The New York Jets snapped a five-game losing streak with an impressive victory over the Houston Texans in Week 9. While the Jets’ first win of the Jeff Ulbrich era had the team heading in the right direction, Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the Arizona Cardinals was a crushing defeat for the franchise.
Jets’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers attempted to put the humbling loss into words. Essentially, he concluded that the team isn’t mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet.
“I think you’ve got to handle it with humility, been a lot of pies to be eaten around here this year, flavored humble. But you got to hold on to that beautiful thing in life called hope. That’s just that there’s a chance, you know we’re not mathematically eliminated, there’s a lot to play for,” Rodgers reasoned on The Pat McAfee Show.
“At the end of the day, one thing we can play for, whether we’re 10-0 or 3-7, is pride. Pride in your performance, pride in the product you’re putting on the field, not wanting to let your coaches down, your teammates down, the guys in the locker room, the men and women that you see everyday at work. There’s gotta be pride in that,” Rodgers said, via Pat McAfee on X.
A week earlier, McAfee announced that “the Jets have figured it out” after New York looked competent in the second half of a big win against the Texans. Unfortunately, whatever the team figured out in Week 9 was lost by Week 10, as the team looked utterly pathetic in a brutal 31-6 loss to the Cardinals.
It’s been a brutal season for Aaron Rodgers and the Jets
Rodgers stated that the Jets didn’t have enough energy against Arizona. While that certainly is true, some believe that the four-time MVP is the reason the team lacks winning energy. After a three-touchdown performance against Houston, Rodgers could only muster 151 scoreless yards in Arizona. There was plenty of stat-padding garbage time in the game as well but the Jets couldn’t even capitalize on that, as the Cardinals limited the offense to two field goals.
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The Jets are now 3-7 on the season but just 1-4 since owner Woody Johnson fired head coach Robert Saleh. The offense has been uneven all year but the current state of the defense is more alarming. The Jets went from allowing an average of 17 points per game in the five games under Saleh to giving up nearly 26 points per contest in the five games since he was dismissed.
Last year, New York went all but four snaps without Rodgers under center and finished 7-10. There is a chance that the team falls short of last season’s mark despite Rodgers being healthy and the addition of All-Pro wideout Davante Adams.
However, as Rodgers pointed out, there is still hope – slim though it may be. New York will attempt to get back in the win column against the Indianapolis Colts at home in Week 11.
