Rodgers Injury at a Distance
date
Sep 9, 2023
Files & media
slug
rodgers-injury
status
Published
tags
Football
Jets
summary
The 2023 season for the New York Jets was born into immense expectations and dawned an atmosphere that hadn’t been present in the big apple surrounding the sport of football for quite some time. A new star was among the fold and his presence brought about a subtle confidence to the players and ultimately the city of New York…
type
Post
The 2023 season for the New York Jets was born into immense expectations and dawned an atmosphere that hadn’t been present in the big apple surrounding the sport of football for quite some time. A new star was among the fold and his presence brought about a subtle confidence to the players and ultimately the city of New York.
The Jets have lived at the bottom of the AFC East season after season throughout the 2000’s, never having the complete formula to topple the best of the best. As a Jets fan born at the turn of the century, my fondest memories are that of dominating defenses that played with grit and swagger but the offensive side of the ball consistently was a let down, and took us out of games frequently. The season began in September and ended in November typically for the Jets, or thats at least how it felt, but this year was especially different.
A nucleus of young talent had been developed on both sides of the ball through clever drafting and asset management, a coaching staff and upper management driven to turn the page on a losing culture, several high impact offseason acquisitions and none more impressive than future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
It’s September 11th, a day in which New Yorkers can remember to well, and people are emotional for reasons other than a guy playing footbal for the Jets, but the heartbeat of the Metlife stadium is loud in anticipation… hope.
A west coast guy rearing the flag of our nation out of the tunnel on this momentous day in history was a symbol of unity, of acknowledgement, Aaron was here to win and was here to win for the city of New York and what that stood for.
We now know how his season was abruptly cut short but for that brief moment while he strode out to a crowd of eighty thousand fans holding that flag, It was as if he had played his entire career in New York, the people accepted him not only as a player but more so as a leader. Much can be said to the affect of how a player like Aaron can massively impact a culture let alone a football team’s success and it was all that was being talked about leading up to the season, but still the doubts were there. Analysts of the game say something like his injury should’ve been expected for a player his age and the costs in acquiring him would outweigh his impact on the team in the long run. There is no way of knowing if Aaron would silence any doubters now having his season terminated and that appears to be the most difficult thing to accept. Despite all the hardship this franchise has endured in the past, this stings and not only for me as a fan or for the oragnization for losing such a prized asset, most of all for Aaron. It was apparent there was air of excitement in him and it was contagious, he was bought in on proving his dominance and uplifting a city that was desperate for a hero.
The Jets still have much to look forward to this season but it’s hard to ignore the obvious “what if” in this scenario and it will weigh on everyone involved for the foreseeable future. Yes, it was an opportunity and you don’t get many of them like this but it makes one notice the fleeting nature of opportunity. A sentiment I’m sure Zach Wilson can understand. With that said, this Jets team has yet another shot at putting their stake in the ground and it started with topping the Bills in true underdog fashion with timely defensive plays and a special teams touchdown in overtime.
The aura has shifted and things at this point can only be speculative to how the future will look in the Meadowlands in 2023, but time will pass, wounds will heal and this sunday offers a particularly daunting test of will against the defensive juggernaut, Dallas Cowboys.