Aaron Rodgers leaves game with injury on first Jets drive vs Bills

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers exited the Week 1 showdown against the Buffalo Bills Monday after suffering an ankle injury on the first offensive drive of the game.

Rodgers went into the blue medical tent after being helped off the field. The 39-year-old was taken back to the locker room on a cart and is out for the remainder of the game, Lisa Salters of ESPN reported. According to Judy Battista of NFL.com, Rodgers is wearing a boot on his left foot. Rodgers underwent x-rays on his ankle which were negative.

The injury occurred after Bills edge rusher Leonard Floyd sacked Rodgers to the ground.

Aaron Rodgers was injured and helped off the field on the first Jets drive vs. the Bills. pic.twitter.com/vtKHRW566V

— ESPN (@espn) September 12, 2023

With Rodgers sidelined, New York has turned to Zach Wilson, its 2021 second overall pick. Wilson has started 22 games over the past two seasons, throwing for 4,022 yards, 15 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. The Jets benched Wilson this past season after poor play, prompting them to acquire the four-time NFL MVP Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers.

But Wilson isn’t what a passionate and capacity crowd at MetLife Stadium came to see. They came to see Rodgers, the supposed savior of the long-suffering franchise. From the moment he made his ascent through the tunnel, Old Glory in hand on the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, you could feel it. This — this was the moment where 54 years of pain would suddenly be forgotten.

That may very well still occur, but for now, it will have to wait.

Jets moving forward without Aaron Rodgers

Head coach Robert Saleh certainly isn’t throwing in the towel, and expressed confidence in his group during a commercial break.

“We still have a helluva group of guys,” Saleh said.

Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari, who protected Rodgers’ blind side for 10 seasons, called out the NFL on Twitter over the amount of players getting hurt across the league playing on artificial turf. With many players picking up injuries after playing at MetLife Stadium over the years, a new and improved synthetic turf was installed ahead of the 2023 season — an effort to decrease the number of injuries that occur at the stadium.

“Congrats @nfl,” Bakhtiari wrote. “How many more players have to get hurt on ARTIFICIAL TURF??! You care more about soccer players than us. You plan to remove all artificial turf for the World Cup coming up. So clearly it’s feasible. I’m sick of this..Do better!”