Jason Garrett Looks Back On Past Playoff Matchups Against Aaron Rodgers

Jason how has your summmer been and also what has brought you here to One jets Drive had a great summer uh I spent some time uh up in Nantucket so we enjoy that get ourselves out of the Texas heat but then I've been on a little bit of a training camp tour I was in Baltimore yesterday and I'm headed to Kansas City and Denver and University of Oklahoma I'm going to go to Notre Dame and then uh I'm G to go to Philly Pittsburgh and Buffalo next week so uh getting ready for the season The Season's almost upon us and uh just really fun being here seeing the Jets practice today you just spoke to Aaron Rogers you're working on a pretty cool project can you tell us about it yeah we're working on a project with NFL films about the evolution of throwing a football and and it all started uh because of a conversation I had with Aaron a couple years ago when he was in Green Bay and I just asked ask him give me a thought on throwing because he's one of the great throwers of his generation and maybe of all time and and he stands up and says you know I all I think about is getting the weight to the inside of my my left ankle the inside of my left calf and the inside of my left knee and I was like what you know and so we we talked about it further and and just kind of dug into it and and as I left the conversation I I said to myself I've been thinking about throwing a football my whole life talk to everybody about about it and I've never heard anybody talk about it that way and uh I was thinking about this famous New York Jet Joe namoth poster I used to have the throwing sequence of nameth throwing a football there's eight pictures and it's the classic namoth release with a little paragraph description in in front of each of these pictures about you know what he's thinking about the way transfer the arm angle all of those things and I used to have that on my wall growing up and I said you know boy have things changed from the early 70s with namoth and now now to Aaron roders two of the best throwers of their Generations but doing it completely differently so we got with NFL films and we've kind of dived into this topic and uh and we've talked to a lot of different guys talked to Drew Brees and Dak Prescott and Troy Aman and Kurt Warner and norf Turner and Tom house and now we talked to to Aron and uh and just excited to put this all together and kind of see how the whole thing is evolved and uh spent a lot of time with each of these guys and they had so many great insights so excited about this this is so interesting what stands out to you about the way Aaron throws a football oh I was on the other side of it a lot as a coach in Dallas and uh we had some great battles with them but he always uh played so well and played so well on the big moments and anybody who watches it says he he just has this this unique way of throwing the ball and he throws it he he throws it like a tennis ball and uh I was in Miami it was my first job as a coach I was the quarterback coach for Nick Sabin in 2005 I just retired and and Aaron and Alex Smith were coming out in that draft and and we had the second pick of the draft and uh we chose not to take Aaron Rodgers and about five MVPs later in a Hall of Fame career but um he's just an amazing player first and foremost and and the way he throws the ball I think is unique as as as good as anybody who's ever played so to hear him talk about that the things he thinks about the things that are important to him as a passor really fun what is important to him as a passor because people would make the argument there's many people make the argument that nobody's thrown the football better in the history of our league than him well I think he's a really talented guy but he's a really thoughtful guy and uh and I think his he had a very natural motion throughout his life he talked about watching Joe Montana as a kid then going out in the yard and throwing with his brother and his dad and and and and having some of those incredible Role Models when he was young but then you know he goes to Cal and plays for Jeff Tedford and Jeff Tedford molded a lot of great quarterbacks but he has his quarterbacks hold the ball up really high and so when you watched Aaron Rogers on film in college that's what you saw and you said okay is is he an natural passer what is it he looks a little awkward here and um so you have to kind of look beyond that and say okay if he carried in a more traditional way do you like how he throws the ball and it's hard it's hard to say that you don't then he goes to Green Bay and sits for a while and watches Brett Favre and he was so great in our conversation today talking about how much he benefited from just watching Favre and how he threw the ball from so many different body angles and arm angles and what he learned from that and and then obviously adopted some of that in his career and has been one of the best over the last 20 years in the NFL so um I just think he's really natural throwing the ball but I think he's really thoughtful too and I think he's refined his throwing motion and uh the other part of it is he's such a smart player yeah and sees the game and understands the game and and gets his team in a great position so I think he he he provides himself a really good platform for success understanding what his offense is doing understanding what the defense is trying to take away understanding what the weaknesses are I think that's a huge part of his game as well he can make any throw on the field but the one stat that stands out to Me Maybe Above the Rest that he's has the number one touchdown interception ratio in NFL history and you watch him out here in the practice field he does not turn the ball over yeah he he's he's incredibly smart his understanding of the game but then he's he's an outstanding decision maker and then he can throw the ball where he wants to throw it so he keeps it away from the defense great back shoulder today in practice uh to Garrett Wilson on the right sideline there against s and you know the ball's boom it's right there it's away from s only where Garrett can can make the play so uh he has a unique arm Talent you go with just him being smart him being a great decision maker him understanding the game and how each play fits into the game and then keeping the ball out of Harm's Way while he makes plays it's Unique it's rare is he naturally patient because another thing that stands out to me when the offense has the ball he's had a lot of long drives in this move the ball periods where they're always getting positive yards he seemingly never is is at a disadvantage when he's operating the controls again I think it goes back to his understanding the game first and foremost he he understands the play versus the defense and when he has an opportunity to go take a shot down the field Nobody Does it Better but when he doesn't he quickly checks the ball down and keeps the ball moving uh he keeps himself and his team out of Harm's Way and uh you know he probably learned that early on I thought Favre always did a good job of that where he would take the check down take the check down and then take the shot but you know in comparison Favre was probably too aggressive at times and and Aaron seems to be able to do the same thing and again stay away from turning the ball over and that's what gives your team a chance to win when you throw four times as many touchdowns as you do interceptions over the course of your career you're going to have a lot of success what do all the great ones have in common because you've spoken to a lot of them you played behind one of them you just mentioned Troy Amman before what are the great quarterbacks in this league have in comment oh I think there's so much that goes into it um you know for me more than anything else it it starts inside of them I think they're all driven to be the best and everything they do in their life is geared towards them being the best and the elite ones it's not only for them to be their best it's for the team to be their best they're making everybody else around them better and and it's their work ethic it's their example it's their attention to detail it's their striving for Excellence all of those things that the elite people in all walks of life do uh and then when you start talking about the more specific stuff about the quarterback position I always said that line one with quarterback is Instinct quarterbacks come in all shapes and sizes the one thing that all the great quarterbacks have is they have an instinct and a feel for the game my dad who was a scout and a coach for a long time used to say aptitude to play they understand how to play when you watch Aaron Rogers out there playing football he understands how to play and and and I think all the great ones in all the sports regardless of what your position is they have that they have that feel and that instinct and a lot of it comes from playing a lot yeah from guys who grew up playing in the street and grew up playing on the playground and they would go down there and play pickup basketball and stickball and all of that they're just instinctive athletes they see things they feel things so I think the best quarterbacks for me have that I think they're smart they're tough they're accurate they're great decision makers all of those things are the qualities that you're looking for in guys and then whatever their athletic ability is you know their ability to move their feet make plays with their feet their arm Talent that's what takes them to that next level and in many cases gives the guys the opportunity to win championships and wear gold jackets you're a guy who attended Princeton you played quarterback in the NFL when you have these conversations with Aaron are you super impressed by his intelligence the knowledge and also the memory the recall that he has it's like a photogenic memory where he can say something that happened in 2012 and you'll ask him hey remember that in the third quarter and what Blitz they were thrown at you and he'll know exactly what you're talking about yeah and again I think that goes to him being a smart person a smart player and also someone who cares you he's invested in in this and and uh so he knows about his technique he's thought about his technique he talked about how uh you know he used to throw a certain way and then he started to evolve because he had some injuries and then it was like okay let me think about what this is that I'm doing so I can first and foremost replicate it and then express it to other people and uh and and that's what he's that's what he's been able to do and he was so good on that documentary that we're doing talking about not his throwing motion but the influences on him and then maybe the influences he's had on others and uh it's really a fun listen how different is it now when you see a quarterback who's trying to do what he's doing at 40 maybe compared to a couple decades when you and Troy and the boys were going at it for the Cowboys as far as the advances that we have medically and also what these guys are doing with their bodies now well you know of all the incredible contributions that Tom Brady has made to the game of football yeah I think the fact that he played till he was 45 and played at such a high level for me ranks way up there uh it's 20 22 years of excellence and and he showed people that if you approach it the right way you can keep going you can keep playing and he made an incredible commitment to do that and I think some other guys Aaron being one of them started saying hey what an amazing example that is to be able to do that sustain that Excellence for so long I want a part of that right and everyone starts taking care of their body more and they start doing all the things they need to do to stay healthy for a longer period of time now we have to be honest the rules for quarterbacks have changed yes right the quarterbacks back in the day were getting hit yeah getting hit a lot and um you know the NFL's always been protective of quarterbacks but very different now than it was even 10 or 15 years ago so so the guys that played back in the 80s and the '90s those guys got hit a lot more and that takes its toll over time yeah so I think the rules changes have contributed to it but there's no doubt the nutrition and all the attention that guys are giving to their bodies now has allowed them to um you know have longer careers and play the game at a high level for a longer period of time you know this better than anybody the season is an incredible journey it is a marathon it is not a but when you look at this Jets team who's been very solid to Elite on the defensive side of the ball with good special teams what's the potential of this group if this offense takes the next step and we see Aaron roders out there on the field for 17 games well I'm a big fan of the Jets and uh I I think they've done a a good job uh bringing in Cornerstone players throughout their team guys who who are who are outstanding players but they're also outstanding people and great examples to their teammates the guys that you want to build the whole franchise around and they have them on defense they have them on the offensive side of the ball I think they've done a good job bolstering the offensive line with some veteran players Tyron Smith playing left tackle a guy I know very well we drafted him in Dallas he was our first draft pick when I became the head coach and he's been one of those guys for that franchise forever and the Jets recognize that you're bring him in there you put him at that really critical position Morgan Moses on the other side Simpson you know you got some young guys inside you know I I think they have a chance on offense uh to be significantly better than they've been not only because Aaron Rogers will be the quarterback but because they bolstered the offensive line there's talent in the back field there's Talent outside so I think there's going to be a comfort level that they have because they're going to be more physical up front and and they're going to control the line of scrimmage more and they're going to have Aaron Rogers a veteran quarterback running the show for him and I think that's going to make everybody around him better what's it like having Tyron Smith on your team knowing that he's going to protect your quarterback's blinds side each week yeah you know Tyron had some injuries throughout his career and I think you know our record when he was playing versus when he was not playing was significantly different yeah he's just one of those guys and like I said he was the first player we took when I became the head coach because I believed he represented everything we wanted our program to be and and he was that for 13 years down there in Dallas and um he's an outstanding player when you watched him on tape in college in the Run game he'd get his hands on guys and just block him and block him and block him to the end of the down and block him into the Gatorade Jug on the sidelines and then you know as a pass protector was the same thing he'd get his hands inside and grab those guys and they couldn't move and uh when when you look at a player um you know sometimes you have to just forget everything you know about football and just just watch it you know I used to always say that you know they people use the word identity a lot identity is the most expert person and the least expert person in the field watching something and drawing the same conclusion seeing the same thing right and so with Tyron it was like you didn't have to know anything about football you say okay your goal is to make sure the guy that you're blocking doesn't get to the quarterback to the running back well he seems to do that on every play yeah you know he just blocks his guy and keeps blocking him and that's what he's done for Dallas for a long time and I think he's a great addition to the Jets do you think he's a Surefire Hall of Famer not to put you on the spot but you're talking about an eight Time pro bowler a five time first and second team I mean to me he's a first bout Hall of Famer yeah he's the best left tackle of his generation he and Trent Williams yeah are the two guys yeah I mean they're they're they're slam dunk guys I was fortunate to to play with Larry Allen who's I think arguably the best offensive lineman certainly the best I've been around and and arguably the best ever um you know Tyron Smith is in that is in that category for me is this kind of a cool situation for a young offensive lineman like Olu fashu who's drafted number 11 overall he comes in and you do have Tyron and you have Morgan Moses on the opposite side both 33 years old but when you're talking about best left tackles over the last 25 years you're looking at the guy right in front of you no doubt no doubt and you we're talking about Aaron roders being a Young quarterback in Green Bay being influenced by Brett Favre it's the same thing it's one of the great Dynamics in the NFL when young players come in and they see a veteran guy who's a pro who knows how to do it who does things the right way day in and day out plays the right way takes care of his body is a great teammate as a great leader it's amazing the impact that that can have on someone's career and you as a coach coach can preach all those same things but when the when the player sees the player like this guy's been to eight Pro bows this guy's going to the Hall of Fame and this is what he does right right I'm GNA make sure I do that yeah because I want to have that same kind of success and we had a lot of those guys in Dallas Tyron was one of them Zack Martin Travis Frederick on the offensive line we had Jason Whitten Shawn Lee we had all these different guys that you would say as a coach just watch number 82 watch 77 you know and the young guys they gravitate towards them they follow that example and all of a sudden they're on the right path how about the young playmakers that Aaron has around him right now starting in the back field with Bree hall there's a couple rookie running backs who've impressed early on brayan Allen and Isaiah Davis but Garrett Wilson looks like he's just ready to go in a different Stratosphere right now and if so we'll start with Bree and Garrett yeah again we talked about Cornerstone players and when I said guy in the back field we're talking about Bree Hall talking about the guy outside talking about Garrett Wilson and and those are the guys you're talking about and when you think about them and SAU and queen and and all these different guys it's like you got to be kidding me there it's a it's a really good football team and and and those young guys will benefit from being around Aaron Rodgers they'll benefit from being around Tyron Smith these veteran players who know how to do it who are pros and um there's so much juice that Bree brings and Garrett brings to this team and they're going to be featured players and uh pretty confident that you know the coaches will do a good job putting them in position to have opportunities and pretty confident that Aaron will do the same thing and they're going to be the go-to guys for the J offense and I'm betting on them not against them you know America's team better than anybody but with that being said what do you make of the Jets schedule this year um and obviously you're working Sunday night football but as far as having the seven Standalone games over their first 11 well it it's something that in Dallas we had a lot of you know and it it it it goes way back to the 70s when Roger stbeach and Tom Landry were running the show but you know that franchise has been in those situations for a long time and you know I was there as a player and I was there as as an assistant coach and as a head coach and I always just felt like you embrace it yeah you Embrace those opportunities you don't shy away from them this is this is why you do this and um so for the Jets you know the challenge will be sometimes the the the weekly schedule gets tough you're playing at night you're playing on Monday you you know you have early game you have very few early games you have a lot of night games and later games but you you you just figure it out and you Embrace those opportunities and you make the the the adjustments with the schedules the way you need to but to me it's a fun year to be a part of the Jets you played the game you were an OC you were a high coach we just talked about it if you're you have a game and the Jets are in your schedule and you're facing that defense and you look across from here and there's quinnon Williams and there's Germaine Johnson and there's CJ Mosley there's Quincy Williams and there's s Gardner and DJ Reed Michael Carter where are you attacking what are you trying to do well I don't see a lot of weaknesses they're really good on all three levels they're they're really good defending the Run they can rush the passer they can cover on the back end they can create turnovers uh they're fundamentally sound they don't give you a lot of big plays so it's an excellent defense uh I do think what you need to do when you play teams like this is you have to emphasize the importance of being patient and then you have to emphasize the importance of when we get our opportunity we have to cash in on it yeah so we have to be ready we're going to get one shot here to throw this one-on-one back shoulder fate like Aaron had today in practice yeah we got to make it we got to make the throw we got to make the competitive tough catch against s Garder so uh that's really what you're preaching they're going to make you work for it so let's work for it we got to make some short third Downs we're going to be we're going to be get ourselves into third manageable we're going to get some shots on early Downs to make some plays down the field we got to cash in on them because they're not going to give us anything and uh if you preach that to them and get them ready for that hopefully they'll have the mindset and mentality to go execute for 60 minutes because that's what they're going to make you do how difficult is that in today's game for maybe a Young quarterback when you say okay you are facing the Jets but you you can't force it because there's always the thought when I'm watching the Jets defenses that quarterback's can get impatient and when he gets impatient then he going to be in trouble yeah there's no doubt and again we were talking earlier about Aaron with decision making how does this play fit into the game right there's a lot of plays in the game um typically 8 9 10 11 11 12 Series in the game each play impacts the outcome of that Series so you have to stay locked in and you have to understand again when you have an opportunity hey we're not we're not backing off we're going to take advant we're getting after these guys but then when they take something away find the back move on right if you're the runner put your foot in the ground and make two more yards going north and south it's not a real sexy run but that's going to get us to third manageable those kinds of things matter when you play against really good defenses as an analyst are you looking forward to actually seeing what this Jets defense looks like if they do have a lead in the second half because we haven't had an opportunity to see that too much now you insert Rogers into the equation you have some of these Young Guns offensively you would figure the Jets are going to be scoring more points and maybe this defense is actually going to be operating with a lead in the second half yeah I think that's a great point and and and obviously you know when you are ahead and teams are more inclined to throw the ball to get back into the game you know know you're allowing your defensive lineman to pin the rears back you're allowing your your DBS there's going to be a lot of tips and overthrows because it's can be an uncomfortable environment for the quarterback to throw in so you can start taking advantage of those situations and uh and play from ahead and force some turnovers and really and really get after them and um you know it's hard to do that week in and week out in the NFL but I do think the Jets have some capability on both sides of the ball to let them play some of those games you talk about everything but just from a 30,000 foot view right now here in August what do you make of the AFC East oh I think it'll be interesting um I I've been a Buffalo Bill fan for a long time I think they're a good team I love their coach and what he's done there all he's done is have success yeah now they haven't broken through gone to the next thing every I I get that I understand that but it's hard to win the division it's hard to win that first round of the playoffs it's hard to get to that divisional it's hard to do these things and and they've done that on a pretty consistent basis I love their quarterback they're going through some changes as well no more Diggs they're going to have some young weapons on the offensive side of the ball so so we're going to have to find out about them but I think they're a good team New England certainly in transition now coach bich the job he did there for so long no longer there um finding out what their quarterback situation is going to be all about I do think they'll still be solid on defense they've put a lot of resources to that defense in recent years but um the question marks you know Gerard Mayo getting his first opportunity how they're going to be on offense who they're going to play a quarterback there's a lot of question marks there and uh it'll be fun to see that how that all how that all plays out you know Miami is interesting to me if you think about you know the kind of offense they had for a lot of last year it's one of the best offenses the league has seen in the last 20 years they scored 70 points in a game I mean it's hard to do that yeah and they have so much speed they know how to use it and uh and they can be really dangerous you know you think about three like legit incredibly fast running backs the wide receivers the tight end everybody can run and Tua at the controls you know they can be really impressive they have to prove that they can go win tough games they have to be able to go on the road and win late in their division in bad weather and uh and can they do that can they win different kinds of games when the speed element gets neutralized a little bit by a defense or by conditions can they put it into another gear and run the ball a little bit more and play a low scoring game and win I think that's what championship teams do so I think that's their next step how about the AFC overall from a quarterback perspective Mahomes is going for his third consecutive Championship crazy to talk about you have Herbert uh now pair him up with Harbaugh then you go to the AFC South you got Anthony Richardson um you have CJ stoud who took the league by storm you got Trevor Lawrence in comeback mode then we go to the AFC North and you talk about Joe burrow coming back you got Lamar Jackson a two-time NFL MVP uh Pittsburgh looks like they're going to be rolling with Russell Wilson we'll have to see actually how that unfolds Cleveland deshun Watson he's got a very talented roster around him you talked about Buffalo how you're a fan of uh Josh Allen of course and tua's got so many weapons there and Aaron Rogers coming back healthy what do you make all these quarterbacks there's a lot of really good quarterbacks in the AFC there really are and they're young guys coming into their Prime I mean these guys have been good players throughout their career but we talked about before with Brady Brady plays till he's 45 and continues to get better and better and better and a lot of these guys you know seems to me have that same kind of passion that drive to be great and I think they'll continue to improve you know Kansas City for me uh pretty remarkable you know what they've done over the last four or five years with Mahomes as their quarterback and obviously Andy as their coach they were so impressive last year because they kind of flopped around on offense for most of the year they flopped around even until the end of the season but I was able to do the first playoff game against Miami the really cold game in Kansas city was minus 9 fourth coldest game in the history of the NFL and I watched practice the day before and I just kind of said to myself they're gonna hand the ball to Pacho they're going to throw the ball to Rashid rice and Travis Kelce and everybody else is going to be kind of secondary and um it was freezing it was minus n it was I thought my ears were going to fall off and momes went out there like it was a a spring day yeah and they were chunking it down the field right from the start and they played in such a decisive way it's almost like you saw that they got together and said who are the guys we can count on who are the guys on offense we want to get the ball in their hands on a consistent basis and make their these guys are primary focus and that's what they did they handed to PCO they were physical in the Run game they threw it to Kelce they threw it to rasid rice and and and that and then when the other guys got their opportunities they cashed in on and uh they played so decisively after being so inconsistent throughout the year when it came to nut cutting time it's like here we go and they did that all the way through the playoffs and all the way through the Super Bowl so you know for me it was Andy Reid's best coaching job and he's had a lot of good ones I thought it was so impressive to be able to play at that level in the critical moments of the year like they did so it starts with them yeah right because of the coach because of the quarterback because of the young defense and then everything else you got you got to prove it to me that you can knock the big boys off and and we'll see if that can happen let's come full circle you said when you grew up in Jersey you had a Joe namoth poster on your wall I did I did it it's it's from a matter of style do you know you remember his book yes and it's an amazing book and it was this thing that you pulled out and this great throwing sequence and I was like ah you know nameth was incredible and and um you know he could throw it as well as anybody in the history of football and uh but it's interesting I told my mom this morning that I was coming up my mom's 88 my dad was a coach and a scout forever and so she's grown up with football and I told her I was coming up here and I was going to interview Aaron Rogers and and talk about this project about how the game has evolved and how Joe nameth through it 50 years ago and now how Aaron roders throws it and my mom kind of cut me off she said J in the game has changed it's different it was much slower back then now it's wide open and fast and these athletes are incredible and I'm like you might be right so maybe a lot of the evolution of the throwing is a result of the evolution of the game there weren't bubble screens back then no right no it was drop back he was throwing the ball down the Fielding it down the field we we found a clip of namoth an NFL films taking an 11 Step drop really he was 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage and a rifling down the field that's funny because everybody looks at nameus numbers now and looks at completion percentage or touchdowns inter just a different game just a completely different game you got to throw that stuff out completely different game I mean all the all the the passer ratings for those guys playing 30 40 50 years ago they're so low relatively speaking because the game was throw the ball down the field they didn't complete as high a percentage of passes um they threw more interceptions it just was what the game was was all about back then but I thought it was interesting that my mom made that observation I think that's very cool at 88 years old that you know so succinct um so Rogers with this organization specifically Jess haven't made the playoffs since 2010 and won the Super Bowl since January 1969 how much do you think that he Embraces the role of I got an opportunity here I'm already cemented in history but I have an opportunity here to do something that just hasn't been done before yeah you know I think those are all motivating factors for guys and and I think it's important to visualize those goals have that vision for yourself and cement that Vision in your mind but then I think it's important to put that in the recesses of your mind and get to work today yeah what do we got to do today what do we got to do to make Tuesday August 13th the best practice we've ever had and then we watch it afterwards we come back tomorrow and make Wednesday better and go down to Carolina this weekend and and and and have great practices with them and then go play well in the preseason so for me it's all about a day-by-day process it's a play-by-play process um and I think that's what the best ones are able to do they keep their focus narrow and and I think that's a big challenge for the Jets this year yeah there can be a lot of noise around this franchise and and I think it's important for them to block it out Embrace what they have they got a lot of really good players on this team it's a well- coached team they practice the right way they go about things the right way stay focused on that stuff and then and then go play on Sundays and have fun playing ball and embrace those opportunities and we'll count them up at the end but you know if you get yourself too enamored with oh I'm going to I'm going to change history or oh I'm going to prove them wrong you probably won't play your best ball but the thing that he always talks about is being intentional with everything at and you've talked to him so many times over the years that that's one thing that always stands out is that he lives in that moment that's it right right here right now the best ones are able to do that well we are going to be watching your special on NFL films we'll be watching Sunday Night Football as well and the Jets are going to be on there a few times here this season and also Notre Dame as well watch some Notre Dame Fighting sat afternoons Jason thank you so much uh great to have a New Jersey native here here in the studio yeah it's great to be with you do a great job thanks [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]