Aaron Rodgers Says the Jets Won with ‘the Season on the Line’

The second TD to Wilson (9 catches/90 yards) was spectacular, and it almost didn’t happen. On the previous play, third-and-9 at the Houston 16, Rodgers deftly scrambled 13 yards — but the play was called back on a holding call on rookie Olu Fashanu.

“I looked halfway athletic,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t hurt myself in the process.”

Pushed back to the 26 with a third-and-19, Rodgers saw a chance on the left side to let Wilson go up for the ball. And that’s exactly what he did — a leaping split, getting one foot in and a shin down before his knee, a TD that was confirmed on review.

“When it was third-and-extra-long, I was looking at the weak side safety, and I was like, if he drops down at all, just gonna say, screw it, I’m going to throw it up to G,” said Rodgers, who finished the game 22 of 32 for 211 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions. “I felt like I put it in a decent spot. But, yeah, I didn’t do a whole lot when it comes down to it. I just kind of lobbed one up there. He made an unbelievable catch. When I saw the replay, it looked like he had knee [actually his shin] in so I thought, shoot, throw the challenge flag. Brick [interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich] was already in front of me throwing it. But that was a huge play. First one was a huge play as well. But what was it third-and-20? Yeah. I mean, that’s game-changing play.”

And Rodgers then directed a march that began with 6:54 to play, melted 3:58 off the clock and iced the game for the Jets. Facing third-and-3 at the Texans’ 37, Rodgers landed a perfect strike into the waiting arms of Davante Adams along the home sideline for a TD that effectively put the final nail in the coffin. The last time the two pals collaborated on a TD pass was in 2021 when they played for Green Bay. This one was their 69th TD collaboration.

“That’s something that takes years, you know, that’s, that’s a relationship that’s, that’s way deeper than the three or four weeks they’ve been together,” Jeff Ulbrich said of the Rodgers-to-Adams connection.