A year later, the most famous Achilles tendon in sports is healed, reinforcements have arrived and the task at hand for 40-year-old Aaron Rodgers is the same as the task at hand for 39-year-old Aaron Rodgers.
Win the Super Bowl.
Lead the Jets to the playoffs for the first time since the 2010 season.
Lead the Jets to their first division title since the 2002 season.
Lead the Jets to their first Super Bowl victory since January 12, 1969.
Find a way to beat Patrick Mahomes and stop him from winning his third straight championship if the Chiefs get in the way.
Be the savior you were hired to be a year ago.
Rodgers had been through hell, with a stop in Egypt, waiting to return to this moment, this moment where he could cement his enduring New York legend alongside Broadway's Joe Namath.
When he can win that elusive second Super Bowl championship.
With the guys around him like Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson, a strengthened offensive line that he likes to anchor with Tyron Smith if he can stay healthy, as well as elite defense and a good kicking game, Rodgers doesn't need to be the MVP of yesteryear.
That doesn't mean he can't once again wreak havoc on defenses with his incredible football brain and great football arm.
And it's a beautiful old chip that's irrelevant now, years after the draft day when his hometown 49ers selected Alex Smith with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft and he sat alone in the Green Room until the Packers gave him a saving grace with the 24th pick.
“I take a lot of pride in my performance so when I step on the field I expect great things,” Rodgers said. “I've done it before so that's the standard I hold myself to.”
He played four snaps in the 2023 home opener against the Bills on Sept. 11 but didn't play a single snap in a preseason game after current 49ers edge rusher Leonard Floyd tore his Achilles tendon, shattering his Jets dreams.
“I think you always have to prove something,” Rodgers said, “but I think as you get older, it changes who you have to prove it to.”
He knows exactly who he needs and he wants to prove it.
“I've always played with something on my shoulders,” Rodgers said. “Sometimes you just have to produce something. It goes back to proving something in a way. Who do I have to prove? At this point, it's just myself.”
His teammates see the hunger in Rodgers. “I don't think that drive has ever gone away,” Allen Lazard told the Post. “Through everything from falling in the draft to the injuries he's had throughout his career, the down years to being a four-time MVP, I don't think that drive will ever go away.”
No one around the Jets has ever seen a quarterback who's 40. “The way he plays on the field, you'd think he was 24, 25,” Lazard said. “The way he throws the ball.”
CJ Mosley: “He throws the ball left and right, he moves around, he's mobile, he's fun to be around and play with.”
Rodgers sees his player-led team maturing and better able to handle the inevitable adversity. “We can't afford to have any exodus or players leaving,” he said.
He understands that, as the lead surfer, he can't ride the waves of euphoria and disaster of the Jets in the Super Bowl or Jets headlines as usual. “I've got to find a way to be a stable point for the team,” Rodgers said.
Coach Rodgers will take a moment Monday night at Levi's Stadium to be grateful to be back playing the kid's sport he so fondly remembers and loves so much.
“There's always a moment during the national anthem where you gather your thoughts and send a message of gratitude to the universe for giving you the opportunity to put on the pads and be on the field,” Rodgers said.
At the start of training camp, he said his goal was New Orleans, site of the Super Bowl in 2024. I asked him on Thursday if New Orleans was still a goal. “Absolutely,” Rodgers said.
Win the Super Bowl.
