PITTSBURGH — After their devastating 37-15 loss to the Steelers on Sunday Night Football, Jets players hung their heads low on their way to the locker room.
Jets co-owners Woody and Christopher Johnson greeted the players in the hallway in what was another stunning defeat for a team that had Super Bowl expectations.
Gang Green players likely still do. But at 2-5 and 10 games remaining in the 2024 season, the Jets look anything but a Super Bowl team.
Just ask Aaron Rodgers, who said the Jets were flat during pre-game warmups. That certainly translated to Sunday’s game, which was the Jets fourth loss in a row.
“There are a lot of us leaders that are trying to do that week to week,” Rodgers said. “It comes down to each individual making the right decisions during the week, preparation, and going out and playing as well as they can and trusting each other.
“I’ve been loving the messaging that [Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich] brought to us. We had three great speakers last night at the team meeting and the energy seemed really good. For whatever reason, today it just kind of seemed a little flat in warmup.
“It’s Sunday Night Football, NBC, I live for these games. I just don’t quite understand why the energy was a little bit flat.”
If the Jets aren’t motivated by Week 7, when will they be? The team has underachieved after many thought they would be championship contenders with Rodgers’ return from a season-ending Achilles injury a year ago.
If that wasn’t enough, Woody Johnson fired Jets coach Robert Saleh on Oct. 8 after beginning the season 2-3. Then, after Ulbrich became the interim coach, the Jets changed offensive play-callers, added Davante Adams, and will now get Haason Reddick in the building following a lengthy holdout.
None of that has mattered to this point. The Jets’ offense has been lethargic the entire season, and Rodgers hasn’t played at the level many expected. In seven games, Rodgers has passed for 1,663 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
In the loss to the Steelers, Rodgers completed 24-of-39 passes for 276 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Not only did he struggle with his accuracy throughout the night, but he appeared reluctant to throw the ball downfield to his receivers.
Rodgers used the dink-and-dunk pass plays to try to get into a rhythm, and during the first 25 minutes of the game, it worked. He completed a pass to Breece Hall, who ran for a 57-yard gain, which helped set up a touchdown pass to Tyler Conklin.
However, that would be the final time the Jets scored all night.
The Steelers made adjustments, eventually leading to two critical interceptions that completely flipped the game. First, it was Rodgers’ terrible decision on a pass intended for Garrett Wilson, which Steelers cornerback Beanie Bishop Jr. picked off. The Steelers converted that turnover into a touchdown right before halftime to cut the lead to 15-13 and turned the momentum.
“I felt like once we started the game we had good energy, and then that s–tty pick I threw kind of — after that I felt like the energy just dropped off for whatever reason,” Rodgers said.
Then, on the second possession after halftime, Rodgers tried to find Wilson again, but the pass bounced off the reciever’s chest and into Bishop’s hands. The interception was returned to the one-yard line, which set up another touchdown.
“I got to catch the damn ball,” Wilson said. “I’m playing like s–t right now. Got to fix it.
“I don’t take that lightly. That was the reason we lost the game at the end of the day. That s–t can’t happen. It’s a terrible play.”
Whatever the cause of the Jets’ fourth straight loss, they have to find a way to break out of this funk soon, or the season will be over. Gang Green will be on the road again next week against New England (1-6) in a fight to keep its season alive. Four days later, on Halloween, the Jets will play the Texans (5-2).
A loss in either of those two games for the Jets and their playoff dreams will likely go up in smoke before Nov. 1.
We have a high character room,” Ulbrich said about the Jets players. “We have the pieces capable of getting it done. We just — every man in there, coach and player alike, has got to point the finger at themselves. If you do that, you got a chance.”
