When watching Aaron Rodgers play quarterback for the New York Jets over his first two full games with the team, Jets fans were already in awe of what they were watching, even if the results were far from perfect.
But during Thursday night’s home-opening rout of the New England Patriots, Rodgers put everything together in a vintage performance that looked reminiscent of his MVP days. The 40-year-old completed 27 of his 35 passes (77%) for 281 yards (8.0 yards per attempt), 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions, earning a 118.9 passer rating.
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The Jets effortlessly moved the football on a Patriots defense that looked stout over its previous two games. New York finished the game with 400 yards of offense, no turnovers, and a 67% third-down conversion rate. It was a masterclass of offensive efficiency.
Throughout each of his first three games as a Jet, Rodgers displayed countless advantages that New York has not enjoyed for a long time – if ever. However, Thursday night’s game revealed a totally new advantage that could not be seen over the first two games.
In front of a raucous home-opener crowd, Rodgers proved he will give the Jets something they have been sorely missing: a home-field advantage.
Even when the Jets were struggling over their first six quarters of this season, Rodgers’ command at the line of scrimmage was something that stood out in a positive way. He showed an incredible ability to read the defense at the line of scrimmage and make adjustments to both the protection and the play call.
On the road, though, this trait of Rodgers’ is slightly diminished. It is more difficult for him to orchestrate things at the line of scrimmage when the crowd is making noise. This issue was amplified by the fact that New York started the season by facing two consecutive home-opener crowds.
Thursday marked Rodgers’ first (full) home game as a Jet. While the crowd was deafening when the Patriots were on the field (Al Michaels claims it was the loudest he has ever heard the building), they went silent when Rodgers took center stage. You could see the 10-time Pro Bowler take full advantage of that.
Compared to his first two games, Rodgers looked even more in command of what was happening on the field. He often hurried the Jets to the line and spent north of 20 seconds barking commands to his teammates, and the results were tremendous. Rodgers seemingly always had the Jets prepared with the perfect answer for whatever the Patriots threw at them.
Especially at this stage of his career, Rodgers’ command of the offense might be his best trait, and it’s a trait that becomes much more dangerous at home. Simply put, it’s a lot easier to communicate with your teammates when the crowd isn’t blaring in your ears.
We’ve already seen this difference throughout Rodgers’ career. He has been substantially tougher to beat at home than on the road.
As a starter, Rodgers owns a career regular season record of 90-22-1 at home, a stunning win percentage of .801. On the road, he’s only 60-54 (.526).
Yes, the majority of players and teams perform better at home. But this is an unusually wide margin between home and road success.
Since Rodgers’ first season as a starter in 2008, NFL home teams have a regular season win percentage of .559, while road teams check in at .441. Rodgers’ home win percentage is a whopping .242 above the NFL average, while his road win percentage is only .085 ahead of the league average.
MetLife Stadium has typically been a place where opponents love to play. Since the building opened in 2010, the Jets are 29th in the NFL with a home win percentage of .461. Opposing pass defenses have had a particularly enjoyable time at MetLife; the Jets are 31st with a home passer rating of 80.0 since 2010 (ahead of only Cleveland).
Nobody loved playing at MetLife more than the Patriots, who had not lost there since 2015. In fact, Tom Brady still has more touchdown passes at MetLife (24) than two quarterbacks who started multiple seasons for the Jets: Zach Wilson (17) and Geno Smith (15).
New York’s Thursday night smackdown of New England is a symbolic flipping of the script. Most people are labeling it as such because of what it means for the Jets-Patriots rivalry, but it also shows that the Jets’ home field is no longer something to scoff at.
With Rodgers under center, the Jets are poised to be one of the NFL’s best teams at home this season. His skill set is tailor-made for dominating at home. We’ve seen it his whole career, and we’ve already seen it through three games this year.
Combine Rodgers’ home success with a JetLife crowd that proved on Thursday it can be one of the league’s loudest when it actually has something to cheer for, and the Jets finally have a home-field advantage once more.
