Aaron Rodgers believes he and the Jets will “continue to ascend” following their season-opening loss on the road Monday night against the 49ers.
But the four-time NFL MVP offered a stern message Tuesday for any doom-and-gloom fans ready to give up on Gang Green after the first game of his comeback from 2023 Achilles surgery.
“I think in general, the messaging was always going to be, if we won, we’re going to the Super Bowl. If we lose, we’re the s–ts,” Rodgers said Tuesday on his weekly paid appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “We love it, we love how passionate they are. But it’s a 17-game season for a reason.
“We didn’t play good enough [Monday] night. No excuses. But come along for the ride, though. If you want to jump off now, jump off, but then don’t come back.”
Rodgers also reiterated what he’d said after the game about feeling good physically, with Wednesday marking the one-year anniversary of his season-ending injury suffered four plays into his Jets debut on Sept. 11 of last year.
He finished 13-for-21 for 167 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the 32-19 loss to the Niners.
“Honestly, gratitude to start the game just that I was back,” the 40-year-old Rodgers added. “Such a long road, I thought about all the different things that happened over the last year. [Wednesday] is like a year since the injury, a lot’s changed in my life in the last year.
“So, I just felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I was on the bus ride over. I was texting some people, actually texting [former teammates] Randall Cobb and A.J. [Hawk], as well. But just there’s a lot of things were hitting me, my 20th season, all the rehab that happened, all the ups and downs of the last year, and I kind of, just, the Anthem hit, and I just had a big calm that just came over me. And all the anxiety around getting hit and staying healthy just left my body, and I went out there and felt at ease about being back on the field. So it was cool.”
Rodgers added that he believes he will be “more comfortable” and there will be “more potential for scrambles to happen” in the coming weeks.
“I feel 100 percent confident, it’s just maybe I can do a little bit more every single week,” Rodgers said. “So I felt good, body felt good, arm felt good. Disappointed, obviously. It would have been pretty special, just a culmination to come back and to win on the road against a Super Bowl finalist, but they’re a real good team.”
Rodgers also addressed a two-second video on social media that went viral during the game, in which he appeared to be looking in the other direction and ignoring offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
But the clip was edited and didn’t show Rodgers immediately turning back to Hackett, who also was his OC in Green Bay from 2019-21.
“I mean, it’s appearance versus reality. I don’t know, you can make up whatever you think it is based on the appearance,” Rodgers said. “As I’m looking at that, it looks like I’m talking to [backup quarterback] Tyrod [Taylor], who’s sitting on my left, and then one of the Surfaces [tablets] in my lap. And I’m talking to Tyrod, and I’m coming back to the Surface, as this is normal, like in sideline stuff, there’s conversation coming at you from all different angles.
“But yeah, Hack and I, we’re great. I felt like we had a good plan going in. We just didn’t execute it very well. But yeah, I felt like the calls came in good. Communication was good. Communication on the sideline was good. So, yeah, everything is great.”