Are Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams the WR duo Aaron Rodgers needs in sunset of his career? Jets are starting to find out

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.Y. — Facing third-and-19, down three points early in the fourth quarter, Aaron Rodgers made a decision.

If the weak-side safety dropped down, the New York Jets quarterback would give Garrett Wilson a chance.

So Rodgers dropped back and sailed a pass 47 air yards to his receiver who would ultimately be just 0.8 yards away from the defender, per Next Gen Stats.

Wilson extended his right arm while airborne so spectacularly that his teammates would soon hurry to compare him to Michael Jordan’s JumpMan, or Odell Beckham Jr.’s famous one-handed catch in the same stadium, or both.

As Wilson brought his left hand forward to secure the ball, his left foot hit the end zone, his right foot still well above his hips. The Jets’ 2022 first-round pick fell on his left side, hesitant to celebrate as he wondered whether he’d conformed to the sometimes seemingly shifting NFL definition of a catch.

Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich challenged the ruling of an incomplete pass.

“Just for the sake of posterity, you have to say that is in,” Ulbrich told the official in half-jest. “Just so it goes down in history.”

Posterity alone, it turned out, was not needed. Replay confirmed Wilson’s left shin hit the end zone.

Rodgers to Wilson, 26 yards, touchdown.

“A game-changing play,” Rodgers said.

The foibles of the first half faded in their memories as the momentum of a star athlete making a crunch-time play swept through the sideline. For the first time in more than three quarters, the Jets had the lead.

The Jets beat the Houston Texans 21-13 on Thursday night to snap a five-game losing streak and secure their first win in four tries during Ulbrich’s tenure.

They improved to 3-6 to stay alive in the playoff race, finding an offensive rhythm unlike what the franchise had seen in a season and a half of the Rodgers era.

A MetLife Stadium crowd that booed and jeered heavily in the first half erupted in J-E-T-S chants as the night elapsed. A home locker room that had fallen silent after a prime-time loss to the Buffalo Bills earlier this month now cranked up the speakers as they swapped dejected looks for smiles and confusion for confidence.

One win over a productive but shaky Texans team is not the Jets’ ultimate goal. But winning needed to start somewhere, and even Rodgers admitted how daunting another loss would have felt.

“It was kind of season on the line there in the second half,” Rodgers said. “Obviously, we wouldn’t have been mathematically eliminated. But mentally, to go to 2-7 would have been real, real tough. Hopefully this gives us confidence so we can beat anybody because we feel we could. The way we played on offense in the second half is the way we’ve been waiting for this offense to wake up.

“That was close to perfection as I needed to be. That’s the standard I need to play at. There were a lot of really incredible performances.”

At halftime, all of that was in doubt.

After Rodgers struggled mightily in first half, Jets were on precipice

Rodgers didn’t sugarcoat his 7-of-14 pass attempts for 32 yards before halftime.

On the first play of the game, Rodgers badly missed his longtime friend and receiver Davante Adams. Rodgers aimed toward Adams on a hitch-and-go, instead sailing the pass out of bounds.

Soon after, Rodgers threw to Adams and he wasn’t looking.

This wasn’t the chemistry that two players nine years (albeit not consecutively) into their partnership expected. This wasn’t the caliber of play that a four-time MVP quarterback and a six-time Pro Bowl receiver planned to deliver.

Rodgers joked with Adams that they were “even” after each wrecking a play.

“Although we really weren’t because, God, the first one was so bad,” Rodgers said. “I played about as bad as I could in the first half and knew it had to get better from there. … I mean, I was terrible.”

Rodgers was in good company playing badly, as multiple receivers dropped passes from him and running back Breece Hall fumbled (the Jets recovered). Rookie receiver Malachi Corley nearly scored a 19-yard touchdown on a jet sweep before replay review revealed that Corley’s celebratory drop of the ball just before crossing the plane and thus was a touchback rather than a touchdown.

Add in Jets defenders missing tackles and special teams gifting the Texans a first down after roughing the kicker, and Jets fans had reasons beyond Halloween to be spooked.

Thomas Morstead’s 75-yard punt to the two-yard line was the Jets’ first-half highlight.

But the Jets had told themselves: Adversity was going to come. How will we respond?

For the first time in six weeks, they found answers.

After two quarters featuring five punts and a fumble, the Jets scored touchdowns on three straight drives to close the game out.

Hall continued to find rhythm. But this time, Rodgers did, too.

That seven-of-14, 32-yard first half turned into a 15-of-18, 179-yard and three-touchdown second half.

Wilson’s acrobatic JumpMan was his second integral touchdown, his first a 21-yard touchdown on the initial drive after halftime that the Jets knew could dictate their momentum.

Wilson ran a drag route and saw Rodgers spying him “last second.”

Texans safety Jalen Pitre jumped for the ball and fell, clearing the path for Wilson to power another one-handed grab 14 more yards to the end zone.

The Jets defense continued to capitalize on a porous Houston offensive line, holding them to a field goal, clearing the Jets’ way to finally take a lead.

But then Rodgers and Wilson were one yard short on third down.

So Rodgers trusted Adams 17 yards down the left sideline and fourth-and-1 melted into the continuation of a drive.

This one Wilson would finish.

And facing third-and-3, up four points with 3:02 to go, Rodgers would find Adams in stride for a 37-yard touchdown.

The receiver’s first score as a Jet (after he left for a neurological evaluation, then was cleared to return) gave New York the cushion to win.

What’s next for Jets team trying to stop the spiral?

The stakes of this Jets win are complicated.

There are implications for the team, broadly, five days before the trade deadline. And there are implications for Rodgers, specifically, roughly one month before he turns 41.

The Jets’ initial season expectations are still far from reach. The 6-2 Buffalo Bills are still 3.5 games ahead of the Jets in the division, the Miami Dolphins only half a game back from New York.

The Athletic’s playoff predictor pegs the Jets’ chance to make the playoffs at 17%.

And yet, only one of the Jets’ eight remaining regular-season opponents enters this weekend above .500. If the Jets do find their stride, and a slew of injured players get healthy over the 10-day stretch they have now and the bye two weeks later, it’s not impossible to envision a talented roster rallying.

Expect the team’s record, and their approach, to influence Ulbrich’s chance at coaching a group of players that respect him highly into 2025.

Rodgers, meanwhile, will need to determine how much longer he wants to play and can.

Against the Patriots last week and in the first half Thursday, he looked his 40 years old. The cayenne pepper-and-water concoction that he called his “fountain of youth” did not work in quarters one and two.

But Rodgers was more spry in the second half, his decision-making and accuracy also sharper. He scrambled emphatically on a red-zone play that was ultimately called back for a penalty but nonetheless energized him.

“It was third down, I looked halfway athletic, I didn’t hurt myself in the process,” Rodgers said.

Then he got reflective.

“I wanted to bring the joy and the passion to the game,” Rodgers said. “This has been a frustrating season at times. But I love this game. This game has done everything for me. And a little perspective, a little gratitude tonight.

“A little bit of extra passion in the second half.”

Could that extra passion carry through the second half of the season? The Jets will hope so.

Rodgers did not expound when asked whether these next eight games could be his last as a pro.

Does he think about that?

“No,” he said after a pause and smile.

For now, the Jets and the quarterback bet that has edged closer to a loss will savor the franchise’s first win in a long time.

The high-priced quarterback, receiver and edge rusher New York acquired in the last 18 months contributed meaningfully to this win.

Players felt like they were starting to understand the culture they hoped to forge, even if they wish it had materialized sooner.

“Bottle up that feeling that we have and take that,” Adams said. “Not the feeling of being high off of a win; the feeling of what it feels like to execute and to be clicking and be on the same page.”

Wilson, still processing his highlight-reel catch, agreed.

“We definitely just wanted to get back in the win column,” he said. “Losing five straight feels how you would expect. It doesn’t feel good. We’re better than that, most importantly, and it was time to go prove it.

“We want to start our run. And the only way to do that is to win one.”