Rodgers has eyes on big prize

As quarterback returns, Jets are now betting favourites to win AFC East

- DENNIS WASZAK JR.

FLORHAM PARK, N . J . Robert Saleh chuckled as a reporter finished asking a question that was no laughing matter a year ago.

Did the New York Jets head coach think he — and perhaps the rest of the franchise — might exhale a bit when Aaron Rodgers and the offence reach the fifth snap of their season opener against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night?

“Probably,” Saleh said Thursday while looking down and smiling. “Nah, we’re fine.”

Saleh then went to use a popular expression when he apparently realized he didn’t want to jinx anything.

“I’m not even …,” Saleh said with a grin. “If lightning … lightning … never mind.”

The Jets certainly hope lightning never strikes twice. Or, in this case, that the 40-year-old Rodgers plays a whole lot longer than he did last year in his debut with New York when he tore his left Achilles tendon on the fourth snap of the season opener.

“Part of the turning the page was last year coming back to practice,” Rodgers said. “And then the other part was, you know, OTAs and training camp and all that. So I feel ready.”

He’ll take the field in San Francisco on Monday night — against the team he grew up rooting for in northern California, and two days removed from the one-year anniversary of one of his darkest moments.