Aaron Rodgers comes in support of OC Nathaniel Hackett over Jets’ offensive blunders amid recent criticism despite showing frustration on his play calls during SNF

OC Hackett is one of the reasons why quarterback Aaron Rodgers joined New York Jets.

Aaron Rodgers comes in support of OC Nathaniel Hackett over Jets’ offensive blunders amid recent criticism despite showing frustration on his play calls during SNF

Nathaniel Hackett and Aaron Rodgers (Via Sportsnet/NBC Sports)

As quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been sidelined due to his injury, he has caught sight of some pretty bad offenses of his team, the New York Jets, in recent times. Ironically, the quarterback doesn’t think of it as poor play calling. Directing to a reason why he came forward to defend Nathaniel Hackett.

Amidst the recent criticism towards the offensive coordinator of the Jets for the poor performance by the team’s offense, Rodgers spoke on the matter in his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”

YouTube video

Rodgers said:

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I won MVP twice in the same offense, so I'm a believer. I'm a believer in the offense. There are a lot of positions, you have to play better. But, yeah, it's easy right now to throw it at the usual suspects, Zach and Nathaniel, but there's a lot of positions that need to play better.

This season, the Jets have recorded the longest active touchdown drought in the NFL, as they haven’t had a touchdown for 11 consecutive games. In that light, when the rumour of Hackett and Wilson getting put back started spinning, coach Robert Saleh quickly abolished it announcing he would not replace them. And now as Rodgers has come in support of Hackett, feels like there isn’t an actual issue with the team’s offense.

Since Rodgers got injured, the Jets have scored merely eight offensive touchdowns led by Wilson. In that matter, the quarterback said:

It's tough because we're nine games in. I think a lot of the issues that we're having are ones that we've had for a lot of the season. We're not being efficient in the red zone, not being opportunistic on third down. We're very low in both those categories.

The 49-year-old believes the poor performance of the Jets’ offense is because of the players, not the coaches. Though he didn’t mention any player by name in that matter, except for left tackle Mekhi Becton, whom he thinks could have made a better block on his failed third-and-1 conversion against the Raiders in the 16-12 loss.

Aaron Rodgers and Nathaniel Hackett’s friendship

It’s no surprise that the quarterback Rodgers is supporting the offensive coordinator, Hackett, despite the criticism he faced recently. The two have always been very close to each other. In fact, when Rodgers was joining the Jets, he indicated that the main reason was his old friend Hackett.

Aaron Rodgers with Nathaniel Hackett
Aaron Rodgers with Nathaniel Hackett (Via Yahoo Sports)

The two became close when Rodgers was with the Green Bay Packers and Hackett was the offensive coordinator with Matt LaFleur as the head coach there. Under him, the QB won two MVP titles — his third and fourth in 2020 and 2021.

When Rodgers joined the Jets, Hackett was very positive and built the entire offense around the quarterback. But when he got injured due to rupturing his Achilles on the fourth play, he had to leave the season in the middle and Zach Wilson had to take his place.

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