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You could argue that Aaron Rodgers’ comments after Pittsburgh beat the Jets are a big story.
“I was happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets,” Rodgers said after his 4 TD performance in the Steelers’ 34-32 win.
That is quite a quote. Powerful stuff.
But Rodgers going after the Jets, with this quote and others, following the game, is getting some attention, but not as much as you would expect.
It’s just one of many big sports stories today.
Why?
Simple.
Many people in the media dislike Rodgers, so they tend to downplay or ignore his comments.
Additionally, Aaron Glenn has the media so intimidated that they tend to move on from things he refuses to discuss.
So this story will have a very short shelf life . . .
After the game, Rodgers was doing a TV interview on the field, and standing to the side, waiting to talk to him, was safety Tony Adams.
After Rodgers wrapped up the interview, he turned to head to the visiting locker room, saw Adams, and they hugged for like a minute, talking as they hugged.
Adams has not had the easiest life, growing up in inner city St. Louis, a city that has seen better days, and Rodgers was a good mentor for him last year. The two became very close.
After the Adams hug wrapped up, Quan’tez Stiggers was waiting to hug Rodgers, another guy who had been through a lot, with whom the QB had a strong connection last season.
Rodgers is known for his long chats about life with teammates in the locker room, trainers’ room, weight room, and team charters.
He and Breece Hall had a lot of these chats last year.
The idea that he caused issues in the locker room is far from the truth.
Aside from a receiver reportedly not liking the QB, and perhaps wanting a trade if he stayed, you really didn’t hear a lot of complaints about Rodgers from teammates during his time with the Jets.
That moment on the field after the game with Adams was powerful . . .
One area of concern for the Jets has to be backup defensive end.
Their starting end combo of Will McDonald and Jermaine Johnson was superb against the Steelers.
McDonald had two sacks, and while Johnson didn’t record an actual sack, he created a lot of pressure. They both caused a lot of problems, especially for Steelers left tackle Broderick Jones, a former first-round pick out of Ohio State.
The issue for the Jets was when they had to come out of the game for a breather.
For example, when the Jets were up 26-17 late in the third quarter and early fourth, Rodgers led the Steelers on a 9-play, 68-yard TD drive that carried over into the early fourth quarter.
For most of his drive, aside from the last play, a five-yard TD pass to running back Jaylen Warren on the first play of the fourth quarter, end Michael Clemons was lined up over Jones, and Jones had one of his better series.
While Clemons is super-tough and very powerful, he tends to run right into tackles, and Jones was struggling with the speed and quickness of Clemons and McDonald, especially McDonald. So Clemons running right into him was kind of a reprieve for the young tackle.
The other backup end spelling the starters was rookie Tyler Baron, whose name was not on the stat sheet after the game because he registered no stats.
Baron seems to have potential, but is perhaps more of a practice-squad kind of player at this point. The 2025 fifth-round pick has some things to work on, like all rookies. Baron flashes at times, but needs to be a lot more consistent.
To the Jets’ credit, they did a nice job of getting the defensive tackle depth they needed by trading for Harrison Phillips and Jowon Briggs, but the situation at backup end might not be ideal at this point.
Maybe I’m missing something, but this Clemons running right into tackles approach seems to make it easy on some of these tackles. Once again, maybe I’m missing something, and the coaches like this. I’m not a coach.
But right now, it’s hard to look at that first game, and not come away with the impression that when McDonald and Johnson leave the field, there is perhaps a big dropoff at the end spots . . .
September 8, 2025
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