May This Be My Last Aaron Rodgers Headline
It won't be. But Rodgers and the Jets sunk to a new low on Sunday. Also: an Eagles-Ravens breakdown, some Turkey Day leftovers and the Justin Herbert/Kirk Cousins Hobby Horse Bowl.
In this stuffed Week 13 edition of NFL Walkthrough …
The Baltimore Ravens did not beat themselves, for once. Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles beat them instead.
Justin Herbert proves that the best way to prove you are better than Kirk Cousins is to not do anything stupid.
The Minnesota Vikings are 9-2. Does anyone south of Interstate 90 care?
Turkey weekend leftovers, including a troubling Lions injury report.
And much more. But first …
Sinking Toward Apotheosis: the Aaron Rodgers Years
The game should have been over at halftime.
The Jets led 21-7 in the second quarter. The Seahawks fumbled three straight kickoffs, losing two. They allowed a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown. Aaron Rodgers threw two early touchdowns and looked dialed-in to something besides a late-night public-access radio show. He even delivered a block on an end-around! Well, he got run over on an end-around would be more accurate. But Rodgers appeared to be enjoying himself for the first time since, I dunno, that Taylor Swift concert last spring?
Then the Jets started Jetsing like they have never Jetsed before..
Rodgers didn’t see Leonard Williams drop into coverage six plays after that second Seahawks kickoff-return fumble. Rodgers plopped a short pass into Williams’ hands, and the defensive lineman led a low-speed chase up the left sideline for a touchdown.
On the next Jets possession, Rodgers lofted a fourth-and-2 deep floater for BFF Davante Adams: close, but no completion.
It was at that moment that an alert compatriot informed me that I could wager the Seahawks, trailing 21-13, to win with a +200 moneyline. I pounced on it like a Titanic life preserver.
Oh, but the Seahawks are a middling team with lots of weaknesses, including a woeful goal-to-go offense. They drove to the Jets one-yard line in the third quarter, executed about 70 plays thanks to Jets penalties, then surrendered a 17-yard sack on fourth-and-goal, negating even the field-position advantage they would have earned from, say, a failed sneak. Punter Michael Dickson got injured and needed to be bolted to the ground like a snowman decoration when he held for field goals. The Jets entered the fourth quarter leading 21-16, at home, with a Hall of Fame quarterback and a manageable injury report.
I will now try to summarize what happened after a Seahawks field goal cut the Jets lead to 21-19:
Offensive pass interference, Adams (he suplexed his defender).
Delay of game, Jets. Punt.
Too many men on the field, Jets, on a fourth-and-6 attempt by the Seahawks.
Pass interference, Jets, on the ensuing fourth-and-1.
Horse-collar tackle, Jets, on a second fourth-and-1 attempt that would otherwise have been a stuff.
Offsides, Jets, to negate a Geno Smith fumble.
A Zach Charbonnet touchdown against a gassed, frustrated defense to give the Seahawks a 26-21 lead.
A final drive, extended by a fine third-and-forever Rodgers pass to Isaiah Davis, that ended with a pathetic four-play sequence: an off-target pass to Adams (with Rodgers waving his arms and fuming about it as he always does to remind us that nothing is ever his fault), a zero-yard middle screen to Davis, a coverage sack by Williams, and one of Rodgers’ who-gives-a-f**k launches over the head of Garrett Wilson in the end zone.
Rodgers finished 21-of-39 for 185 yards, two touchdowns, one pick-6 and three sacks. He was not as effective as those meager stats suggest. He appears to be content to heave high-degree-of-difficulty sideline moonshots to Adams and Wilson, then get surly if they don’t catch them. A team with a veteran quarterback should not suffer delay-of-game penalties while trying to come back in a home game.
The Jets finished with 12 penalties for 83 yards. They played like a team without a real head coach or front office, which is of course what they are. They lost a game their opponent gift wrapped for them.
It’s starting to look like there is no bottom for the Jets, who have fallen to 3-9. They are about to embark on a two-game Florida road trip (Dolphins, Jaguars). I cannot imagine them putting up a fight against the Dolphins after what happened on Sunday. And I’m starting to believe the scuttlebutt that Woody Johnson might bench, release or exile Rodgers to Elba Island. Johnson must realize that he looks like a fool for firing everyone except the team’s most obvious problem.
I don’t have any other grand pronouncements on the Rodgers Jets. I’ve burned through a lot of material over the last two years, after all. Frankly, it would be nice to never write or think about this incarnation of the team again. So consider this my obituary for the Jets-Rodgers era. If he’s released on Tuesday, I’ll just repost this instead of trying to contextualize two years of obstinance and egomania.
But hey, at least I hit on that +200 in-game moneyline. If you gotta watch the Jets, you might as well profit from the experience.
Super Bowl Consolation Game Spotlight: Philadelphia Eagles 24, Baltimore Ravens 19
What Happened
The Eagles added another convincing win to their increasingly-impressive portfolio. The Ravens lost, not due to penalties or turnovers, but because they were the inferior team.