Aaron Rodgers Wants The Jets To Learn How To Handle Success

After three games, the New York Jets are 2-1 and in a comfortable position in the AFC East division. Aaron Rodgers has remained healthy and delivered one of the best performances of Week 3 in a commanding win over the Patriots. So far, so good.

For most Jets fans, the report on the team’s season to this point is that there hasn’t been a disaster — yet. Heading into the season, the Jets received national attention as fans and insiders waited to see if Rodgers could effectively lead an alleged Super Bowl contender at age 39. The answer appears to be yes, and for the first time in more than a decade, the Jets seem to be in a good place.

Stressful, isn’t it? For fans who are accustomed to chaotic, hopeless quarterback shuffling, crushing injuries, anemic offenses and plain bad luck, prosperity might feel strange. It may feel instinctual for some to hold their ear to the ground and listen for the other shoe. But in a team interview earlier this week, Rodgers said that this mentality has to go.

“I think, you know, it’s easier when you’re kind of getting kicked in the teeth to kind of come together, ‘it’s us against the world, it’s us against the big bad media whose saying how bad we are,’ you know?” Rodgers said. “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, just can you handle the success part, with the same focus, the same mentality, the same mindset, the same energy, when you’re starting to get on a little bit of a roll.”

Handling the success, as Rodgers put it, is something that hasn’t come easy for New York teams in this century. The Yankees have been spectacular underachievers since 2009 while the Mets’ innovations in the realm of misery are practically patented. The Knicks and Nets have alternated between nearly there and not even close for 30 years. The Rangers and Islanders never put the pieces together. The Giants stole two Super Bowls, but never did so with the expectation of success behind them. Eli Manning had to prove people wrong; Tom Brady was the one who had to prove them right.

This is the big-market tradition staring Rodgers in the face after a career spent almost exclusively in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In the bright lights, it seems harder to grow comfortable with success. People are more skeptical of greatness and find a perverted sense of justification in failure. The Jets experienced it just last season. Of course Rodgers went down on the first drive of the season, Jets fans said. It’s the Jets, they said.

Separating facts from fears, however, the team’s roster is impeccable. Even after suffering some injuries on defense, star cornerback Sauce Gardner still leads a group of 11 starters that could all make Pro Bowl cases this season.

Rodgers is far from alone on offense. Breece Hall might be the best running back in the league, while 20-year-old Braelon Allen is lighting it up alongside him. Garrett Wilson is the only first-round draft pick to catch a touchdown from Rodgers in the quarterback’s entire career. Allen Lazard and Mike Williams are making themselves known too. In short, the team is clicking.

With a 2-1 record and minimal drama going into Week 4, Rodgers is observing a calm that he likely hasn’t experienced since signing with New York last year. Many questions have been answered and seem to favor the Jets. The young team has to adjust to a new identity now. The veteran will have to be the one that helps them realize it.