FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The New York Jets might be dealing with an opponent even tougher to overcome than their poor play, missed opportunities and ill-timed mistakes.
Wide receiver Garrett Wilson suggested last Sunday a losing “gene” might be an explanation for the Jets’ inability to pull out victories after the team dropped to 3-10 with a loss at Miami.
On Wednesday, Aaron Rodgers presented another perhaps more sinister reason.
“I mean, it might be something like that," the quarterback said of Wilson's theory. "It might be some sort of curse we've got to snap as well.”
Generations of frustrated Jets fans have half-jokingly insisted there have been negative forces at work against the franchise since Joe Namath delivered on his Super Bowl guarantee in January 1969. It remains the team's only appearance in the NFL's biggest game.
Rodgers has been there once — and won — with Green Bay. The 41-year-old quarterback came to New York hoping to finally lead the Jets back to the Super Bowl. He even commented on how lonely the team's only Lombardi Trophy looked during his introductory news conference 20 months ago.
Instead, Rodgers' first season in New York was cut short by a torn Achilles tendon just four snaps in, immediately resurrecting "curse” theories among jaded Jets fans.
With its loss last Sunday, New York extended its playoff drought to 14 straight years, the longest active skid among the major North American sports leagues. And the team will be looking for a new general manager and coach after this season, and Rodgers' future in New York is very much up in the air.
“Whatever the case, this team, this organization is going to figure out how to get over the hump at some point,” Rodgers said. “The culture is built by the players. There’s a framework set down by the organization, by the upper-ups, by the staff. But in the end, it’s the players that make it come to life.
"And at some point, everybody’s going to have to figure out what that special sauce is to turn those games that should be wins into wins.”
The Jets have held the lead in the fourth quarter in five games this season. They've lost each of them, including the past three games. New York's inability to come away with wins in those prompted Wilson's “gene” theory.
“I’m not exactly sure what he was talking about there,” Rodgers said with a smile. "I don’t know what the proper nomenclature is for the situation where we’ve lost some leads or haven’t been able to take the lead late in the game, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. We haven’t been great in situational football.
“A lot of those games come down to the plays in the first and second, even third quarter, where if you make the play the game is not in that situation. But in those situations, we haven’t been very good on offense or defense or even (special) teams.”
Rodgers said “it takes a conscious effort, it takes an intentional effort” to establish a winning culture, and it includes leadership, practice habits and setting standards inside and outside of the locker room.
And this year's Jets, Rodgers said, are “on the edge” of that.
“We just haven’t quite figured out how to get that special sauce worked out, mixed up,” he said. “It’s close and a lot of great guys are in the locker room. There’s some good mix of veterans and young guys, but we just haven’t quite put it all together.”
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