When New York Jets star quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a complete tear of his left Achilles tendon four plays into his season debut, the football world was overwhelmed with distress and frustration. Rodgers had been the story of the offseason and one of the reasons why the Jets were scheduled for six games in prime-time television, the maximum number under the National Football League’s new media rights deals.
Many sports commentators are declaring that the calamitous occurrence has ended any hopes of the Jets competing for a Super Bowl championship, something that head coach Robert Saleh is surprised to hear. As it stands, the team still has a burgeoning young core of dynamic offensive players combined with one of the league’s top defenses and an experienced, shrewd coaching staff.
WFAN midday host Brandon Tierney, who is an ardent fan of the Jets, was surely disappointed in what had transpired with the team’s quarterback, who many people referred to as the team’s missing piece. Yet he is not in a melancholic state, ready to surrender and effectively punt on the season. Despite Rodgers enduring a season-ending injury on the first offensive drive of the game, Tierney is holding out hope that Zach Wilson can prove himself as an effective starter and overcome adversity to help the team snap a 12-year playoff drought.
“Get up!,” Tierney shouted into the microphone, standing up donning a Jets sweatshirt on WFAN. “Stop walking around work like a loser! Get your act together – we’re playing until January!”
The Jets were able to come together as a team and defeat the Buffalo Bills in overtime on the strength of a touchdown off a punt return by rookie Xavier Gipson. When the team won the game, MetLife Stadium erupted in jubilation, acknowledging the breathtaking feat Gipson had achieved in his NFL debut after being signed as an undrafted free agent. Simultaneously, the victory was pyrrhic to a degree, accentuated when the team made it official after an MRI the next morning that Rodgers’ season was indeed over.
“There is no way that I’m tapping out now!,” Tierney continued. “No chance! If you didn’t kill us last night, we are unkillable!”
“I think the season in fact might be over BT,” co-host Sal Licta interjected. “I hate to break it to you.”
