From Aaron Rodgers’s devastating injury and this season’s early takeaways to even entertainment headlines such as “Traylor” (Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift), this NFL season has certainly been a unique one for the ages. There is a lot to unpack, and iUP students such as iHoot’s Sports Section Editor Danny Hall will be providing their input on these recent developments.
Aaron’s Achilles Agony
After just 4 snaps into the first game of the season and $37.5 million dollars in guaranteed money for the season, superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a likely season-ending injury during a Monday Night Football game against the Bills (Reardon). This devastating injury shocked both players and fans hoping to see the All-Star finally play for the New York Jets. The rupture will no doubt have a massive impact on the Jet’s performance this season (Cimini).
Rodgers’s Replacement
Replacing Rodgers as starting quarterback for the New York Jets is Zach Wilson. As he enters his third season of professional football, Zach Wilson faces more pressure to live up to Rodgers’s hype and to carry the Jets to a successful season. Although Zach Wilson has proven to be quite unsuccessful in the last two seasons, Zach Wilson was able to turn around the game of Rodgers’s injury and score a win for his team. After a strong start of the year against the Buffalo Bills, the Jets failed to win the next three games, giving them a disappointing record of 1-3 while also leaving them last in their league.
Sunday Surprises
Aside from Rodger’s fiasco, now that we are 4 weeks into the season, we are beginning to get a sense of what the season is going to look like for many NFL teams. To start, both Texas native teams are doing much better than what fans have expected as Texans have universally impressed the football community with their new Rookie Quarterback, C.J. Stroud. Some other surprises include the only two undefeated teams being the 49ers and Eagles, both under strong leadership from their young quarterbacks.
Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift (Traylor)
A match made in PR heaven, ever since these football and entertainment stars have gotten together, the world has been in a frenzy and the NFL has profited. According to the recent viewership statistics from NBC Sports and sourced from ESPN, the Chief’s most recent game “was the most watched Sunday show since the Super Bowl with an average of 27 million TV viewers” (NFL Defends Swift-Kelce). Not only this but during the broadcast, Taylor Swift was able to run ads for her Era Tour concert film (coincidence, I think not). The effect of this pop-culture crossover continues to have its ripples, Chiefs Jersey sales are also at an all-time high.
iUPrep’s Ingenious Input: Sports Editor, Danny Hall, Speaks
- What do you think about Aaron Rodgers’s potentially season-ending injury this early into the football year?
It’s definitely a sad sight to see Aaron Rodgers go down with a potentially season-ending injury, especially so early into the season. I mean, Rodgers didn’t even get to play a full game with the Jets, and because of this injury, he could miss out on an entire season of football for the team he joined just this offseason, which really is a worst-case scenario for Jets fans and for NFL fans in general.
- Do you think that Zach Wilson will be able to lead the Jets to the playoffs and why?
Although it wouldn’t be smart to fully write off Zach Wilson immediately, I have huge doubts he could lead the Jets to the playoffs. So far in his NFL career, he hasn’t fully lived up to expectations and now that he has to fill in the gap left by Aaron Rodgers, there’s only going to be even more pressure on Zach Wilson’s shoulders, which will most certainly make things way more difficult than they should be.
- What are your thoughts on the NFL season so far? What teams have surprised you?
So far, this NFL season has lived up to expectations, and even brought along a ton of surprises, which I think is great. The team that has surprised me the most would have to be the Houston Texans, who I did not expect to have a 2-2 record at the beginning of this season. CJ Stroud has been doing great things so far this season for the Texans and I can’t wait to see what more this Texans team can do. Along with that, another team that has surprised me, specifically with how underwhelming they’ve been so far this season would have to be the Cincinnati Bengals, who are currently 4th in the NFC North with a 1-3 record. Joe Burrow, despite having gotten a new contract that will have him making an insane amount of money, has just not been performing to the standard that he should be performing, and the whole team in general has just been disappointing.
- What is your opinion regarding the whole “Traylor” situation?
I think that the NFL is making a smart move by marketing Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s relationship the way that they have. Taylor Swift has a massive fanbase, and by reaching out to them, the NFL is getting more and more fans on board that can see them making more money. From a purely marketing standpoint, the NFL is doing some incredible work, and the trend of more Taylor Swift fans becoming NFL fans proves it. Because of this, I don’t believe that the NFL is going overboard on its “Traylor” coverage, contrary to what many others have said, because viewing this all from a different perspective can make the league’s motivations much clearer.
Conclusion
The first 4 weeks of an NFL season could have never been so eventful, including upsets, injuries, and popstars. Aaron Rogers’s Achilles tear will no doubt greatly affect the Jet’s performance as the team now relies on backup quarterback Zach Wilson to carry on the team. As further sports news develops students and fans can only bear witness from the edge of their seats.
Works Cited:
Cimini, R. (2023, October 3). What’s ahead for Aaron Rodgers in comeback from an achilles tear. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/38507173/ahead-new-york-jets-aaron-rodgers-comeback-achilles-tear
Reardon, L. (2023, September 12). How does Aaron Rodgers’ season-ending injury impact his jets contract? here’s a breakdown. NBC Sports Chicago. https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/nfl/how-does-aaron-rodgers-season-ending-injury-impact-his-jets-contract-heres-a-breakdown/506346/#:~:text=He%20wanted%20to%20give%20the,according%20to%20Over%20the%20Cap.
ESPN Internet Ventures. (2023, October 5). NFL defends focus on Swift-Kelce “Pop Cultural Moment.” ESPN. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/38568388/nfl-defends-focus-swift-kelce-pop-cultural-moment
