New year, new regime, same old Jets.
Despite an overwhelming number of positives, especially from the Justin Fields-led offense, Gang Green is left to deal with another brutal loss to start their 2025 season. They blew a 26-17 lead entering the fourth quarter and yielded 17 points in the last 12 minutes to fall 34-32 to their former quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Exciting game, but I am not into moral victories,” head coach Aaron Glenn said after his Jets debut. “It was back-and-forth, a lot of fight.”
With the Jets (0-1) nursing a one-point lead in the final minutes, veteran kicker Chris Boswell nailed a 60-yard field goal with 1:03 left in regulation to lift the visitors ahead for good.
This came after a 14-point swing that got the Steelers back in the game and even put them in the lead. Down by nine, Rodgers hit running back Jaylen Warren for a five-yard score on the first play of the final stanza to make it a two-point game.
On the ensuing kick-off, New York’s Xavier Gipson fumbled the return, gifting the Steelers possession on the 22-yard line. Two players later, they were up 31-26 after Rodgers hooked up with Calvin Austin for an 18-yard score.
“We can’t have turnovers. We can’t do it,” Glenn said. “We have to be a more disciplined team… that’s something that will be addressed because you will not be on the field with this team if you cause us to lose games, if you cause issues like this.”
Rodgers, who got the last laugh on first-year head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey after they decided to part ways with him in March, threw for four touchdowns on 22 of 30 passing for 244 yards.
“I was happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets,” Rodgers said curtly after the game.
He outdueled Fields, the former Steelers quarterback, who was strong in his Jets debut, completing 16 of 22 attempts for 218 yards and three total touchdowns — though the New York attack expectedly leaned on a running game that arrived as advertised.
Breece Hall rushed for 107 yards on 19 carries, while Gang Green combined to post 182 yards on the ground in the loss. Last season, the Jets rushed for 140 yards just once.
“We played well, we ran the ball well,” Fields said. “As a team, I think we’re keeping each other in the fight.”
Defense was at a premium in the first half, as the two teams scored on each of their first five drives and seven of nine possessions overall in the opening 30 minutes.
A field goal on the Jets’ opening drive was canceled out by Rodgers’ first touchdown of the day, a 22-yard score to Ben Skowronek. Fields punched right back with a 33-yard strike to Garrett Wilson.
Following Boswell’s first field goal of the day, Fields led a second straight touchdown drive — a seven-play march that ended with running back Braelon Allen surging up the middle for an eight-yard score.
A Nick Folk field goal made it 19-10 with 2:54 left in the half, but Rodgers bolted down the field to make it a two-point game, going 65 yards in 2:22, ending with a three-yard pass to Jonnu Smith. The Jets re-established a nine-point cushion following three punts to start the second half, with Fields keeping it himself for a two-yard score on a 4th-&-goal with just under four minutes left in the third.
But for as good as the Jets looked at times, they now have to wear the fact that they lost to their former quarterback in the same demoralizing fashion that had plagued them plenty under previous regimes.
