Season over for superstar
Aaron Rodger’s fourth snap ends in disaster
September 12, 2023, 7:32 p.m
Aaron Rodgers’ move to the New York Jets is one of the most spectacular in recent NFL history. But what was supposed to be a new success story is in ruins after just a few minutes of the new season: the superstar is seriously injured.
Tom Brady predicted Aaron Rodgers would have a great season – then the shock in the first game: The 39-year-old star quarterback was seriously injured and missed the entire season. The restart took less than five minutes. Aaron Rodgers grabbed the leather egg, looked around briefly, forgot the planned throw, saw a defender running towards him, tried to avoid the attack by turning his body – but Leonard Floyd from the Buffalo Bills brought the star quarterback down.
Rodgers remained lying down before two helpers led him off the field. Horror spread among the New York Jets. The bitter diagnosis confirmed the fears: the left Achilles tendon is broken and the season is over. The injury was “certainly not what we imagined,” the Jets, who had signed Rodgers in the most spectacular deal of the summer in the National Football League (NFL), said in the evening and defiantly added: “But we know that the commitment you have shown to this team will continue to have an impact on us in the future.”
Rodgers had been the face of the Green Bay Packers for 18 years, but the sometimes very headstrong superstar and the bosses were no longer on the same wavelength: he wanted to leave. Since the move, Rodgers seemed reborn, and the Jets even had dreams of the Super Bowl. Until Monday evening.
“I hate it”
After the fourth play, after 4:04 minutes in the first quarter, Zach Wilson had to step in for Rodgers: The quarterback, whose fluctuating performance had first persuaded the Jets to sign the veteran star, led New York to a 22:16 win after overtime highly bet Buffalo Bills. But everything afterwards at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, revolved around Rodgers’ injured left lower leg, who was greeted enthusiastically upon arrival.
Duane Brown, whose job it is to protect the quarterback, was particularly unhappy. However, the Jets’ left tackle stumbled after the snap because he was initially fixated on another opponent, and so Leonard Floyd rushed towards Rodgers and grabbed him. “He did well,” Brown said quietly after the game about Floyd’s start. What happened to Rodgers afterwards was sickening. “I hate not seeing him on the field,” Brown whined.
And it will take a while until Rodgers, the NFL’s senior president after Tom Brady’s resignation, can play again: the season is over before it has even begun. And if Brady had had his way, Rodgers would have really taken off again after leading the Packers to their fourth Super Bowl victory in 2010 and being voted the NFL’s most valuable player four times. “He’s going to have a great season,” Brady predicted before the start of the season. Nothing will come of it now. Or? The first fans online have already suggested that the Jets should persuade Brady to resign.