buffalo. Some of these items you've heard about, others may be new to you. All will hint at how outstanding A-Rod and Tae have been in the past and present and how great G can become in the future.
Aaron Rodgers: Racing to 500
Rodgers came to the Jets last season no doubt knowing that he needed 25 touchdown passes to reach 500 regular-season TDs for his vaunted career. And he no doubt knows he's now at 499 and needs one to gain entrance to the exclusive QB club. Wilson or Adams could be his target for No. 500 in Orchard Park, NY, although he's found seven other Jets for scores this season.
When Rodgers gets his 500th, he will join Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571), Peyton Manning (539) and Brett Favre (508) as the only five QBs in NFL history to throw for half a thousand six-pointers in their gloriously productive careers.
Garrett Wilson: Closer and Closer
Wilson tops the Jets with 90 catches (ninth in the NFL) and 987 receiving yards (12th) this season. Both numbers are significant besides where they rank.
Approaching 1,000 receiving yards for several games, he needs just 13, perhaps on his first catch against the Bills, to get to four figures. Assuming (a strong assumption) that he does it this season, he will become the second Jet all-time and the first in 56 seasons to record 1,000 receiving yards in three consecutive seasons. The first: George Sauer, 1966-68. (Don Maynard reached 1,000 four times but never more than two seasons back-to-back.)
Wilson would also become the first Jet to get 1,000 yards in his first three Jets seasons all-time and the fifth player in NFL history to reach 80-plus receptions and 1,000-plus yards in his first 3 NFL seasons.
Then with 10 catches in the last two games, Wilson would join Brandon Marshall (109 catches, 1,502 yards in 2015) as the only Jets receivers with 100 catches in a season as well as the only Jets with 100 catches and 1,000 yards in a season.
And one more TD catch this season, whether it's Rodgers' 500th or not, would give Wilson a career-high seven.
Davante Adams: Speeding Past Mile Markers
Adams already grabbed his 100th career TD reception and went to work on the next hundred with No. 101, both from Rodgers at Jacksonville. He had another score last game.
As many are aware, that 11-yard back-of-the-end-zone snag vs. the Rams gave Adams and Rodgers 82 career TD connections, regular season and playoffs, for their career. That ties them with Dan Marino and Mark Clayton for third-most by a QB/receiver duo in league history, so the next scoring pass will lift Rodgers-to-Adams into third place all alone and trailing only Manning-to-Marvin Harrison (112 TDs) and Steve Young-to-Jerry Rice (92).
Two smaller list improvements also are within Tae's grasp at Buffalo and both would be fitting for this rivalry that began in the AFL's very first week of play with the NY Titans' 27-3 win at the Polo Grounds in 1960.
Adams (at 946) can move into 21st place among career regular-season pass-catchers with six receptions, and the WR he would pass is Bills Hall of Famer Andre Reed at 951. And with a mere 126 receiving yards, Adams (at 11,709) would move into 34th among the league's career yardage leaders, past the 11,834 yards of the aforementioned Maynard — who had the first four catches of his Jets/Titans career for 116 yards against the Bills in that rainy opener 64-plus years ago.
