At other postgame news conferences during his storied two-decades-long NFL career, Aaron Rodgers would be offering short, happy, snappy answers about his and his teams’ latest game-winning drive, fourth-quarter comeback and postseason prospects.
But Rodgers at MetLife Stadium late Sunday afternoon, while offering some short, thoughtful replies to questions, was as muted as Jets fans have seen him since his arrival before the 2023 NFL Draft.
“Disappointed … disappointed,” Rodgers said about his emotions after the Jets fell to 3-8 as a result of their come-from-behind-fall-from-ahead 28-27 loss to the Colts.
“Yeah, I mean it’s disappointing — I’ve said that three times now,” he expanded on the offensive problems that rose up early, disappeared midgame, then reappeared late as the Jets lost leads of 24-16 with 13 minutes to play and 27-22 with 2:41 on the clock. “We’ve been working really hard trying to figure out what the issues are.
“It’s not just one person. Sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s somebody else. I felt good about the two-minute drive [near the end of the first half], the momentum was going, the crowd was getting into it. But unfortunately, we didn’t score enough points. That’s been our problem all year.”
Rodgers faulted his own play, which started out underwhelming for the home fans as the Green & White opened with four 3-and-out series and a 4-play loss on downs, during which they gained 27 yards combined and Rodgers was 5-for-8 passing for 10 yards.
“It was a little bit of everything,” he said of those first 27 minutes of offense. “It was execution, I missed a couple of throws, we had a couple of MAs [missed assignments]. A little bit of everything.”
“I know Aaron would love to be playing better,” interim HC Jeff Ulbrich said. “But it’s not just him, it’s all of us.”