NFL Power Rankings: Aaron Rodgers wasn’t great, but it’s not time to freak out about the Jets

For the past two seasons, the message with the New York Jets rarely changed. If they could just get good quarterback play, they’d be contenders.

Aaron Rodgers was back in Week 1, and unlike last season, his season debut lasted more than four snaps. But it mostly looked like the same old story with the Jets.

Rodgers led an offense that had just one effective drive for the first 43 minutes of the game as the San Francisco 49ers took a 26-7 lead. He threw another touchdown later to Allen Lazard that saved his night a bit, not that it mattered much in the 32-19 loss. Rodgers finished 13-of-21 for 167 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Because it’s Rodgers and the Jets and everyone was watching Monday night, the overreactions will be fierce. But as someone once said, R-E-L-A-X. It’s one game, Rodgers wasn’t that bad and it wasn’t a great situation for his return either.

It had been a really long time since Rodgers played a game that mattered, if you don’t count his four snaps from last season’s opener before he tore his Achilles. His last game with the Green Bay Packers was Jan. 8, 2023. But when Rodgers settled in for a strong first-quarter drive, he didn’t look like was a 40-year-old quarterback coming off a major injury and hadn’t played even a handful of snaps in 20 months.

Rodgers’ connection with Garrett Wilson was apparent. When Rodgers completed 6 of 7 passes for 61 yards on his first scoring drive as a Jet, Wilson caught four of those balls for 46 yards. It looked really good. Then the 49ers’ defense started to dig in.

The one thing Rodgers has to prove is that he can still have some functional mobility. He won’t move in the pocket or run like he did with the Packers. If he’s a statue, that will be a challenge. When the 49ers started to get pressure on him in the second quarter, the offense stalled. New York had just 5 yards in the second quarter.

The good news is the Jets won’t face many defenses as good as the 49ers. San Francisco always invests in its defensive line and it shows. It’s not fair to judge Rodgers solely off his first game back against one of the best defenses in the NFL, and on the road on top of it. Many quarterbacks will struggle against San Francisco, and some rust shouldn’t be surprising especially after Rodgers sat the entire preseason.

Rodgers was the NFL’s all-time passer rating leader coming into Monday night’s game, and a big reason is he rarely throws interceptions. From 2011-2021 he never had a season with more than eight interceptions. But he had one on Monday night, and it was on him. Rodgers hesitated, forced a pass to Wilson when he was covered, the ball was tipped and went right to linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles. The Jets trailed 23-7 at that point and they weren’t coming back on the 49ers.

One game, especially after more than a year and a half off when facing an elite defense, isn’t enough to judge Rodgers. He had moments when he looked just fine, especially when it came to his arm strength. Rodgers made a few vintage, beautiful throws. When he threw the 36-yard touchdown to Lazard in the third quarter after the 49ers jumped offsides, it gave the Jets a positive highlight to point to. Rodgers might not have been moving great but that shouldn’t be expected from him anymore. The Jets are going to have to protect him well, and even if they do, Rodgers is going to have to prove he can still move well enough to at least buy an extra second or two in the pocket. The Jets already knew that though.

It’s a long season. We’re going to see the Jets a lot in standalone television windows. There will be a lot of chances to check out Rodgers and critique his game. His first full game with the Jets wasn’t great. It’s too early to freak out about the Jets and where their season might be going. But if they want the noise to go away, it has to look better than it did on Monday night.

Here are the power rankings after Week 1 of the NFL regular season:

Nothing about the Panthers looked good in Week 1. But the real concern is Bryce Young. The problem with Young last season was there were so few “wow” moments from the first overall draft pick. But it was OK to give him a fresh start in his second season with a better cast. And the first game of his second season looked even worse. That should be really, really scary going forward for the Panthers.

It’s hard to feel good about anything with the Giants after that opener. General manager Joe Schoen, head coach Brian Daboll and quarterback Daniel Jones should all be worried. Also, a defense that allowed Sam Darnold to torch it might be a real problem all season.

Hats off to Jerod Mayo and the Patriots. Plenty of analysts spoke for weeks about how the Patriots would be the worst team in the NFL (hand raised). While this probably isn’t starting a long winning streak, the Patriots played hard and smart in Week 1. The defense was excellent. Mayo deserves a lot of credit for that.

Bo Nix will be fine. He’s in a good situation and is talented. Expecting him to be great throughout his rookie season was always unreasonable. Nix tried 12 throws 10 yards or more downfield, and completed two of them to the Broncos and two to Seahawks defenders, via Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com. Expect plenty of rough games this season, especially if he’s asked to throw it 42 times on the road again.

The bad news was Will Levis throwing the game away on a pick 6 with a backhanded flip that was one of the worst plays you’ll ever see an NFL quarterback make. The good news was Tennessee’s defense. The Titans were a big reason the Bears had just 148 yards. The defensive line in particular might be pretty good.

The biggest concern with the Commanders has to be their secondary. Washington gave up four passing touchdowns, and all three of Tampa’s top receivers scored. Dan Quinn is a very sharp defensive mind, but maybe the personnel issues in the secondary are too much for him to fix in his first season.

Marvin Harrison Jr. had all the hype over the offseason, then one catch and one bad drop in the opener. Don’t expect too many 4-yard games for Harrison in his career, though it might be fair to pull back expectations a little. We’ll see how he looks in Week 2.

Antonio Pierce can motivate. That’s why he was hired as the full-time coach. But an absolutely inexcusable punt, on fourth-and-1 from the Chargers’ 43-yard line with less than seven minutes to go and the Raiders trailing by six points, is a blaring alarm. Pierce has to prove he’s good at all facets of the game, including managing it. That punt was a massive failure in that category.

The Packers have to move way back, and we’ll reassess after Jordan Love comes back. No, the diagnosis of Love having an MCL sprain was not positive news. It just wasn’t disastrous news. Green Bay might struggle mightily without Love and even when Love returns, the injury is likely to affect his play for a long time. It’s possible this team is in a big hole by Halloween, especially if fill-in Malik Willis looks like he has in his other NFL regular-season appearances.

It is troubling that the Falcons changed their offense to presumably account for Kirk Cousins not being able to move. They were the only team in the NFL through Sunday’s games that didn’t have one play-action pass. They were in the pistol or shotgun formation on 96% of snaps according to ESPN’s Field Yates, and Cousins has never operated extensively out of the pistol formation. Atlanta was predictable too, never running out of the shotgun and running 81% of time when they lined up in pistol, according to Yates. If Cousins can’t move as he comes off a torn Achilles, Sunday’s offense is unsustainable and they’d have to consider rookie Michael Penix Jr. at some point. Not all Week 1 issues are long-term concerns, but this one is.

It was interesting to see the Saints lead the NFL in pre-snap motion through Sunday’s games. They were slow to incorporate that for years, then it flipped completely the other way with new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Maybe a coordinator change will transform the Saints’ offense. We need to see them face someone better than the Panthers before knowing.

J.K. Dobbins has always had talent. It’s the injuries that have been the issue. Perhaps he won’t be able to stay healthy this season either but a 135-yard game with some huge runs in his Chargers debut is a good place to start.

We’ll see if Week 1 was more about Sam Darnold taking a first step in a career revival or the Giants being awful on defense. What we do know is Darnold had one of the best games of his career. Given the positive environment around him, he might have a good season.

Anthony Richardson had a throwback game. Norm Van Brocklin was a Hall of Fame quarterback with a 53.6% career completion percentage, but he averaged 8.2 yards per attempt, one of the best marks ever. Joe Namath completed 50.1% of his passes but at 7.4 yards per attempt. The game has evolved so much that it’s weird to see a quarterback have a line of 9 of 19 for 212 yards, which were Richardson’s numbers on Sunday. It wasn’t a one-off either; this is pretty much who Richardson will be. He can hit big passes downfield but the evolution he needs is keeping the sticks moving at the short and intermediate levels.

There’s no shame in the Jaguars losing at Miami, but how it happened isn’t good. They should have won after taking a 17-7 lead. The offense got way too conservative with the lead in the second half. Trevor Lawrence didn’t do enough to win either. And the defense gave up too many yards, albeit against a good offense. That’s a game Jacksonville has to win if it’s going to be taken seriously.

The Bengals have become masterful at starting seasons slow under Zac Taylor. In his six seasons …

2019: started 0-11
2020: lost the opener, started 1-5-1
2021: won the opener, lost Week 2
2022: started 0-2
2023: lost the opener, started 1-3
2024: lost the opener as a big favorite vs. Patriots

Maybe Sunday was just the Bengals starting slow again. But there aren’t good vibes with this team right now, with the Ja’Marr Chase contract extension somehow not being resolved. And now they go to Kansas City for Week 2.

The Browns’ upcoming schedule of pass defenses isn’t too bad: at Jaguars, vs. Giants, at Raiders, at Commanders. That means the pressure increases on Deshaun Watson. If he can’t do better against defenses like the Giants and Commanders, something needs to happen. Jameis Winston is going to make mistakes, but at least he can throw the ball downfield.

What to even make of that win? It was as much of an anomaly as we’ve ever seen. It was the first time in NFL history a team has trailed by 17 points, had less than 150 yards of offense and won the game via ESPN Stats and Info. It’s better to deal with the issues with a 1-0 record. The first priority should be making sure the run game is a bigger part of the plan, and not getting too enamored with Caleb Williams doing everything right away.

George Pickens had 85 yards on six catches. That was more than half of the Steelers’ 170 receiving yards. It will be interesting to see what the Steelers do if Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II takes Pickens out of the game in Week 2. There aren’t many other options in the passing game, which is a problem.

Baker Mayfield’s four-touchdown day was the highlight, but rookie running back Bucky Irving’s debut might end up being important too. He had 62 yards on nine carries and two catches for 14 yards. That came after he looked good in the preseason. Rachaad White is still the main back, but Irving can provide a nice boost to the offense and turn that into a committee.

It’s easy to look at Week 1 and believe that Bo Nix’s stat line was him being a rookie quarterback in his first game. But don’t underestimate Mike Macdonald’s defense. Seattle took away everything down the field. The Seahawks could be one of the NFL’s surprise teams if the defense picks up Macdonald’s system fast.

The 49ers are good. They’re going to make a lot of good teams look bad through the season. There’s no reason to believe the Jets won’t be good. But there are some things to work on. The defense in particular has to be disappointed it didn’t rise to the challenge of stopping San Francisco.

It was great to see Cooper Kupp look like 2021 Kupp, when everyone knew he was getting the ball and it didn’t matter. Kupp had a ridiculous 21 targets and turned that into 14 catches for 110 yards. That might be his role for a while with Puka Nacua going on injured reserve with his knee injury.

Tua Tagovailoa will remain the most underrated quarterback in the NFL for a while. Through Sunday’s games, Tagovailoa’s 338 yards led the NFL. He was one of only two quarterbacks over 300 yards in the opener. After the Dolphins fell behind, he played well in the second half. When the Dolphins had a shot to drive downfield and win the game, Tagovailoa hit a couple big passes to get Miami into field-goal range. Yes, Tagovailoa has great playmakers around him. He’s pretty good too.

C.J. Stroud is just that good. If there was any fear of regression for his second season, Stroud went on the road in Week 1 and went 9-of-9 for 85 yards and two touchdowns on third and fourth downs. One of the completions was a ridiculous throw to Nico Collins on third-and-11 that practically sealed the win. That was the biggest factor in a big divisional win at Indianapolis. It’s possible he’s the second-best quarterback in the NFL already.

When the Eagles signed Saquon Barkley, it was surprising. Mostly because the Eagles have been one of the teams leading the charge in devaluing running backs, putting together RB rooms of cheap but effective options. Now we see why Philadelphia paid up. If what we saw in Week 1 is what we can expect from Barkley, that added dimension will change the Eagles’ offense.

It’s jarring that the Bills had to come back to beat the Cardinals at home. But plenty of good teams had close calls in Week 1 or lost. And while we keep saying that it’s unsustainable that Josh Allen has to put the team on his back every single week, he keeps doing it with pretty good results.

There’s no reason to worry about the Ravens. Had Isaiah Likely worn shoes that were one size smaller and then the Ravens would have hit a 2-point conversion with no time left (it really is a bummer we didn’t get to see that happen), then they are 1-0 with a win at Arrowhead Stadium. The one big concern Baltimore will have to figure out is a shaky offensive line.

When we freak out about the Cowboys next offseason (and everyone will, it’s an annual tradition), remember how the past few months have unfolded. Predictions of doom and gloom, then the Cowboys going on the road and smashing a talented Browns team in Week 1. It looked like a team that has won 12 games in each of the past three seasons.

There was a fourth-and-2 play early Sunday night in which the Lions ran it up the middle and got it. How many other teams would run up the middle in that situation? That’s what happens when you have what might be the NFL’s best offensive line. It was a precursor for overtime, when the Lions got the ball first and ran it on seven of eight plays to score the walk-off winner.

Most teams would miss the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year. Not the 49ers. They just gave Jordan Mason his first career start and the offense didn’t suffer. The way the 49ers dominated the Jets on Monday night was impressive.

A Chiefs trio of Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy and Marquise Brown (when he’s healthy) should be scary for the rest of the NFL. Rice looked sharp in the opener and Worthy’s playmaking ability will have to be accounted for on every snap. Oh, and Travis Kelce is still a factor in the passing game. Patrick Mahomes is going to have some fun this season.