NFL
‘Seems like an outlier,’ Aaron Rodgers agitated as Robert Saleh suggest changes
Stop if you’ve heard this before, Aaron Rodgers and Robert Saleh seem to be on completely different pages once again.
On a day in which the New York Jets committed five false start penalties in a sloppy 10-9 loss to the Denver Broncos, Rodgers seemed to be ticked-off when hearing about his head coach’s suggestions.
When asked postgame about his team’s pre-snap penalties, Saleh looked frustrated.
“We gotta figure it out, whether or not we’re good enough or ready to handle all the cadence,” Saleh said. “Cadence had not been an issue all camp.
“I felt like our operation had been operating pretty good. Obviously today we took a major step back.”
When a reporter told Rodgers that Saleh had suggested they might have to dial the cadence back, Rodgers seemed to take offense to the notion and quickly offered his own solution.
“That’s one way to do it; the other way is hold them accountable,” Rodgers said.
“We haven’t had an issue, we’ve had one false start. Morgan (Moses) had one false start I believe, until this.
“It’s been a weapon. We use it every day in practice. We rarely have a false start, and to have five today, it seemed like, four or five, it seems like an outlier.
“I don’t know if we need to make mass changes based on kind of an outlier game.”
Saleh once again seems to be bristling Rodgers’ feathers.
And this time, it’s over the cadence.
With the offense managing only nine points on a rainy afternoon at MetLife Stadium, where the opposing team’s quarterback, Bo Nix, went into the half with negative passing yards (finishing the game with 60), Rodgers took a lot of the blame.
“We were kind of killing ourselves,” Rodgers said, “I didn’t have a spectacular game. I missed some throws.
“Yeah, the weather sucks. We had some chances but way too many mental mistakes, too many poor throws and we just missed some easy stuff, some protection stuff that should’ve been easy, some route adjustment stuff that should’ve been easy.
“I don’t know, our focus just wasn’t as sharp as it had been the first three weeks.”
The first three weeks haven’t exactly been as sharp either.
Through four weeks into the season, Rodgers has the Jets sitting at 2-2 and second in the AFC East, with a scuffling offense that hasn’t found its’ stride quite yet.
The Jets rank 20th in points per game (19.0) and 23rd in yards per game (294.8).
Whether it’s a cadence issue or something much deeper than that, it’s up to Rodgers, Saleh and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett to figure out.
And they better do it quickly because the Jets head across the pond to play the red hot undefeated Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
A Minnesota defense that is giving up a mere 14.8 points per game.
Rodgers and the Jets are going to have their hands full if they want to come away with a win, and not being on the same page as his head coach is a sure-fire recipe for things to unravel quickly.
In other words, Gang Green better figure it out. Fast.
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