A look at what's happening around the Green Bay - New York Jets:
1. Cheesy Matchup: Quarterback Zach Wilson, a self-proclaimed "fanboy" when he first met Aaron Rodgers at United practice a year ago, didn't risk being starstruck when he reunited with his boyhood idol on Sunday Can. Lambeau Field. This time, Wilson doesn't need an autograph as much as he needs a signature win.
Wilson overtook Skylar Thompson and Kenny Pickett in his first two starts of 2022, displaying signs of maturity, but now it's about to get real. He gets the Green Bay Packers in The House of Rodgers, arguably the biggest game of his youth career.
"It's nice to be on the same ground," said Wilson, who began studying Rodgers' tapes at age 13. "It'll probably be just like last year when we were playing Tampa Bay. 'Wow, we're playing Tom Brady right now. I've been seeing this guy since I was born, which is kind of crazy Is.' I'm sure the same will happen in this game as well."
Wilson 2.0 is off to a good start - two games, two different types of wins. Coach Robert Saleh said he looked like "the kind of guy who can keep the team on his back" in his comeback win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. In routing the Miami Dolphins, it was the reverse. Saleh said — he patted the team in the role of "facilitator" — a fancy word for a game manager. Maybe it taught him a valuable lesson.
"It was probably a little eye-opening for him to say, 'Okay, I just played a game within myself and all of a sudden... boom! It exploded,'" backup Joe Flaco said of the 40-17 win. I said over the dolphins.
Wilson also tried to play Hero Ball frequently last season, wanting to play Splash when the mundane was enough. Those games didn't explode; They retreated. Fast forward to the present: He's played five consecutive good quarters, leading eight scoring drives in 13 properties - impressive stuff.
Now, a new challenge: a performance against the quarterback he's tried to replicate and "steal things." On Sunday, Wilson tries to steal a victory from his idol.
2. Do you know?: Wilson is the only player in the league to be passing, rushing, and receiving a touchdown. He is one of only 19 quarterbacks since 1970 to achieve a hat-trick, including the first for the Jets.
3. Note to Kobe: Left tackle Duane Brown, 37, is a five-time Pro Bowl player who has earned more than $90 million per spot track in his career. His legacy protected, he could easily walk away from the game by tearing the rotator cuff at the end of the season. Doctors advised an operation. Instead of taking the money (guaranteed $9 million) and running for the hills, Brown postponed surgery and made his way back into the lineup.
"I'm not going to go out like this," Brown told the team after the injury, according to offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.Brown will have surgery at the end of the season. For now, he manages the pain while impressing teammates with his toughness. As Wilson put it, Brown "is willing to lay down his hand for us." When asked about his plight, Brown quoted Kobe Bryant as saying: "When the game itself is more important than the injury, you don't feel the injury."
4. Nice comp: LaFleur is asked if the rookie reminds him of anyone running back to Bryce Hall. Without hesitation, he named former Chicago Bears star Matt Forte, who ended his career with the Jets. This is a great comparison because of their versatility and similar size (Hall is 5-foot-11, 217 pounds; Fort is 6-foot-1, 221). He also has the same draft qualifications - second-round players.
Fort lost a move to the Jets in 2016 at the age of 31, but he was a spectacular double threat in his prime, scoring 1,933 yards once a season. The Jets believe Hall has that kind of potential.
5. Strong Finisher: For years the Jets were known as the bad team of the fourth quarter. From 2016 to 2021, their points gap was minus 243 - the worst ever in the league. They were bad at catching the lead, bad at playing catchup, and downright bad.
The season is still young, but they've already started to reverse the trend in a dramatic fashion. They have scored a league-high 58 points in the fourth quarter and their margin (+38) is second.
Plenty of factors contributed to the turnaround, but you can't ignore it: The last two quarterbacks he faced in the fourth quarter were the rookies who came off the bench in their NFL debuts—Pickett (Steelers) and Thompson (Dolphin).
The difference in the fourth quarter in those two games is +28.
Yes, the jets are headed in the right direction, but let's catch the trumpets and play "Narco". They're nowhere close to the big time - yet.
6. Finally, they meet: Defensive end Carl Lawson is looking forward to playing at Green Bay, but not because he suffered an Achilles injury in August 2021. The reason for this is David Bakhtiari.
Lawson has the "warrior's respect" for the Packers' left tackle, even though he has never tackled it. Bakhtiari was out with an injury in 2017, when Lawson dismissed Rodgers for his first career run. Talking to him after the game, Lawson came up with the notion that Bakhtiari didn't think his watch would have found the sack.
After admiring him from afar, Lawson finally gets his shot at what he called a "luck" matchup.
7. From GA to HC: Two of Saleh's closest friends in the coaching profession are Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. They beat McDaniel last week, and now the "Friends" part of the schedule continues in Green Bay.
Saleh and LaFleur were roommates in 2004 when they worked as graduate assistants at Central Michigan University. They lived in a small apartment with no cables and a kitchen table with no chairs. Saleh, who said LaFleur was "like a brother," helped him get his first NFL job with the Houston Texans in 2008. They talk almost every day during the season - except this week, of course.
"I don't know if any of us ever dreamed it would be like this when we were together in that tiny little office in Central," Saleh said. "So we are very, very lucky."
While Saleh was the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers and coached LaFleur the Packers, he won two games. This is his first meeting as head coach.
8. Kudos to Coach: Aliza Vera-Tucker is well-received for the versatility of her position. Offensive line coach John Benton should give a shout, too. Due to injuries, he had to become a master juggler.
The Jets have used four different starting tackles, including a rookie (Max Mitchell) and a first tackle (Vera-Tucker). In fact, Mitchell leads the tackle in the offensive snap. Benton's steady hand has averted a full-blown disaster.
9. Be careful, hard calculations: One of the coaching points this week was being careful with Rodgers' cadence, which he uses to drive teams offside. Interestingly, the Packers are one of 13 teams not to concede an offside penalty, although Rodgers still remained dominant. In Week 1, Rodgers took an offside penalty against the Vikings and converted it into a 17-yard free play to Juwan Winfrey. He did it again in Week 2 and converted it into a 15-yard pass for Aaron Jones.
10. Final Words: "Do we sometimes talk about it in the off-season? Sure. Doesn't my mom like this game? Sure. But this is the sixth time we've played against each other - Obviously, a third different venue - so we're used to that." - Mike LaFleur on coaching against his brother, Matteo