Aaron Rodgers was severely injured four snaps into his tenure with the New York Jets. On his third pass attempt, Rodgers was sacked by Buffalo Bills pass-rusher Leonard Floyd. In the process of going to the ground, Rodgers’ foot/ankle stuck to the turf in an odd way, and he tore his Achilles tendon.
This is probably the clearest video of Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles injury. You can clearly see it….
pic.twitter.com/KFS3hZEQGV https://t.co/hbXnIKBQbA
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 12, 2023
Despite the Jets eventually pulling out the win in overtime, their offensive line was terrible all night long. In the end, the offensive line gave up the sack on Rodgers, three quarterback hits and eight hurries, per PFF.
According to a report from The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt, he had told the Jets coaches he did not like plays like the one on which he was injured because it required the offensive linemen to cut block:
Aaron Rodgers had expressed to #Jets coaches that he doesn’t like the play-calls involving the cut-blocks because he can’t extend the play and it forces him to get rid of the ball quickly, sources tell me and @DMRussini.
It failed twice on his four drop-backs — one resulted in…
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) September 12, 2023
Throughout the course of the offseason, many picked the Jets to be Super Bowl contenders. However, detractors pointed to the weak offensive line as a reason why the team would struggle. Unfortunately, no one could have predicted this.
Instead of focusing so much on getting the big-name skill players or the ones on Rodgers’ list of preferred teammates, the Jets should have invested more in their offensive line.
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