A person familiar with the diagnosis says New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers has a torn left tendon.
He likely will miss the rest of the season. An MRI on Tuesday confirmed the four-time NFL MVP’s injury, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team didn’t announce it.
Head coach Robert Saleh was scheduled to speak to reporters on a video call later Tuesday.
NFL Network first reported Rodgers tore the Achilles tendon. Zach Wilson replaced Rodgers in Monday night’s game as the Jets defeated the Buffalo Bills 22-16 overtime.
The third-year quarterback will start for the Jets on Sunday at Dallas and the foreseeable future.
“Personally, I don’t hurt for me, I don’t hurt for our locker room,” Saleh said after the game. “I hurt for Aaron and how much he has invested in all of this. I’m going to say a prayer. I’m still going to hold out hope. But my heart’s with Aaron right now, nobody else.”
After a 26-yard run by Breece Hall on the Jets’ opening play, Rodgers threw his first pass away after getting heavy pressure from Greg Rousseau. Rodgers threw incomplete on the next play, but Terrel Bernard was called for defensive holding.
Then, Rodgers tried to avoid a rushing Floyd, who wrapped up the quarterback and took him down to the MetLife Stadium turf. Rodgers appeared to reach down at his leg before trainers attended to him. He stood up after a few moments, but needed help getting to New York’s sideline.
Rodgers was taken to the blue medical tent to be examined — and then sat on a cart. Halfway to the locker room, he hopped off the cart and limped inside.
Crowd silenced
The injury silenced a crowd that had been raucous just minutes earlier, anticipating Rodgers’s Big Apple debut. The Jets haven’t made it to the Super Bowl since Joe Namath won the franchise’s only championship during the 1968 season, and frustrated fans hoped Rodgers’s arrival was the first step to getting back to the big game.
Rodgers jogged onto the field during player introductions with an American flag in hand on the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and received his first official welcome from Jets fans.
With hip-hop artist and actor Method Man announcing Rodgers’ name — accompanied by a laser light show — the quarterback got huge applause.
New York acquired Rodgers, the No. 15 overall pick and a fifth-rounder in this year’s draft from Green Bay on April 26. In exchange, the Packers got the 13th overall selection, a second-rounder, a sixth-rounder and a conditional 2024 second-round pick that could become a first-rounder if Rodgers plays 65 per cent of New York’s plays this season — a scenario that now appears highly unlikely.
Rodgers, who spent his first 18 seasons with Green Bay, raised expectations for the Jets and their fan base when he said he expects to win in New York and pointed out during his introductory news conference that the team’s only Super Bowl trophy looks “lonely.”
If healthy, he would give the Jets their most accomplished quarterback since Brett Favre, who was acquired from Green Bay in 2008 — clearing the way for Rodgers to become the Packers’ signal caller.
Rodgers, who has repeatedly said he won’t be one-and-done with the Jets, agreed in July to a restructured contract that gives him $75 million US in fully guaranteed money over this season and next. It amounts to a nearly $35 million pay cut from the deal he had with Green Bay in which he was set to make $110 million guaranteed.
OTTAWA – American receiver Justin Hardy will miss the Ottawa Redblacks’ regular-season finale Friday.
Hardy, who leads the CFL in receptions (97) and is second in receiving yards (1,343), was listed off Ottawa’s depth chart Thursday. Hardy was named Wednesday as the Redblacks’ nominee for the league’s outstanding player award.
American Andrew Miller will start in Hardy’s place.
Ottawa (8-7-1) concludes its regular season hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (7-10). The Redblacks have already clinched third in the East and will visit the Toronto Argonauts (10-7) in the division semifinal Nov. 2.
Hamilton has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Incumbent Dru Brown is listed as Ottawa’s starting quarterback.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) — AC Milan’s weekend match at Bologna in Italy’s top soccer league has been postponed, Bologna officials announced Thursday following extensive flooding in the central Italian city.
The Serie A match had been scheduled for Saturday.
Bologna is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region, large parts of which have been hard hit by torrential rains and bad weather for days.
The game was not immediately rescheduled.
“Following the flood that affected Bologna, intense work is underway to clean up the situation,” the city of Bologna said while announcing the game postponement on X.
BASEL, Switzerland – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov advanced to the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Roberto Bautista Agut on Thursday.
Shapovalov used a strong service game to overcome the Spanish veteran for the win at the ATP 500 event in just under one hour 40 minutes.
The 25-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., fired 18 aces, including one to set up match point in the second-set tiebreaker, and won 79 per cent of first-serves and 63 per cent of second-serve points.
Shapovalov, a former top-10 player on the ATP Tour, entered this year’s Swiss Indoors ranked 95th and will appear in just his second quarterfinal of the season.
He improved to 3-0 against Bautista Agut, who he beat in July en route to a quarterfinal appearance in Washington.
Shapovalov will next face the winner of a match scheduled for later Thursday between defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
