Ugh! Aaron Rodgers' Season Appears To Be Over After Just 4 Plays - NFL Recap

September 12, 2023 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

On the fourth snap of Aaron Rodgers' long-awaited debut, he rose after a sack that seemed uneventful before looking at the sideline and shaking his head.

In a postgame press conference, New York Jets' head coach Robert Saleh said he expected an MRI on Tuesday to confirm a season-ending Achilles injury. In the case of Rodgers, who is 39 years and will turn 40 on December 2, the question has to be whether or not it's the end of his prolific football career.

The next big question is what this does to the New York Jets' odds of even making the playoff, let alone making it to the Super Bowl. Does the team now have to go out and find a QB like, perhaps, Matt Ryan who just began a broadcast career as an analyst with CBS? Or do they stick with Zach Wilson?

As for the game, it went into overtime and ended on the 65-yard punt for a touchdown by undrafted rookie Xavier Gipson of Stephen F. Austin, a player many know from the TV show 'Hard Knocks'.

It is a wonderment that the Jets persevered after the stadium and the team were so obviously deflated when Rodgers headed to the locker room on a cart. It is outright crazy they defeated Buffalo 22-16 in overtime. It was only the 23rd home win for the Jets since 2013 (23-59) which is the 3rd-worst in the entire NFL. It also ended a 7-game home losing streak on Monday Night Football games. Oddly, it still becomes the 11th straight Monday Night Football game won by the team for which Aaron Rodgers started as QB.

Josh Allen accounted for four turnovers, including a fumble that set the Jets up in Bill's territory on the 27 with just 4;51 to play in a 13-13 ballgame. The Jets played conservatively for the field goal, only to have that equalized on Buffalo's next possession with a 50-yarder from Tyler Bass.

NFL Opening Week Recap

PACKERS at BEARS: While everybody was eagerly anticipating Rodgers' debut with the Jets on Monday night, a large percentage were also interested in seeing how Green Bay without him. What they saw was an excellent debut for Jordan Love in the 38-20 Green Bay win. His performance led all NFL quarterbacks with a 123.2 passer rating as he went 15-of-27 for 245 yards and 3 TD's with no INT's.

LIONS at CHIEFS: 2022 NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes and the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs were stunning 21-20 losers at home to Detroit in the Thursday night opener of the entire NFL season. That set the tone for home teams to be beaten after going a collective 151-118 in the regular season in 2022. They went 6-10 to begin 2023.

Moneyline favorites went 7-9.

David Montgomery's 8-yard run with 7:06 left to play proved to be the game-winning points. The Chiefs went 3-and-out following that score and turned the ball over on downs at their own 45 on their final opportunity. Mahomes was just 21-of-39 for 226 yards with 2 TD's and a pick. His 45 yards on 6 carries led the team in rushing.

Detroit receiver Marvin Jones lost a fumble for the first time in his 12-year career.

Kansas City had won 8 straight season openers. Detroit was 0-4-1 in its previous five.

BENGALS at BROWNS: The 24-3 Cleveland win as a 2.5-point underdog was a head-scratcher, but maybe it shouldn't have been. Burrow is now just 1-5 vs. the state rival but Sunday's performance was a woeful 14-of-31 for 82 yards. Deshaun Watson threw for 154 for Cleveland on a 16-of-29 outing with a TD and an INT, and added 45 yards and a TD rushing.

TEXANS at RAVENS: Nothing surprising in Baltimore's 25-9 win which covered the 10-point spread. However, the Ravens lost running back JK Dobbins for the season with an Achilles injury suffered in the 3rd quarter on a run to the Houston 2-yard line.

BUCCANEERS at VIKINGS: The 6-point home favorites fell 20-17 to the visiting Bucs in Baker Mayfield's debut as quarterback for Tampa Bay. Mayfield started 3-of-11 but completed 18 of his last 23. Chase McLaughlin tied his own career-long field mark with a 57-yard connection with 5:10 left and the Vikes went 3-and-out on their final two opportunities.

PANTHERS at FALCONS: Desmond Ridder was an efficient 15-of-18 for 115 yards and a TD in Atlanta's 24-10 win over Bryce Young and Carolina. Bijan Robinson had 56 yards on 10 carries with no scores, but he did have an 11-yard TD reception among his 6 catches on 6 targets for 27 yards. Terry Allgeier had 75 yards and 2 TD's on 15 rushes for the Falcons. Young was 20-of-38 for 14 yards and a 1 TD but Jessie Bates picked him off twice and recovered a Miles Sanders fumble. The three Carolina turnovers were converted into 17 points by the Falcons.

CARDINALS at COMMANDERS: The new owners of the Washington football franchise are 1-0. So far, its has only cost them $6 billion per win. The Commanders defeated Arizona 20-16, despite allowing Sam Howell to be sacked 6 times. An uneven performance by Howell saw him pass and run for a combined 213 yards and 2 scores, but he also had a pair of turnovers.

JAGS at COLTS: Things were looking a bit bleak for the Jags until they produced 14 points in a 66-second span of the 4th quarter. Jacksonville regained the lead at 24-21 with 5:14 to play on a 1-yard run by Tank Bigsby in the Auburn rookie's debut, capping a 10-play, 46-yard drive. Two plays later, Anthony Richardson was intercepted at the Colts' 44 and Travis Etienne broke off a 26-yard touchdown run to end a short 3-play drive.

Anthony Richardson was 24-of-37 for 223 yards in his NFL debut with a TD and an INT. He added 40 yards on the round and another score.

Trevor Lawrence was 24-of-32 for 241 yards with 2 TD's and 1 INT for Jacksonville. Calvin Ridley had 101 yards on 8 catches, and the first TD of the game, for the Jags.

COWBOYS at GIANTS: As Bart Simpson would say, "¡Ay, caramba!" The 40-0 Dallas win was painful to watch, unless you're a Cowboy fan or a hater of the Giants. The shutout was the largest between the teams, topping the Cowboys' 35-0 win in a 1995 season opener win at the Meadowlands, the last time the Cowboys had a Super Bowl-winning season.

Other Scores

The 49ers won 30-7 at Pittsburgh

The Saints were 16-15 home winners of Tennessee as Rashid Shaheed's 19-yard score on a pass from Derek Carr was the only touchdown of the game for either team.

Las Vegas was 17-16 winner at Denver.

Tua Tagovailoa threw for 466 yards and 3 TD's (1 INT) in a 36-34 Miami win at the LA Chargers.

Philadelphia prevailed 25-20 at New England.

The LA Rams rolled 30-13 in Seattle.