New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh and four-time NFL MVP Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers are in direct conflict after the two had differing reactions to New York's penalty issues in its 10-9 home loss against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
The Jets were called for an NFL-high 13 penalties during their Week 4 defeat that ran their record to 2-2 on the 2024 season, and eight of those infractions were on Rodgers' offense. Those eight offensive penalties were the second-most committed by an offense in Week 4, ahead of only the Houston Texans' nine. Five of those penalties came on offensive false starts that Saleh attributed to his four-time NFL MVP quarterback's hard count, pre-snap cadence. Two were called on left guard John Simpson, another two were called on running back Breece Hall, and one was called on eight-time Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith.
"We got to figure it out," Saleh said postgame. "Whether or not we're good enough to handle or ready enough to handle all the cadence. Cadence had not been an issue all camp. Felt like our operation had been operating pretty good. Obviously today took a major step back."
One of Simpson's false starts may have heavily impacted the result of Sunday's game. The Jets were facing fourth-and-goal one yard from the end zone early in the second quarter before Simpson was whistled for a false start infraction. That caused New York to kick a field goal from Denver's six, a 23-yarder that put the Jets ahead 3-0, instead of attempting to score a touchdown from a yard away. Rodgers bristled at his postgame press conference when told of Saleh's thoughts on the false starts, saying the head coach could also hold his teammates accountable for their mistakes.
"That's one way to do it. The other way is to hold them accountable," Rodgers said postgame when told Saleh suggested dialing back the quarterback's hard count. "We haven't had an issue. We've only had one false start. [Right tackle] Morgan had one false start I believe until this. You know it's been a weapon. We use it every day in practice. We rarely have a false start. To have five today it seemed like, four or five. Yeah, it seems like an outlier. I don't know if we need to make mass changes based on kind of an outlier game."
New York was called for only eight offensive penalties in Weeks 1-3, tied for the 10th-fewest in the league. Rodgers' outlier point was correct: only one of those eight offensive penalties in Weeks 1-3 was a false start, which was called on right tackle Morgan Moses in the Jets' 24-3 home win on "Thursday Night Football" in Week 3. There weren't any false starts called on New York in either of the team's road games this season in Week 1 at the San Francisco 49ers or in Week 2 at the Tennessee Titans. The Jets had a chance to win late Sunday against the Broncos, but kicker Greg Zuerlein missed a 50-yard, go-ahead field goal with 51 seconds left.
All-Pros back Rodgers on false start "issue" surrounding his patented hard count
Unsurprisingly, past and present All-Pro players side with Rodgers on this issue, agreeing with the future Hall of Fame quarterback that his hard count is indeed a weapon. Retired five-time first-team All-Pro linebacker Luke Kuechly, who was also the 2013 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the 2010's NFL All-Decade Team along with Rodgers, said he would "love" if he had to face Rodgers with his patented hard count dialed back. Kuechly went 2-2 against Rodgers' Green Bay Packers in his eight-year NFL career from 2012 to 2019, all with the Carolina Panthers. He recorded 25 total tackles in those matchups but no sacks, quarterback pressures, forced fumbles, fumbles recovered or interceptions. Rodgers was able to limit the disruptive inside linebacker's impact, in part by keeping he and his teammates guessing with his hard count.
"He nailed it: 'my hard count is a weapon,'" Kuechly said of Rodgers on Monday on an appearance on "Up and Adams" with Kay Adams. "The amount of big plays, go ask (retired Packers wide receiver) Jordy Nelson. 'Hey Jordy, do you think the hard count that Aaron Rodgers has is effective?' He would say, 'Yeah, I got paid a lot of money on go balls that Aaron threw me after a defensive lineman jumped offsides.' So, I've played against Aaron Rodgers' hard count and talked about it before. I think it's really effective. ... I would love if I played an Aaron Rodgers team if they went on one every time, especially on third down. I would love that."
Kay Adams did one better and instead of asking Nelson, whose 65 receiving touchdowns from Rodgers are the second-most from Rodgers to a single target, she dialed up Las Vegas Raiders three-time first-team All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams. His 68 receiving touchdowns from Rodgers when the two were together in Green Bay are the most the quarterback has thrown to a single target in his entire career.
"Aaron is all about the attention to detail," Adams said Tuesday morning. "So, snap count, that's attention to detail. You got to be locked in on something like that. We always talked about in Green Bay 'that the play is hard enough to win on its own, so let's not lose it pre-snap.' ... At least let's get our pre-snap operation smooth.' Everybody hears the same snap count in the huddle, so there's really no excuse for one of these things. Holding people accountable, I agree (with Rodgers). Sometimes that's what you have to do versus run from it. Have certain consequences if guys can't get right."
Adams pointed to having a culture of accountability as a reason why the Packers became the first team in NFL history to win at least 13 games in three consecutive seasons from 2019-2021. Those were Adams' last three seasons in Green Bay and head coach Matt LaFleur's first three seasons with the Packers.
"That's the winning culture that we had in Green Bay. That's why we had so many successful years," Adams said. "Obviously we didn't win a Super Bowl, which sucked. But my last three years there, 13 games (won) three years in a row that doesn't happen on accident. You got to be detailed and demand the most from your team."
Perhaps Adams and Rodgers will be teammates once again, but in New York as Jets under Saleh, with Adams requesting a trade Tuesday afternoon.