Several New England Patriots assistants expressed their sympathy for Aaron Rodgers in the wake of the quarterback’s season-ending injury.
Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles early in Monday night’s overtime win over the Buffalo Bills, cutting short his first New York Jets season after just four snaps.
An MRI on Tuesday reportedly confirmed the severity of his injury.
“Honestly, injuries are very unfortunate, but it’s part of the game,” Patriots defensive play-caller Steve Belichick said Tuesday in a video conference. “Best goes out to him. He’s obviously a tremendous player. I don’t know what exactly happened or what the timetable is, but it’s a tough part of the game. But it is what it is.”
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The Patriots’ primary focus Tuesday was on their Week 2 opponent, the Miami Dolphins. But they’re scheduled to visit the Jets in Week 3 for what was expected to be their first in-division matchup with Rodgers. Now, they’ll likely see Zach Wilson behind center in that AFC East clash.
“It’s very unfortunate any time players get hurt, especially when they’re season-long injuries,” linebackers coach Jerod Mayo said. “We’re really just focused on the Dolphins right now, but you hate to see a good player — a great player, I should say — like that go down.”
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The Jets were viewed as possible Super Bowl contenders after adding Rodgers (via trade from the Green Bay Packers) to a roster that’s stacked with talent on defense and at the offensive skill positions. The odds of them fulfilling those championship aspirations with Wilson (or another replacement) at QB are slim.
“You never want to see anybody get hurt,” Patriots cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino said. “I didn’t see the game; I was worried about Miami. But you never want to see anybody get hurt. I’m from New York, so I’ve got a bunch of friends back home that were pretty beat up about it. You never want to see that. It is what it is. It’s unfortunate.”
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Wilson steered New York to an unlikely upset win Monday night. He threw a game-tying touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson late in the fourth quarter, and the Jets won 22-16 in overtime on a punt-return TD by undrafted rookie Xavier Gipson. But the 24-year-old is 8-14 as a starter in his career and was relegated to third-string midway through last season. He also had an ugly interception against Buffalo on what ESPN commentator Troy Aikman called a “terrible read.”
The Jets lost all four of Wilson’s career starts against the Patriots to date (two touchdowns, seven interceptions in those games) but nearly beat New England twice in 2022. New York lost the first meeting by five points and the second by seven thanks to a last-second punt-return touchdown by Marcus Jones.
Featured image via Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com via USA TODAY Sports Images
