Aaron Rodgers Embraces ‘Darkness’ Engulfing Jets After Patriots Loss

Things look incredibly bleak for the New York Jets after a deflating 25-22 loss to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

The return of Aaron Rodgers had the Jets thinking about the Super Bowl at the start of the season and they even won two out of their first three games. But it’s all come crashing down since then.

It reached a low point Sunday with their fifth straight defeat coming at the hands of their division rival. The Patriots, who came into the contest losers of six straight, even lost Drake Maye to a concussion in the first half, but still pulled off a last-second win with Jacoby Brissett behind center.

For New York interim head coach Jeff Ullbrich, who is now 0-3 since taking over for Robert Saleh, there was only to describe the situation the Jets are in.

“This is a moment of darkness, and we understand that the outside world is going to get really loud right now,” Ullbrich told reporters, per team-provided transcript. “But the only thing I know in life is that when it gets dark and it gets hard, that you work and you point the finger at yourself and you look inward and you figure out what can I do better from an individual standpoint. If we do that collectively, which I believe we will, that’s your only opportunity to dig yourself out of this. That’s your only opportunity to improve and fix some of these wrongs. That’s where we’re fortunate, that the character of this locker room, I think they’re going to demonstrate who they are.”

Rodgers certainly is comfortable with the dark. After all, he went on a darkness retreat in 2023, in which he spent four days in a cabin where no light was visible.

“Yeah, I’ve been in the darkness. You’ve got to go in there, make peace with it,” Rodgers told reporters, per team-provided transcript. “Offensively, our goal has just got to be to score 30. Doesn’t matter what the other two sides are doing. We have trust in our defense and (special) teams, but if we’re not scoring 30, we’re underachieving. This offense can do that every single week.”

The Jets haven’t hit the 30-point plateau once this season as their 18.8 points per game ranks 24th in the NFL. Rodgers is part of the offensive issue. He did complete 17-of-28 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns against the Patriots, but it’s clear he doesn’t strike the same fear into the opposition that he once did.