FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Aaron Rodgers was surrounded by a throng of reporters in the middle of the New York Jets ’ locker room when Breece Hall found an opening.
Just as the running back usually does on the field.
Hall playfully asked a question of his quarterback - and then probably wished he hadn’t.
“How do you feel the O-line and the running backs and the tight ends have done protecting you in these first three games?” Hall asked before practice Wednesday.
Rodgers, without missing a beat, grinned and coolly delivered a witty response.
“I feel like they’ve been playing really well,” Rodgers said. “You, you know, have done a nice job in protection. I’d like to cut down on some of the complaining in the huddle, though, if I could. You’ve got to remember, this is like in the Aesop’s Fables. You know, we need to be the tortoise. It’s slow and steady wins the race. Sometimes you get a little antsy out there. You want the ball, you’re complaining, you’re, you know, in my ear the whole time. We’ve just got to understand it comes in the flow.”
A smiling Hall then quickly said: “Off the record.”
Rodgers joked he was teasing Hall “because he’s annoying me here,” but added that the running back is “one of the best dudes on the team” who doesn’t actually complain. And he called Hall “brilliant on the field.”
Takes one to know one.
The 40-year-old Rodgers is a four-time NFL MVP whose list of on-field achievements is lengthy. And still growing.
He can add another superlative to an outstanding career Sunday at home against Denver. Rodgers is 321 yards passing from becoming the ninth player in NFL history to throw for 60,000, joining the likes of Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre - the player he backed up for three years in Green Bay.
“It means I’ve played a long time,” said Rodgers, in his 20th season. “I remember when I was a young player, there was a lot of records Favre was getting. I think he got 421 touchdowns to pass (Dan) Marino at the time. You know, all the yard markers that he had, the consecutive games played, and he used to always say, ‘It just means I’ve been around a long time.’ And I was like, ‘It means a little more than that.’
“But when I’m in the position now, that’s what it feels like. It feels like I’ve been playing a long time and naturally this would be part of the process. But I’m thankful to be playing still and that there’s milestones like this to hit.”
The one catch is the fact Rodgers has gone 25 straight regular-season games - 26 counting the postseason - without throwing for 300 or more yards. It’s the longest such drought of his career.
It appeared he might end it last Thursday night in a blowout of New England before finishing with 281 yards passing.
“I’m thankful for all the guys that caught passes from me and all the guys that blocked for me,” Rodgers said. “I couldn’t name them all, but give me a little time.”
That’s another list to which he has added this season. After a torn left Achilles tendon on his fourth snap last year ended his season, Rodgers has bounced back by getting increasingly better - and more mobile - in the three games the Jets played in 11 days to open this season.
“I felt like I was, you know, myself,” the quarterback said after the win against the Patriots.
He delivered passes with precision, completing 27 throws to eight receivers, and showed he’s past any worries about his surgically repaired left foot by routinely scrambling and making plays on the run. He also had three rushes for 18 yards.
“Well, I can’t say I’m bereft of some difficulties with the Achilles, but it’s a process,” Rodgers said. “I feel better Week 1 to Week 2, Week 2 to Week 3. And then we got a nice little gift there with the long weekend. So I feel better. I mean, I said after Week 1, I felt like I was going to progress and be able to move around a little bit more.
“I did that maybe a little bit against Tennessee and then obviously moved around a lot more effectively in Week 3.”
The Jets (2-1) were one of the NFL’s worst offenses the past few seasons without Rodgers. They still rank in the middle of the pack with 310 yards of total offense per game, but have scored three touchdowns in each game. And New York is first in the league on third down after converting 21 of 37 opportunities (56.8%) in the first three games.
“It’s easier when you kind of get kicked in the teeth to come together,” Rodgers said. “It’s us against the world. It’s us against the big, bad media, who’s saying how bad we are. We can kind of come together. But can you still come together and have the same approach when everybody’s kind of starting to sing your praises a little bit?
“I think that’s the mark of a great team.”
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