Aaron Rodgers didn’t let New York Jets rookie wide receiver Malachi Corley’s botched touchdown attempt define the night against the Houston Texans.
Rogers didn’t leave Corley off the hook, either, after a 21–13 victory on Thursday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Corley dropped the ball short of the end zone in the first half, which left the game at 0–0 before the Texans (6–3) grabbed a 7–0 halftime lead.
“I said we need to score 28–30 points,” Rodgers told the Thursday Night Football crew afterward. “Tonight, I’m counting 28. We scored 21, and we had another ... at the goal line.”
Corley made headlines and ended up all over social media after he fell short of his first career touchdown on a 19-yard end-around, but the Jets (3–6) shook things off in the second half. That’s despite no points in the first half, a viral blunder, and the danger of a 2–7 record on the horizon.
“But I feel like the energy was good at halftime,” Rodgers told reporters afterward. “We all kind of were positive talking. Nobody was isolating at halftime. And we just knew, hey, let’s go out and score every possession.”
Rodgers started things off with a 21-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Garrett Wilson, who grabbed it one-handed and threaded it through the Texans’ defense. Wilson finished with nine catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns.
His second touchdown impressed all the more as Rodgers scrambled on third-and-19 before throwing it 26 yards for a touchdown. Wilson again grabbed it one-handed, and he did it with his back to the ball before he made the turn just in time.
“When it was third-and-extra-long, I was looking at the weak side safety, and I was like, if he drops down at all, just gonna say, screw it, I’m going to throw it up to G,” Rodgers said. “I felt like I put it in a decent spot. But, yeah, I didn’t do a whole lot when it comes down to it. I just kind of lobbed one up there. He made an unbelievable catch.
“When I saw the replay, it looked like he had knee in, so I thought, shoot, throw the challenge flag. Brick [interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich] was already in front of me throwing it. But that was a huge play. First one was a huge play as well. But what was it third-and-20? Yeah. I mean, that’s game-changing play.”
Rodgers added a third touchdown to a longtime teammate and receiver, Davante Adams, down the sideline for a 37-yard score with 2:56 remaining. The two once connected regularly for touchdowns with the Green Bay Packers from 2014 to 2021.
Rodgers told reporters that he went over to Ulbrich and said, “That one was for you, buddy,” after the Adams touchdown. It marked the first win for Ulbrich after he took over for former head coach Robert Saleh, whom the Jets fired after Week 5.
The duo connected on 69 touchdowns together in Green Bay before a trade sent Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022. Rodgers left the Packers via a trade to the Jets in 2023, and the team added Adams two weeks ago via a trade with the Raiders.
Adams finished with 91 yards on seven receptions, and Rodgers went 22–32 for 211 yards and three touchdowns on Thursday.
