Aaron Rodgers won"t be making any plays for the New York Jets this season due to an Achilles" tendon injury, but he"s offering his coaching wisdom to the team.
During his regular appearance on ESPN"s “Pat McAfee Show," Rodgers had some pointed advice for his teammates following an incident where two younger players were captured on camera expressing their frustrations with the Jets coaching staff during a 15-10 loss to the New England Patriots.
Jets star wide receiver Garrett Wilson was seen energetically commenting on quarterback Zach Wilson and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett while running back Michael Carter was involved in a heated exchange with running backs coach Taylor Embree, requiring teammate Xavier Gipson to intervene.
Rodgers didn"t find the situation amusing and commented,
“This is what teams have to go through. There"s adversity points in every season. This year, it"s happening early, and people are coming for us. There"s some heated conversations on the sidelines and different things. I think we need to hold our poise a little bit better across the board. Really just offensively, we need to not have some of those things happen on the sideline and to be a little better and to just be a little better competitors.
“There"s been too many little side conversations, and we just need to grow up a bit on offense and lock in and do our jobs, everybody, and not point fingers. We don"t point fingers at the coaching staff, don"t point fingers at each other. Just get back to work and get the job done. … I feel like if I was there, some of those things wouldn"t be happening." :Said Rogers.
He also emphasized the importance of not engaging in finger-pointing, whether towards the coaching staff or among teammates. Rodgers suggested that if he were on the field, some of these issues might have been avoided.
The Jets" frustration is understandable, given their high expectations at the start of the season when they added Rodgers to their roster, which already appeared playoff-ready in all positions except quarterback. However, those hopes were dashed when Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury during the team"s fourth offensive snap.
With Rodgers sidelined, Zach Wilson once again became the starting quarterback, and the criticism surrounding the former No. 2 overall pick has only intensified. Even Jets legend Joe Namath joined in, openly criticizing Wilson after the loss to the Patriots.
The Jets appear far from calm, and they have reportedly signed veteran quarterback Trevor Siemian. Their upcoming matchups against the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles are likely to pose further challenges, making it a tough road ahead before any potential improvement can be seen.
