Rodgers’ injury overshadowed an AFC East showdown that saw the Jets rally to win in overtime.
— Aaron Rodgers lasted just moments into his New York Jets career before he suffered what is feared to be a serious left Achilles injury. But the Jets were able to stay in the game and squeak past the Buffalo Bills, 22-16 in overtime, after forcing four turnovers from Bills quarterback Josh Allen and getting a 65-yard punt return from Xavier Gipson to win it.
Pure devastation. There’s no other way to describe it. Four plays into the Rodgers era and …
Worst. Nightmare. Ever.
Rodgers suffered a potentially serious injury in Monday night’s win over the Bills, temporarily draining the energy out of a sold-out MetLife Stadium and imperiling the Jets’ dreams of a Super Bowl.
Even for the Jets, who have a tortured history of quarterback calamities, this stretched the bounds of bad luck. Everything was built around Rodgers, 39, the four-time MVP whom they acquired in the offseason, and it all changed in a heartbeat.
The Jets rallied from a 10-3 deficit to pull out an emotional win — thanks to four takeaways by the defense and the overtime punt return — but the glow of the win soon will fade with the reality that they might not have Rodgers for a while.
A rusty Duane Brown, 38, who had minimal practice time at left tackle in training camp as he recovered from a shoulder injury, got beat by defensive end Leonard Floyd. Rodgers tried to spin away, but his lower left leg got caught in the new turf. And that was that.
Minutes later, he was carted to the locker room.
Former starter Zach Wilson, who spent the summer learning at Rodgers’ side, came off the bench and threw one costly interception, but he made a couple of plays and didn’t get in the way of the comeback. He was decent in the preseason, but that was against backups and vanilla coverages.
If the Jets lose Rodgers for an extended period, they’re in big trouble. They can sign Tim Boyle from the practice squad and add another vet (Joe Flacco?), but none of them is close to Rodgers.
