One month before Aaron Rodgers celebrates his 41st birthday, the New York Jets are holding onto flickering hope they’ll play beyond the regular season.
At 3-6, New York hits the road to take on the Arizona Cardinals (5-4) attempting to further repair its playoff chances dented by a five-game losing streak that preceded a 21-13 Halloween night victory over the Houston Texans.
Rodgers believes the Jets are capable of a run if all three phases of the team contribute as they did last Thursday. New York had eight sacks of Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, the Jets took away big plays in the passing game and Rodgers’ receivers turned in highlight-worthy performances. Garrett Wilson’s one-handed “Jumpman” touchdown and Rodgers’ first TD to Davante Adams since he was acquired from the Las Vegas Raiders in mid-October provided glimpses of what opposing secondaries could be in for the next two months.
“If you want to be a great team, you’ve got to practice like a great team,” Rodgers said of tracing the ingredients that inspired the Jets to look like a fully functional and dangerous outfit against Houston.
“And I think the last few weeks we’ve practiced a lot better. But there’s still that a standard that we just need to come up an extra notch. And when we do that, which I’m confident we will, then the consistency I think shows up on gameday.”
After this Week 10 matchup, the Jets next see an opponent with more than four wins when they visit Buffalo (7-2) on Dec. 29. The Rams (4-4) are the only other team on the Jets’ schedule the rest of the 2024 regular season currently at .500 or better.
The Jets solely are focused on stacking wins, Rodgers said, and avoiding losing games because they are fixed on longer-range targets.
“This is a long road trip to a division leader. We don’t need any extra motivation,” Rodgers said. “We know what we’re playing for.”
Arizona’s run defense contributed to each of the team’s losses this season. The Cardinals allow 132.9 yards per game and surrendered 10 rushing touchdowns in their first nine games. Pass rush remains a concern despite adding depth at outside linebacker by acquiring Baron Browning from the Broncos at the trade deadline.
Without moving quarterbacks off their launch point, Arizona’s third-down defense is among the worst in the NFL. Opponents moved the chains on 49.2 percent of third downs this season, which ranks 31st in the NFL.
Based on his experience opposing Rodgers, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said defending Rodgers means there are “certain things you can do, a lot of things you can’t” on defense.
“He can spin it, you’re not going to trick him,” Gannon said. “The accuracy, the timing. If you are a little bit off, he’s going to make you pay.”
There is no standings ladder to climb for the Cardinals. Arizona leads the NFC West division and enters with a three-game winning streak.
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray isn’t carrying the burden of the offense by himself. Stellar line play has helped a resurgent James Conner power a running game averaging 149.7 yards per game in 2024. Conner (664 yards, four TDs), Murray (350 yards, two TDs) and third-down back Emari Demercado (175 and a 53-yard touchdown) have combined to average over 7.0 yards per carry and rookie Trey Benson (154 yards, one TD) set his season high in snaps last week.
“Hand the ball off, play defense and win? Yeah, that’s something good football teams can do,” Murray said. “I don’t want to say we’re good yet, but we’re growing. It doesn’t make me think anything less of what we can accomplish offensively, or myself.
“You want to throw the ball around the yard and have the flashy plays, but it’s too hard to win in this league. You take it.”
Before beating the Bears 29-9 last week, the Cardinals had three wins in four games by a total of four points. The Cardinals are going for four straight victories for the first time since winning seven in a row to begin the 2021 season under Kliff Kingsbury. The first loss that season came at the hands of Rodgers, then with the Green Bay Packers (24-21).
That season also was the last time the franchise had back-to-back wins before beating the Chargers (17-15) and Dolphins (28-27) in succession ahead of the Week 9 waltz over the Bears.
Murray was sacked three times against the Bears, ending a streak of three consecutive games by the Cardinals not allowing a sack.
With eight sacks last week the Jets’ pass rush is hitting its stride. Through nine games, the 31 total sacks for the Jets is second at this point in a season only to the 1981 NY Sack Exchange (36), which set the team-record with 66 sacks in a 16-game season.
Jets center Joe Tippmann is the only starter on the offensive line who was able to participate in practice on Wednesday. Linebacker C.J. Mosley (neck) and safety Ashtyn Davis (concussion protocol) did not practice.
Conner was a limited participant Wednesday with a finger injury. Cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting missed last week’s game with neck soreness but was a full participant on Wednesday.
–Field Level Media