Aaron Rodgers and the Jets won their final game of the season, but it most definitely was not what they had in mind when they opened the year with ambitious Super Bowl aspirations.
In what may have been his final game in Green and White — and/or in the NFL — Rodgers threw a season-high four touchdown passes to surpass 500 for his career to lead the Jets to a season-ending 32-20 win Sunday over the Dolphins before a sparse crowd at MetLife Stadium.
“We’ll have the conversations in the next few days,” Rodgers said when asked about continuing his career with the Jets. “Whatever happens out of there, I don’t know if anything will be definitive coming out of those, but I just need some time away to think about my future in the game and my future here if they want me to be a part of the next phase or if they’re ready to move on.
“Either way, I’m thankful for my two years here.”
Rodgers, who missed all but four plays in 2023 due to Achilles surgery, had his first pass of the game, intended for Davante Adams, deflected and picked off by Miami linebacker Tyrel Dodson deep in Jets territory, resulting in a 26-yard field goal by Jason Sanders.
But after a zero-touchdown, two-interception performance in last week’s ugly loss to the Bills, Rodgers found Tyler Conklin over the middle in the second quarter for a 5-yard touchdown to join Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571), Peyton Manning (539) and Brett Favre (507) in the exclusive 500 club.”
“Those are longevity numbers,” Rodgers said. “I mean, listen, every game we go out and try to play well, trying to win. Didn’t start great tonight, but put together some good drives.”
Jets owner Woody Johnson is in the process of finding replacements for fired coach Robert Saleh and GM Joe Douglas, but the other major offseason decision will concern Rodgers.
He threw for 274 yards Sunday to finish the season with 3,897 — third-most in team history behind Joe Namath’s 4,007 in 1967 and Ryan Fitzpatrick’s 3,905 in 2015 — with 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
The Dolphins (8-9) could have qualified for the playoffs with a win combined with a loss by Denver, but the Broncos (10-7) also throttled the resting NFL-best Chiefs to grab the final AFC wild-card berth.
Starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa missed his second straight game for the Dolphins with a hip injury, and the Jets’ defense picked off backup Tyler Huntley twice (both by Ashtyn Davis) and forced two other takeaways on fumbles.
Rodgers added TD pass No. 501 with a 13-yard scoring strike to Allen Lazard to lead 15-6 at halftime, and then two more to Adams and Breece Hall in the second half to become the first Jets quarterback since Joe Flacco in 2022 with four scoring throws in one game.
“Just a lot of gratitude for the ability to be healthy this season, all the people that put me in the position to be able to start 17 games,” Rodgers said. “There’s time for other emotions, but I’m just thankful for the performance and the guys that made plays tonight.
“I’m looking forward to those conversations with Woody and Christopher [Johnson] and … anybody else. It feels good to be able to do some of the things the last five or six weeks that I knew I was capable of doing even at 40, 41, but either way, whatever the decisions are, I won’t be upset or offended.”