Aaron Rodgers breaks drought with 300-yard game, but no silver lining for Jets QB in loss

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Aaron Rodgers celebrated with a quick fist bump from his left hand, then another with his right.

That’s all the celebrating the New York Jets did on Sunday.

Rodgers broke his string of NFL starts without passing for at least 300 yards, throwing for 339 yards and a touchdown, but the Jets fell 32-26 in overtime to the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium.

“Got that behind us. Got that behind us,” Rodgers said of the quirky streak which lasted nearly three years – his last coming with the Green Bay Packers on in December 2021.

“What’s next?”

Well, it’s not the playoffs.

The Jets fell to 3-10 and were eliminated from playoff contention for the 14^th straight season – the longest active streak in the league – following Sunday's defeat.

New York lost its third straight one-score game and seventh overall in a season in which owner Woody Johnson fired coach Robert Saleh on Oct. 8 and general manager Joe Douglas on Nov. 19.

The only time the Jets have been over .500 this season was after a 24-3 win over the New England Patriots on Sept. 19, when they were 2-1 after Week 3.

“The expectations were high. We didn’t reach them. We weren’t close,” Rodgers said of the season.

“It felt good three weeks in. The weekend off, everybody felt real good. Since then, it’s been a lot of difficult games with opportunities to win. We just didn’t figure out how to win enough games. I didn’t play good enough in some crunch times.

“That’s why we’re sitting here with the record we’ve got,” Rodgers added.

Rodgers nearly orchestrated a game-winning drive in the final minutes against the Dolphins. He responded from a sack losing 6 yards to find Davante Adams for a 14-yard gain with 1:02 remaining. Anders Carlson kicked a 42-yard field goal to give New York a 26-23 lead with 56 seconds left in regulation.

However, Rodgers and the offense never saw the ball again.

The Jets’ special teams and defense faltered down the stretch.

Dolphins receiver Malik Washington sparked Miami’s comeback with a 45-yard kick return, setting up kicker Jason Sanders’ 52-yard field goal to force overtime.

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa ended the game with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jonnu Smith to cap an eight-play, 70-yard drive in less than four minutes.

“Extremely shocked. And disappointed. And frustrated. And every other adjective you can think of,” interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said of the Jets’ season.

“This group works so hard. I would venture to say they work harder than most. And because of that, it makes it frustrating, and it makes me feel much worse for that group because they’re doing things right.

“We got to find a way to finish this off better.”

At least Rodgers found his touch in the passing game.

It had been 34 starts since Rodgers last threw for at least 300 yards.

Before Sunday, Rodgers’ last 300-yard game was with the Packers against the Chicago Bears on Dec. 12, 2021. He had four touchdown passes with 341 yards passing. It was his third straight game with more than 300 at the time.

Rodgers failed to eclipse 300 yards passing in his final 21 games with the Packers.

The most Rodgers had previously thrown for in a Jets jersey was 294 in a 23-20 loss to the Bills on Oct. 14.

Rodgers found Adams for nine catches, 109 yards and a touchdown in the third quarter, and connected with Wilson for seven catches and 114 yards. Jets rookie running backs Braelon Allen (43 yards) and Isaiah Davis (40 yards and a rushing touchdown) also played their parts with starter Breece Hall sidelined due to a knee injury.

“He was spinning it,” Wilson said. “Aaron can spin the ball like no one I’ve ever seen.”

There’s not much else you can spin about the Jets’ season.

The Jets have four games left – at Jacksonville next Sunday, hosting the Rams on Dec. 22, at Buffalo on Dec. 29 and hosting Miami in the season finale – to play for pride.

There’s nothing else to play for in 2024.

“There’s a lot of reasons. There’s a lot of different ways we’ve lost these games,” Rodgers said. “I’ve had some skin on that.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Rodgers stats: QB ends drought with first 300-yard day for Jets