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After one month of the 2024/25 season, the New York Jets enter their Week 5 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings with a 2-2 record and a boatload of problems.
While the Jets’ .500 record certainly isn’t where they’d like to be, more concerning is the level of play they’ve displayed on offense, as they’ve looked generally out of sync, particularly in their 10-9 home loss to the Denver Broncos.
That loss to the Broncos, in fact, was the first time that an Aaron Rodgers-led team failed to score a touchdown in a home game (in which he played the whole game), leading to the future Hall of Fame quarterback cutting a frustrated figure on the sidelines.
After the loss, Rodgers also seemed to take issue with comments made by his head coach Robert Saleh, who suggested that perhaps Rodgers should change his pre-snap cadence in order to reduce false start penalties on the offensive line.
Speaking to Pat McAfee on ESPN on Tuesday, however, Rodgers claimed that he and Saleh have a “great relationship.”
“Rob and I have a great relationship; we have since day one when I got here. We have text message conversations, threads that we’re in, conversations about a number of different topics outside of football. We have a good friendship,” Rodgers said.
“There’s always going to be messaging and narratives out there, and you have two choices,” he continued. “You can ride the wave — really, a roller coaster — or you can say, “F— it, I don’t care.’ And I’m the latter. I don’t get into what the conversation is going on outside the building around myself.”
Despite Rodgers’ claims that the pair have a “great” relationship, the eye test suggests otherwise, at least as far as former Jets QB Boomer Esiason is concerned, as he said he sees “major issues” between the pair.
“Both will deny it. I guarantee it. But there is an issue there. It’s because you have this 40-year-old Hall of Fame quarterback to-be, dealing with a coach that I think he doesn’t respect,” Esiason said on his radio show.
With three consecutive primetime games on their schedule — in London against the 4-0 Vikings, at home for Monday Night Football against the Bills, and then on the road for Sunday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers — the Jets’ season could very well be defined in the next month, so buckle up.