


The feeling from Jets ownership is that this year’s team is just different – whether that’s the Aaron Rodgers Effect or not.
“This team has character,” Jets vice chairman Christopher Johnson said Tuesday morning at the NFL owners meetings in midtown New York.
“We’ve all seen Jets teams pack it in in the past – mail it in, whatever. These guys haven’t done that. They are seemingly rising – and you love to see it.”
The Jets are on a bye this week under head coach Robert Saleh – who was hired during Christopher’s watch as acting owner when older brother Woody was serving as a United States ambassador to the United Kingdom – after a potentially season-turning upset of the previously undefeated Eagles to improve to 3-3.
It’s hard not to see that start as a success considering that Rodgers was injured four offensive plays into the season opener and the first six games were the toughest gauntlet on the team’s schedule.
“I’m just happy where we are right now,” Johnson said. “Coach Saleh said it the other day, and I think they can go toe-to-toe with any team out there. It’s awesome.”
Rodgers is trying to beat the odds and return from surgery on a torn Achilles before the end of the season. A torn Achilles usually requires a six-to-nine months of rehab.
“I’ve had a couple of conversations with him on FaceTime, which he likes, and also back in New York,” Johnson said. “It’s cool to see him manifest it, as he puts it. I’m not going to not believe in that at this point. He is superhuman.”
Rodgers created a stir before the Eagles game when he was throwing passes on the field only a month removed from surgery.
“Just doing those passes – I mean, just walking – it’s absolutely amazing,” Johnson said. “I’m not going to say he can’t do it. It would be cool to see if he did it. So we will see, guys.”