Aaron Rodgers remained tight-lipped after the Jets’ loss to the Cardinals

GLENDALE, Ariz. — In explaining the New York Jets’ most lopsided loss of the season — and their unfortunate season overall — a visibly frustrated Aaron Rodgers was brief.

As did most of his passes in Sunday’s 31-6 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium.

Rodgers, who was 3-7 for the first time in his 20-year career, admittedly held back his emotions as he stood at the podium after one of his worst statistical performances ever.

“There were definitely a lot of emotions this year,” he said.

When asked to elaborate, Rodgers said, “I won’t do that.”

Why not?

“Lots of different emotions,” he said. “It’s a complex answer, but now is neither the time nor the place to address it. But someday I’ll give you a better answer.”

Rodgers, who viewed the Jets as a Super Bowl contender, has endured one of the most disappointing seasons in recent franchise history. Even though the Jets are not mathematically eliminated from postseason contention, their 14th non-playoff season in a row is all but certain.

The Jets traded for Rodgers last year to make them winners, but the plan fell through. Wide receiver Davante Adams, his close friend, said he was trying to “work with him.” [Rodgers] to make sure he stays on top of things as much as possible because it’s difficult. If Michael Jordan was on this team, he wouldn’t be happy.

The embarrassing loss certainly wasn’t Rodgers’ fault – the defense missed 20 tackles, according to Next Gen Stats – but his lack of production against the 24th-ranked pass defense was alarming.

Rodgers (22:35) rushed for a season-low 151 yards and completed only one pass that traveled more than 10 yards through the air. His 4.3 yards per attempt was his worst mark in any start with multiple pass attempts since 2019; it was the fourth lowest value of his career. His longest completion was just 15 yards, a dump-off to running back Breece Hall. This was one of only four games this season in which a team had no plays of at least 16 yards.

At times he seemed hesitant to pull the trigger on downfield throws. He only attempted two passes over 20 yards, both incomplete.

“We had a few chances,” Rodgers said. “I missed the spot a few times. I don’t think we handled the noise and empty pressure they brought with them very well.”

The worst sequence occurred on the Jets’ first drive of the third quarter. They had a second-and-goal from the Arizona 3-yard line and Rodgers threw three straight incomplete passes. On one of them, he missed tight end Tyler Conklin, who was open in the end zone.

Rodgers targeted Adams 13 times in the game, but they only scored six times for 31 yards. The reunion between Rodgers and Adams was supposed to provide impetus for the offense, but they have failed to recreate the incredible chemistry they had with the Green Bay Packers.

Afterwards, both players complained about a lack of energy in the team – a bugbear that came to the surface a few weeks ago.

“I thought after a big win on Thursday night, a nice long week, we were going to come out with a lot of energy and win the game, but we didn’t show a lot of energy on either side of the ball,” he told Rodgers, who averaged just 226 yards per game game creates.

Wide receiver Garrett Wilson said: “[The] The energy isn’t there because we play like we’re playing trash. So that’s how I see it.”

The once-potent defense was the main culprit, as the Cardinals opened the game with five consecutive scoring drives – including touchdown drives of 70, 70, 70 and 88 yards. Quarterback Kyler Murray completed 22 of 24 passes for 266 yards, including a franchise-record 17 consecutive completions to end the game.

The most glaring error came in the second quarter, when the Cardinals still led 14-6. Cornerback Sauce Gardner missed a tackle on tight end Trey McBride on a third-down play. Instead of punting, Arizona marched to a touchdown to make it 21-6.

“I have to make that tackle,” Gardner said several times.

Jeff Ulbrich, who fell to 1-4 as interim coach, took the pressure on his players.

“We haven’t even come close to our standard and that’s 100 percent on me,” he said. “I didn’t prepare these guys well enough.”

Ulbrich said he was searching inside himself for answers because “something wasn’t right.” He didn’t question the effort or the physicality, just the execution. In fact, the Jets were outscored by a margin of 2 to 1 – 406 to 207.

Afterwards, Rodgers didn’t want to engage in a discussion about the state of the franchise. He attributed the poor performance to poor situational football.

“We were just really bad,” he said.