The New York Jets' season was drastically altered in the first quarter of their first game, as star quarterback Aaron Rodgers went down with a torn Achilles. The player they initially traded a first-round pick, second-round pick, sixth-round pick and conditional 2024 second-round pick for (the first rounder became a second since he'll fail to play 65% of snaps) is now lost for the season, and the Jets will have to navigate arguably the toughest division in the NFL without him.
Former Jets head coach Bill Parcells knows what current Jets head coach Robert Saleh is going through right now. Back in 1999, Parcells lost his quarterback, Vinny Testaverde, in Week 1 due to a torn Achilles. Parcells says that while Rodgers is the headline in sports right now, people will move on. The Jets still have games to play.
"People, the media and fans, are going to say, 'Oh you lost your quarterback, there goes the season,' " Parcells told the New York Post. "What I will tell you [is] sports are very current. Three weeks from now they're not going to be talking about Aaron Rodgers. They're going to be talking about who dropped a pass or who fumbled the ball or who missed a tackle or who gave up a big pass play as the reason why the Jets lost."
It's true. The Jets' season is not over just because Rodgers went down in Week 1. Now, Zach Wilson will be charged with leading the offense, and he has the support of a revamped offense and elite defense.
Wilson was benched last season due to his high turnover rate, and while a total of four quarterbacks threw passes for New York in 2022, the Jets still went 7-10 and were in a win-and-you're-in postseason situation in Week 18. If Wilson has improved from last year, the Jets are still going to have a chance to compete.
"I think a coach's challenge is your team has to have hope," Parcells said. "You have to have hope. If the nucleus they built up there, if that was good enough to win, I think you'll see a highly competitive team."
Parcells also revealed what he regrets about how he handled Testaverde being lost for the 1999 season. The Jets started Rick Mirer for the first six games. They began 1-6, then rallied with Ray Lucas at the helm to finish 8-8.
"If I would have put Ray Lucas in two weeks earlier, we would have made the playoffs," Parcells said. "It was just my mistake."