For Aaron Rodgers & Jets, Bill’s game was ‘like our season… it just got away from us’

Even in what turned out to be a tough road test in Orchard Park, NY, there were some record numbers on the table for Aaron Rodgers and the Jets on Sunday.

But in the end, the only .500s Rodgers brought up late in his press conference after the Jets’ 40-14 loss to the Bills weren’t touchdown passes, but sacks. Did he know he had passed Tom Brady’s 565 sacks, the most sacks in his NFL career (since 1982)?

“Yeah, I’ve got Tom with me,” said Rodgers with a small smile, unsurprised by the statistic because, as he said, “that’s what I was told in the production meeting yesterday.”

But the numbers that mattered to Rodgers, Davante Adams, IHC Jeff Ulbrich and every Jets player and coach were, yes, a fifth win in this contest of a season, but also the 500th TD pass of Rodgers’ NFL fame in regular season career. That didn’t happen at Highmark Stadium, however, as with a 40-0 deficit, Rodgers gave Tyrod Taylor the final two drives of the Jets, both of which ended with Taylor TD passes.

“This game was kind of our season. It just got away from us,” Rodgers said gloomily. “Too many games have gotten away from us and this game got away from us. We moved the ball well early on, then we just hit the wall.”

“I thought the effort was pretty good,” he said in response to another question. “The execution wasn’t very good.”

Rodgers was there for most of the afternoon, which although there was no rain forecast for the Buffalo area, it became increasingly dark and monotonous for the visiting team as the game wore on. Those first two drives were promising, as the Jets drove 48 yards in 10 plays before a failed fourth-and-1 play at the Buffalo 24, then 62 yards in seven plays before Rodgers threw the first of his two interceptions the Bills threw 12.

“We blocked it well,” Rodgers said of the ball that DE Gregory Rousseau hit into the basket of DL Jordan Phillips. “It would have been an explosive play. The guy just threw the ball away.”

After a 12-0 lead at halftime, the Bills opened the scoring with four touchdowns in a crazy span of 7:36 minutes. And Rodgers, playing behind a line that at times featured its fifth and sixth tackles of the season, finished the game with 12 of 18 passes for 112 yards, no touchdowns, 2 picks and 4 sacks and a passer rating of 44.0.