SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The Super Bowl hopes for the New York Jets last season essentially ended after just four plays when prized offseason addition Aaron Rodgers went down with a season-ending Achilles tendon injury.
The heartbreak for the San Francisco 49ers came on the final play of the season, when they allowed a touchdown pass by Patrick Mahomes in overtime to lose the Super Bowl.
While the 2023 season couldn’t have been much more different for the Jets and 49ers, they head into the opener of this season on Monday night as two of the teams with the best odds to win the title that has eluded both franchises for decades.
The Jets come into the season with the longest active playoff drought in the NFL, having not made the postseason since 2010. The Niners have come as close as possible in recent years, only to fall short.
They blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl in the 2019 season to Kansas City. They lost back-to-back NFC title games to the Rams and Philadelphia in 2021-22 and then another Super Bowl to Mahomes and the Chiefs last season.
That takes a toll on players physically with all of the extra games and emotionally with the disappointment of not delivering the franchise’s first championship since the 1994 season.
“We’ve all just been there,” quarterback Brock Purdy said. “We’ve tasted it. Obviously, the Super Bowl, it’s a couple plays away from literally being Super Bowl champions. The year before that, NFC championship. The year before that, NFC championship. So we have guys in this locker room that tasted it and they want it. Coming back, it was a heartbreak losing that Super Bowl and the way we did it, the overtime, all that. How badly we want it for this fan base and this organization, we want it.”
The Jets haven’t won it all since Joe Namath ran off the field holding up one finger to symbolize the title that came following the 1968 season and is one of the few highlights for a franchise full of disappointment.
Rodgers was supposed to change all of that when he arrived from Green Bay before last season but never really got a chance. Now the Jets are hoping a healthy Rodgers behind an improved offensive line can team with what has been one of the league’s top defenses to change New York’s fortunes.
“I mean he’s one of the best, and he’s playing really well,” coach Robert Saleh said. “I’ve said it, his arm is still 30 and he still has plenty of mobility to be able to create off-schedule, which is the hallmark of his game. I’m just excited for this entire group. Every year is a new year. There’s always going to be new people. Even the same people have renewed mindsets, and I feel like this entire team, this entire organization has a renewed mindset.”
Dynamic backs
The offenses for both teams rely heavily on dual-threat running backs in New York’s Breece Hall and San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey. Hall calls McCaffrey “ the standard ” after he led the NFL in yards rushing and yards from scrimmage and was tied for the lead with 21 TDs last season on the way to winning AP Offensive Player of the Year.
Hall isn’t far behind. He bounced back from a knee injury that cut short his rookie season in 2022 to have 76 catches last season and 994 yards rushing. Now he wants to prove he belongs up there with the top backs like McCaffrey.
Contract disputes
Contract disputes were a cloud over both teams during training camp. San Francisco solved its issues by signing star receiver Brandon Aiyuk and All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams to deals that got both back on the practice field in time to play the opener.
“There’s a bunch of energy in the building. It’s tight,” receiver Jauan Jennings said about getting the two stars back. “To have our team back means everything and now we’re locked and loaded.”
The Jets still are working to get a deal done with offseason trade acquisition Haason Reddick, who has refused to practice with New York as he seeks a new contract, dealing a blow to New York’s pass rush.
Saleh’s return
Saleh is downplaying the meaning of his return to the Bay Area, where he served as defensive coordinator under Kyle Shanahan on the 49ers for four seasons before getting hired by the Jets,
Saleh helped install the defensive philosophy still in place in San Francisco after helping the team reach the Super Bowl in the 2019 season. Now he looks forward to the test of playing against a top opponent.
“To be able to go out to their place on Monday night is a pretty cool opportunity for our guys to go compete against one of the best teams in the league,” he said.
Floyd vs. Rodgers
New Niners defensive end Leonard Floyd has a long history against Rodgers that includes personal success, team disappointment and the memorable sack that ended Rodgers’ season after four plays in 2023.
Floyd will square off against Rodgers for the 11th time in his career, with seven of those coming when Floyd played in Chicago and Rodgers in Green Bay. Floyd has sacked Rodgers 10 times — third most of any player — but was on the losing end in nine of those games.
That includes the opener last season, when Floyd’s sack of Rodgers led to the season-ending torn Achilles tendon in the Jets’ 22-16 overtime win over Buffalo.
“It was just a regular football play for me, a regular sack on the quarterback,” Floyd said. “He just happened to get hurt.”
___
AP Pro Football Writer Dennis Waszak Jr. contributed to this report.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
