SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Lights, camera, Aaron… one year later, again.
Finally emerging from the darkness and under a sun-drenched, blue sky, with heartache and heartbreak in the rearview mirror, Aaron Rodgers embarked on his long-awaited and highly-touted Flight 24, designed to take the Jets to a forgotten destination known only to Broadway Joe Namath: football heaven.
Heaven will wait.
49ers 32, Jets 19.
As the national anthem played at Levi's Stadium, home to his hometown 49ers, there was a lot that tugged at Aaron Rodgers' heartstrings, and then came the moment of truth that will one day be remembered as the comeback of all time, or as fans' latest nightmare, the end of the Robert Saleh-Joe Douglas regime, an impossible dream — and maybe Rodgers' own demise.
The Jets and Jets fans have been waiting forever for a savior, and they will be waiting forever for Aaron Rodgers to be that savior this season, because the future is in his hands and the future is now.
Can he become even a little closer to the Aaron Rodgers of old?
Four-time MVP and one-time Super Bowl champion Aaron Rodgers, or is he the same old Rodgers?
With 26 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, Aaron Rodgers failed to reach 4,000 passing yards for the first time in five seasons and failed to lead the 2022 Packers to the playoffs.
Rodgers (13-21, 167 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) showed glimpses of his legendary arm talent, but with fewer passing game options and less help from the rushing attack than he needed, he couldn't overcome a struggling Jets defense and it wasn't enough to beat the big boys.
There's no Jets Super Bowl news today, but there shouldn't be.
Some of you may not be able to resist the Same Old Jets knee-jerk reaction and will give it a go as much as you like.
He wasn't the four-time league MVP Aaron of old.
He was pretty much Aaron Brown in 2022 in Green Bay … which means, if we're going to look at things optimistically, he's a better quarterback with his eyes closed than Zach Wilson was the past three seasons.
I can't help but think that the more he shakes off the rust, the more he'll remember how to be the best Aaron Rodgers ever, even at 40 years old.
There were two clear occasions when Rodgers reminded himself and the Jets of their potential.
He sliced through the vaunted 49ers defense on a 12-play, 70-yard, 7-minute, 7-second drive in the first quarter, completing four passes to Garrett Wilson for 45 yards and setting up a 3-yard TD run by Breece Hall.
Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
He was in complete command, instructing his teammates on their positions before the snap, and he completed seven of his first eight passes, including one dropped by Allen Lazard on the opening series.
And his first touchdown pass as a Jets player was a perfect 36-yarder to Lazard, cutting the Jets' lead to 26-13.
No matter how much pain he was in, he kept going. Rodgers was slammed to the ground by Jordan Elliott and sacked by nemesis Leonard Floyd, who knocked him out of the 2023 season, early in the second quarter, but this time he survived. He escaped pressure with an incomplete pass on third down with no ill effects.
But he had little chance, simply watching from the sidelines as Brock Purdy and play-caller Kyle Shanahan controlled the clock and surgically sliced through a bewildered Jets defense.
Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
The score was 23-7 midway through the third quarter when Deomoire Lenoir deflected a pass from Rodgers to Wilson off Demetrious Flanigan-Fowler for an interception.
After all he'd endured, dealing with death as a football player and rehabbing a torn left Achilles tendon, Rodgers didn't need to remind his adored and enthralled teammates that he could still be great any more than he needed to remind himself while facing off against vicious predators who tried to remind him that 40-year-old quarterbacks are an endangered species.
His teammates have known this for a long time: He has changed the complexion and culture of the team in ways that few outside of Tom Brady's former teammates can comprehend.
“He's very insightful, very empathetic and he understands people, he tries to get to know them, he tries to know how to interact with them,” Solomon Thomas told the Post. “He doesn't treat everybody the same. He tries to find out what motivates you, how to communicate with you, how best to interact with you to make you the best person you can be. He does that with every individual, from the practice squad to the best player on the team. It's so awesome to see a player of his caliber want to get to know everybody and influence them. I've never experienced anything like that. It's so awesome.”
At the very least, Aaron Rodgers gives the Jets some hope.
This time, he didn't get out for the fourth time in a row. Aaron Rodgers lost the battle. With more help, he might still be able to win the battle.
