During his tougher stretches in Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers helped kickstart Packers runs with sound bytes like "R-E-L-A-X" or publicly expressing his team could "run the table."
With his Jets facing a similar struggle during his first healthy year as starter, mired in a four-game losing streak to bring their record to 2-5, Rodgers' newest battle cry involves sounding an avalanche warning.
"We've been in this spot before," Rodgers said Tuesday during his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. "We, meaning myself and some of the guys I've played with. There's the semi-famous R-E-L-A-X statement that was after three weeks going into Week 4 (of the 2014 season) where we turned it around. But people maybe forget about 4-6 in 2016 when we weren't playing well at all, and went though a rough stretch and just got kind of waxed in Tennessee and came back home and we ran the table. Won eight straight and went to the NFC Championship Game, eventually losing to Atlanta. But that was a fun, fun stretch.
"We got hot and we started to believe. The power of belief is a snowball that can start an avalanche. And that's what we need and it starts with me."
Thus far, the only snowballing has been New York's season out of control.
In the wake of the Jets' second defeat of their current losing streak, a 23-17 loss in London to the Minnesota Vikings, owner Woody Johnson fired head coach Robert Saleh and placed defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich in charge in the interim in order to capitalize on a talented roster.
Another loss followed, a 23-20 divisional defeat to the Bills, after which the Jets traded for wide receiver Davante Adams in the lead-up to Week 7's Sunday Night Football game versus the Steelers, reuniting Rodgers with one of his former teammates who has been part of turnarounds with him before.
Only Adams is new to the New York part of the equation, and he looked it as he provided just three catches for 30 yards, adding nothing to the stat sheet in the second half of his Jets debut. And unlike the club's previous three losses, which came by a combined 10-point differential, Gang Green was blown out by Pittsburgh, 37-15, thanks to allowing 31 unanswered.
Rodgers has struggled to find a rhythm coming off his torn Achilles, and after throwing six interceptions in his past three outings is now more than halfway (seven INTs total) to his career-high of 13 picks in a season.
Those turnovers and other miscues have been accompanied by occasional Rodgers glares, whether seemingly at a teammate's effort or his own, but he's committed to reinvigorating the Jets with a "play free" attitude moving forward.
"I feel like we've been loose. We've been having good practices, but for whatever reason there's been a little bit of tightness on game day and that's got to start with me," Rodgers said. "I've got to bring the same energy during the week and lead with that energy. I think there's been some good leadership moments but I need to be a great leader. 鈥 Just doing as much as I can to make sure those guys play free and not worry about making mistakes. When something bad does happen how do we all respond? Myself included? I think we can do that a little better and that starts with me and I'm going to set the tone this week with that."
New York's next opportunity to turn things around comes against the Patriots, who the Jets dominated, 24-3, in their last win back in Week 3. The offense posted a season-high 400 yards against New England and Rodgers enjoyed a season-high 118.9 passer rating, leading many to believe the team was well on its way to becoming a dangerous force in the AFC playoff picture.
Instead, the Jets lost all momentum over the next month of games. To right their season, it'll take another win against the Pats -- this time followed by a flurry of others.
"It's going to be interesting to see how we respond to this," Rodgers said. "We're in the fire for sure, it's been a rough four-game stretch for us. Coming off of a win that had everybody feeling really good about on a Thursday night. We've got to reset and get this thing moving in the right direction starting Sunday at New England."
The Jets and Patriots square off Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
