When the Green Packers came for their once-every-eight-years trip to Buffalo in 2022, it was reasonable to think that it would be Aaron Rodgers last trip to western New York as an NFL player. Whoever bought my tickets to the game must have thought so anyway - it's the only reason I can think of to pay almost $1,500 USD for a pair of tickets. "Unless he somehow ends up on the Jets next year" I said at the time. It obviously wasn't a stretch to suggest that scenario as the Jets had hired an up-and-coming, young and bright head coach in Robert Saleh and built a top tier defence but had suffered from horrible quarterback play under Zach Wilson who was benched late last season in favour of someone named Mike White. The "Gang Green" fan base in New York had grown restless with their team as they had watched the Giants, their NFC cousins, have a successful 2022 season (winning a playoff game) under former Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. The Jets also own the league's longest playoff drought which dates back to 2010. The Packers were clearly going to move on from Rodgers and hand the quarterbacking reins to Jordan Love. Although the trade negotiations and the process of securing Rodgers buy-in for the deal over the off-season took longer than it should have - including his strange period of meditative isolation for several days in a remote cabin somewhere - but the deal finally received Rodgers blessing - only after his long list of requirements was met. Optimism abounded in J-E-T-S Nation through the summer, training camp and the pre-season.
Meanwhile, upstate, the 2023 off-season saw the only NFL team which is actually based in New York, (1) lose its all-important middle linebacker (the "mic" linebacker as it is known and the quarterback of the defence) Trumaine Edmunds to the Bears in free agency, (2) lose its respected defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier to semi-retirement from coaching (he said he was taking 2023 off) with the head coach assuming defensive in-game play-calling, (3) lose its kick returner and back-up running back Nyheim Hines who was badly injured in a jet-ski accident in July and is gone for the season (he commenced legal action last week against the other "driver"), and (4) its star wide receiver Stefon Diggs pout about something-or-other and, although he was on-site, miss the first day of the mandatory mini-camp in May without a full explanation of the exact nature of the issue or whether or not it had been fully resolved. Head coach Sean McDermott at one point said he was "very concerned" about the situation. The team did bolster its offensive line through free agency and the draft and selected another tight-end with the initials "DK" in the first round but the Bills fell out of favour with the pundits as the season approached and were no longer the favourites to win the Superbowl as they were a year ago. But they still had their all-world quarterback in Josh Allen along with a solid veteran roster around him.
The first Monday Night Football match-up of the season last night between these two division rivals was therefore much-anticipated by both fan bases and by NFL watchers everywhere. Add in the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 with the game in New York (actually, New Jersey) and the hype meter was at its maximum for September football last night.
Unfortunately for the Jets, their long-suffering fans and the league itself, four offensive snaps into the game, Aaron Rodgers went down on an innocent enough looking sack tackle. His left ankle appeared to flex the way ankles aren't designed to flex and, although he got up right away, he quickly sat down on the field and was attended to by trainers. At this point, I was thinking a sprain which would take him out of the game for a series or two before they taped him up and sent him back out. But he went first into the tent, then a cart picked him at the tent (by this time he had an inflatable boot on) and took him inside. Reports late last night indicate that he may have suffered an Achilles injury and could be lost for the season. For the Jets, this was the worst possible start to their season and, trailing by 10 points at the half, they looked dead in the water.
But Josh Allen, looking more like a rookie than a six-year veteran, singlehandedly turned the game around for the home team by turning the ball over four separate times: three interceptions - each of which looked to have been thrown into double coverage - and a late fumble deep in his own end with the game tied and the clock winding down. The Jets managed only a field goal on the next series and Allen led his team into position for Tyler Bass to connect (just barely) on the 50 yard field goal to send the game to overtime. The Jets sent their fans home happy (until they learned the news on Rodgers anyway) by returning a punt for a touchdown and pulling out an unlikely 22-16 win.
Week One was not a good one for the AFC's three top quarterbacks. Patrick Mahomes played well enough in the Chiefs loss to the Lions but Joe Burrow, now the NFL's highest paid player, looked like he should have been earning the league minimum in the Bengals loss to Cleveland. And last night, Josh Allen somehow reverted to being a turnover machine. Do these three losses by the top three teams in the conference portend what is to come for the rest of 2023? The only thing I can say with (some) certainty is that I wouldn't want to have to play the Chiefs, Bengals or the Bills in week two. Look for each of them to rebound. The Dolphins just might be the team to beat in the AFC.
Speaking of week two, the Bills return home on a short week to face the Las Vegas Raiders in Orchard Park on Sunday in the home opener - the third last home opener at Rich Stadium (as I have decided, for nostalgic reasons, to once again call it). It will be my first trip to Buffalo since 2019.
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