Aaron Rodgers has finally thrown his first career touchdown for the New York Jets, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the team trailing the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night.
The Jets’ offense was able to score the game’s first touchdown – a Breece Hall rush into the end zone to make it 7-3 – but it was all 49ers until Rodgers started driving late in the third quarter at Levi’s Stadium.
Then, after a hard cadence saw the 49ers’ right edge jump offsides, Rodgers had a free play and knew just what to do with it.
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He fired a strike to veteran receiver Allen Lazard, his old teammate with the Green Bay Packers who followed him to the Jets last season, and he ran it into the end zone to make it a 26-13 game.
The 36-yard touchdown pass is something Jets and its fan base have been waiting for over the last 500-plus days that Rodgers hasn’t been able to play for the team due to an Achilles tear that occurred on the fourth snap of his 2023 debut at home.
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It was an absolutely deflating moment at MetLife Stadium this time last year when the Jets were facing the Buffalo Bills.
Rodgers, who ran onto the field waving an American flag, was hobbling off it with what was revealed as an Achilles injury that would knock him out for the rest of the season.
But since that moment, Rodgers has been working hard to return to the field, and there were even talks late last season that he would be available to play.
However, Jets fans had to wait an entire offseason and training camp to finally see Rodgers back in action.
Once he got through the first few series on Monday night, perhaps a collective sigh of relief was released. But Rodgers and the Jets found themselves down in a game to the reigning NFC champions, and his first touchdown pass couldn’t have come at a better time to make it a closer game in the second half.
With the first one out of the way, Rodgers and the Jets hope there’s many more coming in a season where breaking a 13-year playoff drought is the goal.
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