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After the first episode of Hard Knocks was virtually all about how much of a godsend Aaron Rodgers is to the New York Jets, reports out of the team’s training camp indicate that the 39-year-old signal-caller had some difficulties this week at practice.
According to reports, this week perhaps marked the first time that his teammates could sense frustration from him during practice.
Aaron Rodgers, facing a different team for the first time as the New York Jets’ quarterback, got a little sampling of what playing the position was like for his predecessors.
Rodgers, who was pressured by the Carolina Panthers’ pass rush in a joint practice Wednesday, ended a spotty day for the Jets’ offense with an ugly three-and-out in a two-minute drill.
Center Connor McGovern, for example, said he could sense some frustration emanating out of the four-time MVP and future Hall of Famer.
“I sensed frustration from everybody — everybody on the O-line, Aaron, the coaches. You can’t go three-and-out in a two-minute drive like that. … I think there was disappointment from the whole team,” McGovern said.
Rodgers, however, didn’t sound too concerned about the offensive unit’s struggles this week, as he said he saw some “good things”:
“I thought we maybe didn’t have the same type of energy [as Carolina], for whatever reason, at the start of practice,” Rodgers said.
“But I thought there were some good things — a lot of learning tape out there. I thought it was good to be out there against a different defense. I thought we handled the front pretty well in the run game. Pass game, there were some issues.”
While the Jets have their first official preseason game of the summer against the Panthers on Saturday, August 12, it doesn’t look likely that he’ll play, as he hasn’t played in a preseason game since 2018.
If Rodgers does sit out the entirety of the preseason, the first time Jets fans will be able to see him in live action will be during Gang Green’s Week 1 game, which will be a Monday Night Football matchup against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills on September 11.
While the franchise hasn’t qualified for the postseason for over a decade and hasn’t won the AFC East in more than 20 years, Rodgers’ arrival in town has made the team Super Bowl contenders, as they currently have the seventh-shortest odds to lift the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the campaign.