FLORHAM PARK, NJ—Hey, sometimes the ball simply doesn’t bounce the right way. All professional athletes know this, even New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
What we witnessed on Monday, however, traveled well beyond an unlucky bouncing pigskin.
Rodgers, 40, would have gladly taken a poor day. Instead, he and his offense put forth their worst performance this summer.
Full gear on a Monday, two days post-preseason game, the #Jets break into some ST work after stretches, while Aaron Rodgers and the QBs do their warming-up thing. pic.twitter.com/yxvbBlT0vn
— Robby Sabo (@RobbySabo) August 19, 2024
Miscommunication marred the offense
Robert Saleh put his team in full pads just two days after their barnburner of a victory over the Carolina Panthers down south. For the most part—considering it was the first practice back from the first road trip of the season—the tempo of the session was adequate.
What plagued the day was an abundance of miscommunication in team sessions.
Interestingly, the first play of teams was sort of a sign of things to come (sort of). Aaron Rodgers quickly decided on a secondary/underneath route to Kenny Yeboah near the sideline, but he misfired.
The ball was inside and low, which is uncharacteristic of Rodgers’s usually tremendous accuracy. However, the young tight end made the tough catch while falling to the ground.
Great catch by #Jets Kenny Yeboah on the first play of teams. Aaron was offers settled on him quickly, throw wasn’t great, but Yeboah went down for it nicely.
— Robby Sabo (@RobbySabo) August 19, 2024
Usually, a football team’s offense and defense deliver unique blows over the course of a summer. One day, the offense might win, whereas the defense could easily reverse course just 24 hours later.
If the offense struggles a bit, that usually translates into impressive defense. On this day, that was not the case.
Sure, the Jets defense is still led by its (arguably) league-best coverage, which remained stellar on Monday, but they weren’t so good that it can excuse the offense’s shortcomings. Nearly every offensive issue boiled down to self-inflicted wounds.
Whether it was Garrett Wilson multiple times, Tyler Conklin, or Allen Lazard, Rodgers and his weapons continuously clashed.
New York’s defense often challenged Rodgers with its pre-snap look, forcing the future Hall of Fame signal-caller to challenge the unit in 1v1 situations or tight zones. The problem came when the weapon didn’t run the route Rodgers expected—against the specific defense of that moment.
Moreover, Rodgers badly misfired on several attempts.
This was a truly grotesque day for Aaron Rodgers and the New York #Jets offense. Hey, it happens sometimes; acknowledge it and push forward.
—An incredible number of miscommunications in the passing game, where AR read one thing and the intended target saw something else with…
— Robby Sabo (@RobbySabo) August 19, 2024
Frustration and response
Frustrations boiled over a couple of times, as one Garrett Wilson miscommunication near the left sideline saw a visibly frustrated Rodgers extremely animated after the ball fell to the ground.
Near the end of practice, Rodgers lobbied for Saleh to keep the practice going. Yet another ugly pass try fell incomplete in the end zone, but there was an assumed defensive flag on the play.
Courtesy of the flag and the offensive struggles, Rodgers did not want the session to end on such a poor note. Saleh agreed, and Rodgers got two more plays out of the day.
Unfortunately, neither of those plays turned things around for the offense. The final attempt landed in Tony Adams’s hands (in the end zone), which prompted Rodgers to seek out his attended target (Jason Brownlee) immediately afterward.
A football coach cannot totally focus on one item … ever. Sure, Robert Saleh can’t be happy with the offensive effort Monday, but in no way will he view the day as lost. After all, these things happen from time to time, and they’ll more likely happen after an off day—which was the case here.
When asked after practice, the Jets coach had a simple explanation for why the offense struggled so badly:
“There’s a top-five defense on the other side,” Saleh said.
Additionally, Saleh did tip his cap to the suggestion that the off-day could have contributed to the rough day for the offense.
“(It) took the guys a little bit to get going, but still thought it was a good competitive practice,” Saleh told the media. “Guys were communicating. They’re executing the way we need them to, but legs are a little heavy. You could say that.”
Practice layout
After team stretches, the Jets worked on special teams for a bit as Brant Boyer did his thing with his guys. Then, positionals featured Aaron Rodgers and Joe Tippmann working with one another—along with the rest of the quarterbacks and centers.
Working on the fundamental QB-C snap has been a consistent pattern for the Jets since Tippmann’s snapping woes earlier this summer. Since focusing more on the issue, Tippmann has cleaned up the inaccurate snaps (Jet X Members can watch the video of the Rodgers-Tippmann snap drills at the bottom of this article).
Shortly thereafter, New York moved into broader positional drills where the offensive linemen continued their impressive uptempo work. Naturally, 11v11 team sessions commenced after that.
There was a period in which Saleh had his team move from teams into positionals and then back to teams, but that’s not anything out of the ordinary.
News and notes
Mike Williams began practicing on the bike, but he moved nicely. He has yet to partake in team sessions—something that should be on the horizon.
After practice concluded, Robert Saleh confirmed that Jarrick Bernard-Converse and Isaiah Oliver would miss the rest of camp due to injury.
Slot corner Michael Carter II, who’s been sidelined for weeks, is now listed as “day to day,” per Saleh, when asked about his injury status.
“We’ll see; it’s day to day,” Saleh said about Carter II after Monday’s practice. “We’ll see how it looks at the end of the weekend, whether we can get him back into practice, but he’s getting a lot closer.”
On Sunday, the Jets signed defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman and placed wide receiver Malik Taylor on injured reserve.
Inside Jets training camp
Below is a member-only video that takes Jet X Members inside New York Jets training camp. Over six minutes in length, it features Aaron Rodgers and Joe Tippmann working on snaps and the offensive line continuing to work hard in positional drills.
To view the member-only premium content below, you must be a Jets X-Factor Member and logged in to your Jet X account.
