SI:AM | Where the Jets and Aaron Rodgers Go From Here

Plus, the man tasked with turning the Mets around.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m a little surprised to hear the Jets throw their support behind Zach Wilson so emphatically.

In today’s SI:AM:

✈️ The Jets’ new 2023 outlook

🥇 NFL power rankings

🤼 WWE’s new talent pipeline

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Can the Jets still make the playoffs?

As much as it might have felt like it 36 hours ago, the Jets’ season is not over. But Aaron Rodgers’s season-ending injury makes them the most fascinating team in the NFL after Week 1. The injury drastically changes the entire season outlook for a team that entered Monday night with reasonable Super Bowl hopes. So where do the Jets go from here? And what will the future hold for Rodgers?

For Rodgers, it’s plausible that he’s played his final game, if only because he’ll be 40 when next season begins and coming off a significant injury. If it is the end for Rodgers, it’s a tragic way to go out, crumpling to the turf in an unfamiliar uniform before getting to complete a single pass with the team that had pinned its hopes on him. It would be an unceremonious end for an all-time great. Rodgers deserves to leave the game on two feet, and that may be enough of a reason for him to give it another go next season. (He’s under contract for two more seasons).

Albert Breer believes Rodgers isn’t done, for a couple of reasons. Breer wrote yesterday about his observations and conversations at Jets camp this summer, recalling that Rodgers appeared to integrate himself well into the Jets’ locker room and that, even after 18 years in the NFL, he still seemed to have genuine enthusiasm for the game. Those anecdotes, Breer writes, “explain why the Jets will leave the light on for Rodgers in 2024, with a roster that looked fast, aggressive and stacked Monday night. And two, they show how much Rodgers likes being on a team, and around football, which is a window into who he is and why he might not want the last night of his playing career to be Monday.”

So the Jets might be inclined to run it back with Rodgers in 2024, but what about the rest of ’23? Zach Wilson is a serious step down from Rodgers, but Wilson doesn’t have to play to Rodgers’s level for the Jets to succeed. New York boasts one of the best defenses in the league, and that alone should be enough to win games.

The question is whether this year’s version of the team can be better enough than last year’s version to improve on 2022’s 7–10 record. One reason to believe the Jets might not be better this year is pure luck. That vaunted defense was remarkably healthy last year, with nine of its 11 starters starting at least 15 games. The Jets know better than anybody at this point that injuries are a matter of luck.

The biggest need for improvement is on offense. New York struggled mightily on that side of the ball in 2022, putting up a paltry 17.4 points per game (ranked 29th in the league). Rodgers surely would have had the team scoring more points than that, but the offense should still take a step forward this year. One reason: running back Breece Hall, who averaged an impressive 5.8 yards per carry in seven games last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Hall ran 10 times for 127 yards in the opener. Along with veteran Dalvin Cook, the Jets have a one-two punch at running back as good as any duo in the league.

A strong running game will take some pressure off Wilson, and his play is obviously the biggest question mark. His first two seasons were a serious disappointment (more interceptions than touchdowns and just 182.8 yards per game), but the Jets are moving forward with him as the unquestioned starter.

“I want to make it very clear, Zach’s our quarterback,” coach Robert Saleh told reporters yesterday. “We have a lot of faith in Zach. We’re rolling with Zach and excited for him.”

The Jets are promoting quarterback Tim Boyle from the practice squad and will consider adding other QBs, but Saleh said any new additions would not be competing for Wilson’s job. We’ll see whether he maintains that unquestioned hold on the job, or if, after a few lousy starts, the Jets will start feeling the pressure to bring in Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan or some other veteran.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Courtesy of WWE

• Conor Orr believes the Jets can still make the playoffs even without Aaron Rodgers, thanks mostly to their defense and new offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett’s track record of getting the best out of mediocre quarterbacks.
• Two NFC teams are neck-and-neck at the top of Orr’s new NFL power rankings.
• If the Jets do decide to bring in a quarterback to compete with Zach Wilson, Gilberto Manzano has a list of 10 candidates who make sense.
• Matt Verderame took a closer look at three of the biggest plays in Week 1, breaking them down in serious detail.
• The changing college football landscape makes Jimbo Fisher’s enormous Texas A&M contract look even more foolish, Michael Rosenberg writes.
• After two years of being courted by owner Steve Cohen, the Mets hired David Stearns to lead their front office. Stephanie Apstein explains why New York wanted the former Brewers executive so badly.
• WWE has set up a new talent pipeline, recruiting college athletes with NIL deals and then training them to be wrestlers. Sarah Vasile has more on the program and its early success stories.
• ESPN earned record TV ratings for the Jets-Bills game on Monday Night Football.

The top five...

… moments in baseball yesterday:

5. Adam Wainwright’s 199th career win.

4. A really impressive MLB debut by Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt. He retired Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and Manny Machado in order in his first inning of work, then struck out the side in the ninth to end it.

3. Hyun Jin Ryu’s 63-mph eephus pitch that left Nathaniel Lowe frozen.

2. Two great defensive plays by Cubs prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong in his first MLB start.

1. Ronald Acuña Jr.’s outrageous home run. It left the bat at 113.2 mph and traveled 424 feet. He’s only three homers shy of 40 for the season.

SIQ

Charlie O’Brien became the first catcher in MLB history to wear a hockey-style mask on this day in 1996 while playing for which team?

• White Sox
• Blue Jays
• Marlins
• Cardinals

Yesterday’s SIQ: The last MLB home run to bounce in the field of play before going over the wall occurred Sept. 12 of which year?

• 1889
• 1913
• 1930
• 1944

Answer: 1930. The final bounce homer was a three-run shot by Dodgers catcher Al López in the fourth inning of a win over the Reds.

The bounce homer is exactly what it sounds like. Until 1929, the rules of the game stated that a ball that landed in play and then bounced over the fence was a home run. The American League did away with the rule after the ’29 season, ruling that instead such hits would be declared automatic doubles. The rule remained in place in the NL for the ’30 season but was changed after the season to mirror the AL rule. Thus, López’s hit was the last of its kind.

It’s honestly surprising that the bounce homer lasted as long as it did, and it inevitably raises questions about stats from that era. But according to MLB historian John Thorn, all of Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs actually went over the fence on the fly.