Aaron Rodgers has regrets about the play that got him injured last year
By ProFootball Talk On NBC Sports
Before Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers conducted his first official press conference of 2024 training camp, a portion of next month’s unauthorized biography emerged.
Via Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, Ian O’Conner’s Out Of The Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers includes comments from Rodgers addressing the moment that saw his 2023 season end, only four snaps into it.
The question is simple. Why didn’t he throw the ball to receiver Garrett Wilson, who seemed to be open, before Bills pass rusher Leonard Floyd could hit Rodgers, causing a ruptured Achilles tendon.
“I felt like pre-snap that the safety was going to come down, so I think I played it all a little bit too quick,” Rodgers tells O’Connor. “And I was thinking about getting it backside to the under [receiver]. So, I probably should have just thrown it right to Garrett.”
It shows how quickly decisions have to be made, and how easily one choice can lead to a very bad outcome.
“Garrett really flattened off his route, and I thought if he goes vertical at all … because I thought [Micah Hyde] was going to crash down on that,” Rodgers said. “So, I kinda looked left, and I was going to come back and throw the under to the right. I almost threw it to [Allen Lazard].”
Floyd got free after beating a cut block by tackle Duane Brown. Which is one of the problems with cut blocks; currently, pass rushers are athletic enough to jump over them.
“I should have thrown it to Garrett,” Rodgers said. “That’s how I look at it.”
He literally gets a do-over on the first Monday night of the 2024 season. Floyd is now a member of the 49ers, the team the Jets will face to start the season.
They also have Nick Bosa.