It’s now been a few weeks since the Jets finally made their trade for quarterback Aaron Rodgers official. We’ve seen him on the field at OTAs for Gang Green while wearing a Jets helmet and connecting on passes with Garrett Wilson and friends. But still, some Jets fans may not believe their eyes. Head coach Robert Saleh knows a thing or two about that.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated chatted with Saleh about the ways Rodgers has raised expectations despite only being with the organization for a short period of time. These were described in Breer’s article as “wow moments”. There were two specific ones that Saleh addressed:
The first one came Monday, at one of the team’s final OTA practices before breaking for the summer. On this one, after collecting the snap, Aaron Rodgers stared down the middle of the defense in a seven-on-seven drill, quickly moved his head left, then pivoted and reset too quickly for anyone on the other side to react. As the defense tried, he released a go ball down the right sideline for Malik Taylor, who spent parts of the last four seasons in Green Bay.
“When he let it go, I was like, Well, that’s overthrown,” Saleh says, grinning ear to ear, sitting at a table in the Jets’ lunchroom Friday morning. “And then, the ball just kept floating and floating and floating, and it hit the guy in stride. I was like, Oh my God. It was unbelievable.”
“The second one, it’s because you see it in games, you just never see it that way,” Saleh continues. “Me, personally, I’ve never been around a quarterback like that. We’ve had some good quarterbacks—Russell [Wilson], Jimmy [Garoppolo], Matt Schaub. This is different, and not to speak poorly on them. So he throws a ball to C.J. Uzomah. And I was like, He’s covered! And he says, Guy’s not looking at me, he’s open.”
What a difference it makes to have a competent quarterback under center, right?
The Jets are hoping these “wow moments” will continue during training camp and once the regular season starts in September. New York will need to get things rolling immediately, too. They have the NFL’s hardest schedule through the first six weeks of the season.
With a four-time NFL MVP and future Hall of Famer leading the offense, it’s easy for the Jets and the fanbase to think the league’s longest playoff drought could finally end next year. But everyone is expecting more. Gang Green wants to reach the promised land, and some analysts think they have the personnel to do it.
Now, it’ll be a matter of going out and getting the job done. The work starts next month at training camp for Robert Saleh and his club.
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
