Braelon Allen, the youngest player in the NFL, captured Aaron Rodgers, the oldest player in the pros this season, with an apt simile recently: "He's just like a conductor."
And on third downs, the Jets quarterback has been conducting like Bernstein or Toscanini. In fact, like Rodgers has conducted third downs in the past.
It's too early, after the third of 18 regular-season weeks, to be finishing a symphony for the Jets' league-leading third-down offense. But considering the off notes they had sounded for the previous 25 years, during which they had the lowest combined third-down conversion rate among the league's 32 teams, this season's sudden success is music to the ears of the Green & White and their fans.
Head coach Robert Saleh heard it coming for months.
"We felt like anytime we did move-the-ball periods in training camp, whenever our first-team unit was up even against our defense, it was 10, 12 — I mean, I think they had an 18-play drive in there one week," Saleh said of the third-down unit. "What we've done a great job of over the first three weeks of the season offensively ... we're doing a really nice job of just keeping the ball moving forward. And then obviously on third down, Aaron is making plays, the receivers are getting open, the O-line's protecting all-around.
"It's been fun to watch from an efficiency standpoint."
Here are some Jets third-down high notes heading into Week 4 at home against Denver on Sunday:
â– Their 56.8% conversion rate, with their 10-for-15 showing in the win over New England lifting them to 21-for-37 overall, is not only first in the league after three weeks but it's also the Jets' best third-down rate after the first three weeks of a season in franchise history. Previous bests: 1982, 19-for-35, 54.3% and 1967, 24-for-45, 53.3%.
â– The Jets' figure is the best in the NFL after three weeks since Buffalo's 61.0% in 2022 and Kansas City's 58.5% in '20. Still, according to statspass.com, this is the first time the Jets have led the NFL after three weeks since at least 1991, when third-down success began to be rigorously charted.
â– And none of this should be a surprise with A-Rod on the podium ... er, under center on crunch downs. Limiting the numbers to third-down passing only, since 2008, when Rodgers became Green Bay's starter, his passer rating of 105.1 is second in the league only to Patrick Mahomes' 110.3. And the Packers' third-down offense from 2008 through Rodgers' last season there in '22 converted third downs 42.4% of the time, No. 5 in the NFL in that span.
"It's just confidence," said Joe Tippmann, Rodgers' young but rapidly maturing center. "It's the O-line's confidence in our ability to give him time. And if we can give him time, he's going to make a play. He's going to make something happen."
Rodgers acknowledged on The Pat McAfee Show Live today that he enjoyed "a couple of still-got-it-moments" for himself, but he said he was very happy for his offensive mates against the Pats.
"We talk a lot about taking care of the football first and foremost and we had no turnovers," he ticked off. "We were 3-for-4 in the red zone, 10-for-15 on third down and two of those were third-and-19-plus and one was in the four-minute, not big converters. So 10-for-12 on real third downs is really good football."
Saleh and Tippmann joined the chorus in reminding that this opus is not just about the QB. Rodgers' first six third-down conversions vs. New England each went to a different player — Allen Lazard and Garrett Wilson on completions, Breece Hall on his rolling-thunder 1-yard touchdown run, then three more move-the-chains connections, with Tyler Conklin, Mike Williams and Jeremy Ruckert, before Conklin came back with two more scramble-alert conversion grabs.
So hold onto that thought for several more weeks of this being the start of a grand symphony in green and white. Just enjoy what Rodgers, the Jets offense and of course their defense and specialists appear to be assembling.
For instance, staying with the third-down theme, consider that a 6-for-12 against the Broncos would drop this season's third-down rate to 27-for-49 and 55.1% — which would still be the franchise's best percentage after four weeks.
There are more movements to be written, more adversity to come. But so far it sounds pretty sweet.
