Aaron Rodgers defends Hackett - 'I'm a believer in the offense' - ESPN

Injured quarterback Aaron Rodgers has witnessed some pretty bad offense from his weekly position on the Jets' sideline, but he doesn't see it as a scheme or playcalling problem.

Rodgers, in his weekly spot Tuesday on «The Pat McAfee Show,» defended offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who has come under fire amid a historically poor performance by the offense.

«Yeah, yeah, I see it,» Rodgers said of the criticism. «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 [Wilson] and Nathaniel, but there's a lot of positions that need to play better.»

The Jets (4-5) have gone 11 straight quarters without a touchdown, covering 36 offensive possessions — the NFL's longest active drought. On Monday, coach Robert Saleh backed Hackett and Wilson, saying he has no plans to replace them.

That Rodgers threw his support to Hackett shouldn't come as a surprise. The two are very close, with Rodgers indicating that Hackett was one of the main reasons why he wanted to play for the Jets. Rodgers won his third and fourth MVPs in 2020 and 2021, when Hackett was the Packers' offensive coordinator under coach Matt LaFleur, who was the playcaller.

In New York, Hackett built his offense around Rodgers, but was forced to reinvent it when the 39-year-old quarterback ruptured his Achilles on the fourth play of the season. The Jets have scored only eight offensive touchdowns with Wilson at the helm.

«It's tough because we're nine games in,» Rodgers said. «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