New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been no stranger to controversy this season. Ignoring all the non-football-related factors surrounding the four-time MVP, there is an argument to be made that Rodgers has underperformed this season.
He did eclipse the 300 passing yards mark against the Miami Dolphins, which ended a streak of 34 consecutive starts without breaking the 300-yard barrier. He finished the day with 339 passing yards and a touchdown, but that wasn’t enough to defeat the Dolphins, who managed to beat the Jets in overtime thanks to a walk-off touchdown by Miami tight end Jonnu Smith.
After falling to the Dolphins 32-26 in OT, Rodgers blamed the loss on the offense.
“We had chances, a lot of chances,” Rodgers said during the postgame press conference. “We just got to look at the offense. That’s what we can control.”
It was at this point that Rodgers made an interesting statement about the team needing to score 30 points to be successful.
“30 again. Ya know, you get to 30… that would’ve been short today,” Rodgers commented. “Not in regulation, though. But, we had our chances to get to 30 today, we didn’t do it, and that’s why we lost.”
The game-winner 🏈
📺: #NYJvsMIA on @NFLonCBS & @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/p3XezuWxIO
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) December 8, 2024
There is clear statistical evidence to back up Rodgers’ claim. Since the start of the 2021 season, the Jets are 7-1 in games where they score at least 30 points. Unfortunately, the New York Jets offense has not been able to test this theory during the 2024-25 campaign since the most points they have scored in a game was 27 against the Indianapolis Colts in week 11.
Today’s loss against the Dolphins marked the third-straight one-score game that the Jets have dropped. Rodgers said that there are “a lot of reasons” why New York has failed to win these close games.
“There’s a lot of reasons… A lot of different ways we’ve lost these games,” Rodgers added. “Everybody has some skin on that. But, we had opportunities on offense. Whatever happens on defense doesn’t matter. We’ve got to get to 30. We didn’t do it. We were efficient. We were pretty good on third down. In the red zone, we stalled out too many times.”
With this loss, the New York Jets’ playoff hopes have once again perished. Their 14-year playoff drought is the longest amongst MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and WNBA teams.
