Patriots Icon Tedy Bruschi Warns Aaron Rodgers: 'Test' Ahead in AFC East

Tedy Bruschi knows a thing or two about stopping New York Jets quarterbacks.  

Now an ESPN analyst, the former New England Patriots linebacker is in no position to stop Aaron Rodgers, the newest potential solution to the green metropolitan passing woes. Some felt that Rodgers' arrival to the tri-state area bumped the Patriots to the AFC East cellar and others believe they pose a legitimate threat to Buffalo and Miami's plans to return to the postseason. 

But Burschi, appearing on the ESPN's "Get Up!," warned both Rodgers and Jets fans to tread cautiously, comparing the lifelong Green Bay Packer's New York adventure to former teammate Tom Brady's transfer from Foxboro to Tampa Bay.

"It took Tom Brady five weeks to go absolutely ballistic and explode on the entire Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense on the sideline," Bruschi noted. "(There was) so much to wear. He was playing the Chicago Bears and he didn't even know what down it was." 

To Bruschi's point, Brady initially struggled to find clarity in the Buccaneers offense in the early stages of his first non-Patriot games in 2020. His stats were relatively decent (1,375 yards, 12 touchdowns, 96.4 passer rating) in those first four games but Tampa posted only a 3-2 mark in that span. It was a streak, as Bruschi references, that ended Brady going viral for all the wrong reasons, believing a game-sealing, failed fourth down conversion was in fact a third down during a nationally televised loss to Chicago.

Of course, Jets fans will hardly mind if the ending of Rodgers' Meadowlands debut matches that of Brady's maiden Tampa voyage: behind an improved Brady (104.7 passer rating the rest of the season, during which Tampa went 8-3), the Buccaneers earned a playoff berth and advanced to Super Bowl LV, where Brady earned MVP honors and his seventh/final championship ring in a 31-9 dismantling of Kansas City. Ironically enough, Brady and the Bucs disposed of Rodgers' Packers in the NFC title game two weeks prior to the Kansas City crush. 

For their part, the Jets are doing their utmost to make Rodgers as comfortable as possible, adding several former Wisconsin compatriots such as receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb as well as newly minted offensive coordinator Nathanial Hackett. The ultimate factor in the Rodgers era's success, Bruschi reminds Jets fans, will be Rodgers himself, as the 39-year-old seeks to atone for his worst statistical season as a full-time starter as well as his first playoff miss since 2018.

"That's what Aaron Rodgers is going to realize here, that there's a lot of people in this Jets culture maybe that don't realize it," Bruschi said. " Maybe it's good that Cobb's there to help him because this is going to be a lot of leadership, a leadership test."

That test will feature the tradition of two meetings with the AFC East rival Patriots, whose dates will be revealed later this month. Even with Brady removed from the equation, the Patriots have continued to hold a monopoly on the long-standing divisional and regional rivalry, winning 14 consecutive get-togethers dating back to November 2016.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

More Patriots coverage from Sports Illustrated here.