NASHVILLE — Sometimes Aaron Rodgers will simply give a look — Breece Hall calls it a long stare — to let his teammates know they messed up. Sometimes he’ll crack a joke to lighten the mood. Or he’ll display the sort of stoicism that lets everyone know that it’s O.K. to remain calm, even as things aren’t going your way.
Rodgers stood on the sideline most of last season, wearing a headset, watching as the Jets offense often failed to meet the moment. The vibes were off — and vibes can make or break you in a key moment. It can dictate the outcome of a play, of a game, of a season.
“There were some times last year where there were negative vibes going where it felt like ‘here we go again’ or ‘we’re not going to win this one,’” Rodgers said on Sunday. “I just don’t want us to ever get in that spot.”
Maybe it was only one game, in Week 2 against a rebuilding Tennessee Titans team that few expect to contend for the playoffs. But it was meaningful for a team that has far too often crumbled under the weight of those moments, that failed to bounce back when things went wrong. Now they have the man in the middle to reiterate the phrase he made famous a decade ago and keeps coming back around: R-E-L-A-X.
On Sunday, the Jets started off poorly, again. The offense, and Rodgers, looked sluggish — through three drives, they gained 15 total yards. The defense was struggling up front, again. The Titans jumped ahead 7-0 in the first quarter, then 10-7 in the second. Linebacker C.J. Mosley — a team captain and crucial piece of the defense — left the game with a toe injury in the second quarter and didn’t return. Jermaine Johnson left in the third quarter with what could be a torn Achilles; his season might be over.
The Jets didn’t capitalize on an early forced fumble, when the defense kept points off the board in the red zone by recovering Will Levis’s silly lateral, flipped to an unprepared teammate as he was getting sacked. They didn’t capitalize when Irv Charles blocked a punt in the third quarter either. Calvin Ridley got behind Sauce Gardner for what felt like an impossible 40-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter, tying it up at 17.
Then, Rodgers went to work. Nobody panicked. Nobody stressed. It was just another drive.
“You don’t feel like it’s a tight game,” Hall said. “He brings that sense of calm so it’s not a big deal, it’s just go make the plays you’re supposed to make. If you do, you’ll be in the right spot and get it done.”
Defensive tackle Solomon Thomas felt the sense of tranquility from the sideline. “It was very calming and peaceful knowing you have a Hall of Famer leading you, so there’s no need to panic,” Thomas said. “We trust him with everything in our heart. No matter what happens, we got him.”
Seventy-four yards — including stellar catches from Garrett Wilson (26 yards) and Mike Williams (19 yards) — and a 20-yard Braelon Allen touchdown run later, the Jets were up 24-17. That was the final score of Rodgers’ first start-to-finish win as a Jet.
“These are important games late in the season when you’re trying to get in the playoffs,” Rodgers said. “It was a hot day, short week, very good defense, started off slow. Finding a way to win, that’s what really good teams do. Great teams, when you’re up 14-10, you block a punt, you score a touchdown to go up two scores. We’re not quite there yet but good teams can close out games in tough environments, and we’ll be really thankful for this one down the road.”
As long as Rodgers is the Jets’ quarterback, these won’t look like the Jets of yesteryear.
“A lot of times people freak out and you’ve gotta be a calming force in there,” Rodgers said. “You can see it in their eyes sometimes. I feel like all game we were frustrated but never got down on each other. We were positive even though we were frustrated.”
Positivity amid the frustration, a sentiment fit for the Jets’ first win, one worth celebrating, even if it came at great cost.
Johnson thought a Titans player stepped on him when he dropped to the ground in the third quarter. Then he saw the replay: Nobody stepped on him. It only felt that way.
“It was just like: There ain’t no damn way,” Johnson said after the game.
Johnson was quickly surrounded by trainers, and it only took seconds for one of them to call for a cart. Johnson cried on the field, and draped a towel over his face so no one could see him. Teammates and coaches surrounded him. Jets coach Robert Saleh looked distraught. Defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton too. Thomas hugged him.
“I was just telling him I love him,” Thomas said. “That he’s going to be ok. That’s all you can say in that moment.”
The diagnosis isn’t promising. Saleh said he fears Johnson tore his Achilles, which would end his season. It would be a devastating blow for a defensive line that was already thin on depth as Haason Reddick continues his months-long holdout. Johnson was a Pro Bowler in 2023, a breakout success story after barely playing as a rookie. If the Jets felt O.K. about their defensive end group, it was because Johnson was leading it. The rest of the group is young and inexperienced. There is no one with the pedigree of John Franklin-Myers or Bryce Huff, both of whom left this offseason. But they had Johnson.
“It’s like losing a heartbeat for this team,” Thomas said.
Two plays later, Ridley scored a long touchdown and it felt like the Jets were reeling, already without Mosley — who Saleh is hoping will return from his toe injury in time for Thursday’s game against the New England Patriots.
And then there was Will McDonald.
The Jets drafted McDonald in the first round last year and then barely played him. The hope was that he would take a similar path toward improvement that Johnson did as a first-round pick in 2022. Johnson didn’t play much either as a rookie, then came back in 2023 a different player, physically transforming himself and becoming the player the Jets thought they were drafting out of Florida State.
McDonald didn’t quite bulk up like the Jets had hoped. He flashed immense pass rushing potential in training camp, but couldn’t quite grab the starting spot opened by Reddick’s vacancy, falling behind Micheal Clemons on the depth chart.
Sunday was McDonald’s moment. He’ll need more of them now, with Johnson out — especially if Reddick doesn’t ever show his face around Florham Park, which is a real possibility. McDonald’s first sack on Sunday came in the first quarter when he dropped back as a QB spy; he was there waiting when Levis tried to escape pressure. His second sack came when Levis tripped over him and fumbled the ball away.
He saved the best for last: The Titans had the ball at the Jets’ eight-yard-line, third-and-8, 29 seconds left, Jets leading by seven points. Quickly, McDonald worked his way around right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere and brought Levis down for the third time — notable considering McDonald had three sacks his entire rookie season.
“In my mind I was just thinking: All right, win this one on one, we win the game,” McDonald said. “That was pretty much it.”
On Thursday, Rodgers broached the idea to offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett about using a personnel group that featured two running backs on the field at the same time: Hall and Allen. Hackett said he didn’t like it for this week. Rodgers gave him an idea for a play involving a bubble screen. Hackett relented.
In the second quarter, the Jets called a timeout right before the two minute warning. They were deciding between two plays — Rodgers suggested one with Hall and Allen on the field. It included a fake screen to a moving Hall on the right side, leaving Allen open for a short screen just in front of him. Allen — helped by some downfield blocking from Joe Tippmann and Alijah Vera-Tucker — took it to the house for a 12-yard touchdown, the first of the fourth-round rookie’s career.
It helped to have Allen, a star in training camp who looks like the No. 2 running back the Jets were hoping for when they signed Dalvin Cook last year. Allen — the youngest player in the NFL and the youngest to score a touchdown since at least 1950 — runs with power, through tackles and offers something different than Hall.
He showed it again on his game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter. Allen finished with 56 total yards on 11 touches.
“On that last run he looked a little Derrick Henry-ish,” tight end Tyler Conklin said.
Rodgers was having some issues getting plays off in a timely manner on Sunday; the Jets were called for one delay of game penalty and came close a few other times. But those struggles led to something special. Early in the third quarter, the Jets were forced to call a timeout to avoid a penalty as the clock neared zero.
Hall had an idea. He said he often tells Rodgers to pass him the ball anytime a linebacker is covering him one-on-one. It happened earlier in the game but Rodgers didn’t see it. During the timeout, Rodgers told Hall where to go.
With Hall split wide to the right, the Titans put linebacker Kenneth Murray across from him. Rodgers saw it this time, and Hall finished it with an impressive catch.
“By the time I looked at him he was three-to-four yards past him,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t throw the best ball but he made a nice catch.”
Hall called it “cool” to be on the same page with his quarterback and for him “to have that trust in me.”
“It’s great to play with a guy who trusts me that much,” Hall said, “and wants to give me the ball.”
In the locker room, Saleh called Sunday’s win not a good one, a great one. It was one the Jets needed. Imagine the consternation if the Jets, with all the preseason hype, and with a healthy Rodgers at quarterback, started 0-2, with a loss to a non-contending Titans team, with a quick turnaround to Thursday night coming.
Instead, Saleh avoided a mocking headline on the back page of the New York tabloids for at least one more week.
The Jets survived. There will be questions about what comes next, if the defense has the juice to overcome losing Johnson for the season, or Mosley if he misses any games. Maybe they’ll look back at this one as a turning point in the season, even if it was only Week 2.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Rodgers said after his first win in 623 days. “I haven’t had that in a long time, being able to have that interview on the field after the game means you won, that you played halfway decent. These are the games you look back on late in the season, thankful that you won.”
Keep calm, and carry on.
(Top photo: Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA Today)
