Jeff Ulbrich desperately wanted some assist.
The Payments had taken it to the Jets, gashed them within the floor whereas Josh Allen seemingly toyed with Ulbrich’s protection, and thought they’d be carrying a 20-10 halftime lead into the locker room.
They thought flawed.
Rodgers, first-and-10 at his 48, launched the Hail Ulbrich from his 43. Time expired whereas the ball was within the air.
Allen Lazard leaped for the ball and the three Payments who surrounded him leaped with him.
Lazard got here down with it.
It was Rodgers’ fourth Hail Mary TD. No different participant within the NFL has greater than two touchdowns on a Hail Mary since 2008.
It made Ulbrich, a 23-20 loser, seem like a genius for calling a pair of timeouts at a time when a trash-talking Allen was engineering a drive that concluded with an 11-yard TD go to Dawson Knox with 21 seconds left earlier than intermission.
Alas, it takes greater than Aaron Rodgers finishing a Hail Ulbrich to beat Josh Allen.
You’ll be able to blame Rodgers for not getting his crew in the long run zone first-and-goal on the 3-yard line, and you’ll blame him for not successful it when Ulbrich wanted him to win it within the fourth quarter.
Rodgers threw for a season-high 294 yards. This one isn’t on him.
The true blame belongs to Ulbrich’s coveted protection and area kicker Greg Zuerlein who sabotaged the Jets and prevented them from a share of first place.
And 11 penalties that had Jets followers muttering to themselves:
Identical Previous Saleh Jets.
And Aaron Rodgers isn’t Josh Allen and the Jets aren’t the Payments.
Ulbrich could be compelled to ask Rodgers, beginning at his 30, for one final favor trailing 23-20 with 3:43 and three timeouts remaining.
He tried what amounted to a third-and-16 Hail Ulbrich, and Mike Williams slipped and Taron Johnson intercepted with 1:52 left.
Rodgers was introduced right here to beat Josh Allen and the Payments on a Monday night time at MetLife Stadium with a share of first place on the road, irrespective of who, Robert Saleh or Jeff Ulbrich, was standing on the sideline as his head coach. He was introduced right here to finish the Payments’ four-year stranglehold on the AFC East, whether or not Nathaniel Hackett or Todd Downing was the play-caller.
Ulbrich’s protection together with the MetLife crowd had been energized when the second half started.
This was a chippy sport between rivals from the beginning.
Zuerlein had missed a 43-yarder off the left upright. His second miss was off the left upright within the second half.
A roughing-the-passer penalty on A.J. Espenesa had enabled Breece Corridor on third-and-2 to tear off a 42-yard explosive down the left sideline to the Buffalo 3 halfway by means of the third quarter.
MetLife Stadium: “BREEEEECE.”
However Rodgers couldn’t get it in. Ulbrich settled for the chippie FG. Jets 20, Payments 20.
It was nonetheless Jets 20, Payments 20 as a result of a Tyron Smith holding name nullified a 4-yard Braelon Allen TD run earlier than Taylor Rapp violently dislodged a would-be 12-yard TD go to Garrett Wilson and Zuerlein missed a 32-yard FG.
Ulbrich’s protection had plotted mayhem for this one. It had performed early on as if nonetheless in shock from the Robert Saleh firing. There was a 42-yard PI on Quincy Williams and a 23-yard PI on D.J. Reed. A 12-men-on-the-field penalty was declined as a result of the Payments accepted a PI on Tony Adams earlier than Allen discovered Dawson Knox with a 12-yard TD go.
The offensive line had sagged late within the second quarter. Dorian Williams sacked Rodgers on first down, Morgan Moses false-started, and Epenesa beat Tyron Smith and buried Rodgers for an 8-yard sack. A holding name on Smith nullified a 4-yard Allen TD run late within the third quarter.
New play-caller Downing properly deployed Corridor within the passing sport. The disappearance of Breece The Beast had been eye-opening. Corridor wanted to regain his swagger to maintain Rodgers from making an attempt 54 passes and taking a beating. And so: A 21-yard reception. A 24-yard achieve. Later, a 23-yard reception. And that 42-yard romp.
