Aaron Rodgers and the Jets are painful to watch

At the end of an embarrassing offensive performance in a 10-9 loss to the Broncos, Aaron Rodgers was slumped on his team’s bench, a towel covering his face. It wasn’t exactly the kind of scene the Jets envisioned when they went for the veteran quarterback last year.

• Also read: No apology from Tom Brady for ’caused stress’

After a season wasted by a rupture of his Achilles tendon, Rodgers is back this fall, but the sauce is slow to take hold. The Jets aren’t in despair with a record of two wins and two losses, but they certainly aren’t putting on an exciting spectacle.

Rodgers is not solely responsible for this lame start to the season. As his ratio of five touchdown passes to one interception demonstrates, he is not careless with the ball.

However, we feel that the chemistry is not natural with his receivers. He hasn’t played much with them yet and who knows, maybe the magic will happen a little later this season, but the Jets don’t have the luxury of waiting.

It was unthinkable to escape this match, knowing that the Broncos’ attack was just as disappointing. In the first half, quarterback Bo Nix did not complete a pass beyond the line of scrimmage. He completed seven passes in the first 30 minutes… for -7 yards! He finally had the upper hand despite only gaining 60 yards and his first career touchdown pass.

It’s absolutely inconceivable that the Jets, with a quarterback like Rodgers, couldn’t even take advantage of such ineptitude.

Poor execution

Against the Broncos, Rodgers completed 24 of his 42 passes for 225 yards, without finding the end zone. It’s not bad, but the team needs more from the guy who was supposed to jumpstart the offense.

In the pay zone, inside the Broncos’ 20 line, the Jets have not scored a touchdown in two appearances. On third down situations, where Rodgers must make the difference, they were dismal (4 in 17).

The team constantly shot itself in the foot with 13 penalties, including five for offsides on the offensive line. This is inexcusable, even more so knowing that the team was playing at home.

Cannon fodder

The most worrying thing in the case of Rodgers is that at 40 years old, he is no longer a spring flower and against the Broncos, he was beaten violently. He was the victim of five quarterback sacks, but above all you should know that he was hit 14 times, retreating to the bench while dragging his feet on a few occasions.

Such an assault is hard to endure for a dashing youngster in his twenties, so it’s hard to imagine how Rodgers will manage to put on his stockings when he gets out of bed when he wakes up!

The Jets face the Vikings (4-0) in London next Sunday. Rodgers better strap his helmet on tight.

5 KEY MOMENTS

1. 26 points… without offensive touchdown

The Falcons won 26-24 against the Saints and despite this seemingly satisfactory point total, the offense did not provide a single touchdown. The points came from four field goals from Younghoe Koo. The team must first and foremost thank its special teams, who scored a touchdown on a blocked punt, as well as its defense, when linebacker Troy Andersen intercepted a pass from Derek Carr and returned it to the end zone. The Saints thus became the first since themselves, 40 years ago, to lose despite 24 points and no offensive touchdown allowed.

2. An opportunistic cornerback

The Vikings made life dangerously complicated in their 31-29 victory against the Packers. They held a 28-0 lead midway through the third quarter, but the Packers quietly chipped away at that lead. They threatened more than once at the end of the fourth quarter, but Mauves cornerback Byron Murphy Jr saved the day. He first intercepted a long, very ill-advised pass from Jordan Love in the end zone. On the Packers’ next series, Murphy did it again by causing a fumble, causing Tucker Kraft to lose the ball. Big plays, in big moments.

3. The Texans, narrowly

The Jaguars appeared to be headed for their first victory, with a 20-17 lead and less than three minutes to play. The Texans decided otherwise with a victorious push that culminated with running back Dare Ogunbowale’s touchdown on a short one-yard pass from CJ Stroud with 18 seconds left. On this prolific streak, Stroud was equal to himself by completing his five pass attempts for 45 yards, in addition to adding an 11-yard run.

4. Mahomes injures his receiver

The Chiefs’ attack is not in good shape and obviously, it will have to do without its ace receiver Rashee Rice, possibly for the season. There is concern about a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament. After being the victim of an interception, quarterback Patrick Mahomes rushed to tackle Kristian Fulton, who had the ball. It was rather the knee of his teammate Rashee Rice that Mahomes hit head-on. When asked to evaluate Rice’s injury, head coach Andy Reid simply responded, “It doesn’t look good.”

5. Here’s Flacco again!

Joe Flacco keeps hanging on and hanging on and hanging on. The veteran quarterback always ends up bouncing somewhere, being the ideal reserve, the good mentor who doesn’t make noise, then who saves his team when it needs it. The Colts seemed to be in trouble when their starting quarterback Anthony Richardson had to quickly leave the game against the Steelers due to a hip injury. Flacco came in and completed 16 of 26 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns. At 39, he imposed a first defeat on the Steelers. Hat!

WINNERS OF THE WEEK

1. Baker Mayfield

We will come back for his ridiculous comments about Tom Brady, but with 347 yards and two touchdown passes, in addition to a touchdown on the ground, he manhandled the Eagles unceremoniously. He is having a fantastic start to the season.

2. D’Andre Swift

The Bears running back had an atrocious start to the campaign, but against the Rams, he was the spark plug with 93 yards rushing, 72 passing and a touchdown. Not bad, for a player who was only gaining 1.8 yards per carry before this game.

3. The Commanders

The Commanders’ offense is becoming a steamroller with 42 points against the Cardinals, 216 yards rushing and Jayden Daniels who completed 26 of his 30 passes. He completed 82.1% of his passes this season, which beats the mark of a certain Tom Brady (79.2%) after four games in 2007.

4. The Bengals

It was high time for the Bengals to dig themselves out of the hole by winning their first game. There’s no reason to go crazy beating the poor Panthers, but it’s a step towards the light.

5. Chris Jones

We constantly talk about the Chiefs offense, either because it is spectacular or because it disappoints. We almost end up forgetting that defensive tackle Chris Jones has the ability to take control of a game. He was scary against the Chargers with two sacks and countless pressures on the quarterback.

LOSERS OF THE WEEK

1. The Jaguars

Now the Jaguars are 0-4 and they are clearly better. For the second time this season, the team blew a lead in the fourth quarter. The noise we hear is the embers crackling under coach Doug Pederson’s behind.

2. Les Eagles

Okay, the Eagles were without their two best receivers and their ace blocker Lane Johnson, but they made more mistakes and Jalen Hurts was the victim of a third fumble this season. A good quarterback must elevate the talent around him.

3. Les Browns

Yes, it’s true, the Browns were victims of a very questionable penalty which canceled their touchdown at the end of the game, but basically, they should never have been in such a situation against the Raiders, deprived of their two best players in Davante Adams and Maxx Crosby. Their attack is pathetic.

4. Fred Warner

What a player, this Fred Warner! The 49ers linebacker made a sublime interception at the expense of Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Warner caught the pass by jumping full length, getting up off the ground to bring the ball into the end zone. Stunning!

5. The Rams

Poor Rams, they are in a difficult situation with three or four tons of injuries, but they are down to one win and three losses in a hyper competitive division. It will be difficult to get up.