Aaron Rodgers Says the Jets Won With ‘the Season on the Line’

The second TD for Wilson (9 catches/90 yards) was spectacular, and it almost didn’t happen. On the previous play, third-and-9 at the Houston 16, Rodgers deftly scrambled 13 yards, but the play was called back on a holding call on rookie Olu Fashanu.

“I looked semi-athletic,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t hurt myself in the process.”

Pushed back to the 26 on a third-and-19, Rodgers saw an opportunity on the left side to get Wilson to the ball. And that’s exactly what he did: a leap of faith, a foot in and a shin to the knee, a TD that was confirmed during review.

“When it was third and extra-long, I looked at the weak side safety, and I thought, if he was going to fall at all, I was just going to say, fuck it, I’m going to hand it over to G,” said Rodgers, who finished the game 22 from 32 for 211 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions. “I felt like I put it in a decent spot. But yeah, I didn’t do much when it counted. I just lobbed one up there. He made an unbelievable catch. When I did the replay it seemed like he had a knee (actually his shin) so I was like shoot, throw the challenge flag. Brick (interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich) was already in front of me throwing. But that was a huge play at first and it was also a huge play. But what was the third-and-20?

And Rodgers then directed a march that started with 6:54 to play, melted 3:58 off the clock and froze the game for the Jets. Facing third-and-3 at the Texans’ 37, Rodgers landed a perfect hit into the waiting arms of Davante Adams down the home sideline for a touchdown that effectively put the final nail in the coffin. The last time the two friends worked together on a TD pass was in 2021, when they played for Green Bay. This was their 69th TD collaboration.

“That’s something that lasts for years, you know, that’s a relationship that’s much deeper than the three or four weeks they’ve been together,” Jeff Ulbrich said of Rodgers and Adams’ relationship.