Aaron Rodgers didn’t spell out R-E-L-A-X the way he once did while leading a different team facing some adversity.
But he did deliver a similar message to his Jets teammates in the immediate aftermath of their 32-19 season-opening loss to the 49ers on Monday night.
Before everyone showered, dressed and boarded the team buses, Rodgers stood before his teammates inside the Levi’s Stadium visitor’s locker room and offered words of encouragement in the wake of the smack-in-the-face loss after a summer of high expectation and anticipation.
“He talked to us all after the game in the locker room, and as someone who has had so many experiences and has been through so much in this league, to be able to listen to him speak to us honestly and truthfully it was a good feeling to have that, to know that we are OK,’’ tight end Tyler Conklin told The Post on Wednesday.
Wednesday was the one-year anniversary of Rodgers rupturing his left Achilles in the ’23 season opener, his first game in a Jets uniform.
This month marks the 10-year anniversary of Rodgers’ famous “R-E-L-A-X’’ public message to Green Bay fans who were salty over the Packers’ 1-2 start to the 2014 season.
“Five letters here just for everybody out there in Packer-land: R-E-L-A-X,” Rodgers said on his radio show at the time. “Relax. We’re going to be OK.”
Therein lies the message he delivered to his disappointed teammates in the locker room after Monday night’s deflating loss.
“I think we’ve always got to stay relaxed,’’ Rodgers said Wednesday when asked if his “relax’’ message from 10 years ago was relevant to these Jets. “It’s a long season. I think at times people think the season is like you’re out in the prairie or the desert and you’re wandering around trying to find water. But it’s more like a nice slow bolero, where we’re just swaying with the music and reacting to whatever comes to us and through us and just trying to not get too high with the highs or too low with the lows.
“The league is a lot different than when I said ‘relax’ years ago in that there’s just so much more coverage [and] there’s so much more opportunity for overreaction. I get it. We want to win, the fans want to win, the organization wants to win, but the process has to be the same. We’ve got to stick to the process and the preparation, the way that goes and trust that it’s good enough, like a nice smooth bolero.’’
For the uninitiated, a bolero is a rhythmic Spanish dance.
Rodgers’ message was embraced by his teammates, acting as a calming influence for those who may have been tempted to feel panicked by the opening-night loss.
“Aaron definitely has a grandfatherly, or some may say a shaman type of aura to him, especially when he’s talking to the masses — just from his successes, and some 20 years in the league,’’ receiver Allen Lazard, who played with Rodgers in Green Bay, told The Post. “It’s not that when anyone else speaks it that you don’t believe it, but when he speaks it you seem to rely a little bit more on it. You feel just the comfortability and the trust in his words.’’
Conklin, recalling Rodgers’ “relax’’ comment, joked that “people don’t relax in New York,’’ but he added that the message “is a very valid point, and it just holds more validity when someone like that is saying it, because of the things he’s seen and been through.’’
The Jets were 1-0 last season following a euphoric walk-off overtime victory against the Bills after Rodgers was KO’d with the Achilles injury.
You know what happened after that.
A year later, the Jets feel much better at 0-1 with Rodgers healthy than they did at 1-0 with him lost for the season.
“There was so much unknown last year after the opener, like, ‘What’s happening? What’s the season going to be now?’ ’’ Conklin said. “We don’t have that now. We know we’re a good team, we’ve got good players and we’ve got things we’ve got to fix. But we definitely feel better having Aaron leading this team. You always have a chance with him back there.’’
For the record, after Rodgers’ “relax’’ message, those 2014 Packers went on to win 11 of their final 13 games and won the NFC North title before advancing to the divisional playoff round.
This is not to say the 2024 Jets are a lock to take the same path following Rodgers’ most recent motivational messaging.
But a mere playoff berth would at least whet the appetite of their famished fan base. It would be a terrific start, one that should begin with a win over the Titans on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn, followed by another win over the Patriots next Thursday night at home.
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