EAST RUTHERFORD — It’s not hard to think back to a time when MetLife Stadium would have erupted after a late, game-winning drive led by Aaron Rodgers.
Now, of course, is not that time.
In his first game with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer led his new team down the field, setting up a long field goal to defeat his old team, the Jets, 34-32, in a surprisingly entertaining back-and-forth season opener on Sunday afternoon, where an early decision to attempt a two-point conversion seemed to haunt the home squad.
“Exciting game, but I’m not into moral victories,” said new Jets head coach Aaron Glenn. “We can’t have turnovers, we can’t do it, we have to be a more disciplined team, and there were some penalties that happened in that game that were true discipline issues. That’s something that will be addressed. You will not be on the field with this team if you’re going to cause us to lose games, and cause issues like that.”
In the end, Rodgers, who completed 22 of his 30 pass attempts for 244 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, got just far enough down the field for Chris Boswell to kick what turned out to be a game-winning field goal from 60 yards out with 1:03 left on the clock.
“I only played 18 games here, I was actually talking with (Jets running back) Breece (Hall) about that pre-game and he asked, ‘How does it feel,’” said Rodgers, who played for the Jets in an injury-shortened 2023 and 2024 season after spending the first 18 seasons of his career with the Green Bay Packers.
“I said honestly, I was here for two years, so it doesn’t come close to how it’s going to feel when I play in Green Bay, because that was 18 years of my career. It was nice to win, especially hearing some of the catcalls out there and some of the boo birds…there were probably people in the organization that didn’t think I could play anymore, so it was nice to remind those people that I still can.”
Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Chris Boswell (9) boots a field goal against the New York Jets during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
At the beginning, the game seemed as though it would follow the low-scoring trajectory many predicted; the Jets got on the scoreboard first, getting the first three points of the contest on a 35-yard Nick Folk field goal on their opening drive.
After not scoring on its first possession all year in 2024, Pittsburgh did just that when Rodgers fired his first touchdown pass in a Steelers uniform, connecting with Ben Skowronek on a 22-yard scoring strike to cap off a ten-play, 71-yard drive and give his team a 7-3 lead with 3:38 left in the first quarter.
Gang Green battled back, with new Jets quarterback Justin Fields finding Garrett Wilson open for a 33-yard TD pass with 25 seconds left in the opening frame to get the lead back. However, after a flag negated a missed Folk PAT attempt, head coach Aaron Glenn curiously elected to go for two from the one-yard line, with Braelon Allen ultimately being unable to run it into the end zone, keeping it at a 9-7 game.
The lead swapping and scoring continued at a fever pace in a game that featured few defensive stops all day.
Boswell’s 58-yard field goal early in the second quarter put Pittsburgh back on top, but only briefly; Allen’s eight-yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive put the Jets back up, and another Folk field goal made it a two-possession game with 2:54 remaining in the second quarter.
However, Rodgers and the Steelers seemed to find their rhythm after that; the future Hall of Famer capped off a nine-play, 65-yard drive at the end of the first half with a jet touch pass to Jonnu Smith from three yards out to cut it to a 19-17 game.
After a first half that didn’t feature a Jets punt for the first time since at least 1991, per the team’s communications department, Fields kept it going early in the second half; he ran it in from two yards out to get it back to a two-possession game with 3:46 left in the third quarter, but the momentum came to a grinding halt after that.
Rodgers and the Steelers struck twice in 50 seconds in the fourth quarter, first with Jaylen Warren finishing off a nine-play, 68-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown reception, and then Calvin Austin III delivering what appeared to potentially be the dagger at the time with an 18-yard catch for six to give his team a 31-26 lead with 14:07 remaining in regulation, a play that came not long after a critical kickoff return fumble by Xavier Gipson gave Pittsburgh the ball deep in Jets territory.
Instead, Fields and the Jets fought back to send a sellout crowd into a frenzy with 7:01 left in regulation. A 12-play, 67-yard play that was helped by a critical Jalen Ramsey penalty culminated in a decision by Glenn to go for it on fourth and goal at the one, which was rewarded by an untouched Fields run off a bootleg into the end zone to give the Jets the lead back, 32-31. However, essentially forced to go for two after the first unsuccessful attempt, this one was as well, with a Fields throw into triple coverage in the back right corner of the end zone going uncaught.
New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields reacts after scoring a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
