Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers is under fire after the Green Bay Packers suffered a 27-10 loss to the New York Jets on Sunday.

The quarterback finished with 246 passing yards and a touchdown in the Week 6 game, but he also lost a fumble and failed to sustain long drives in the disappointing effort.

After what was initially a low-scoring battle, tied 3-3 at halftime, the Packers couldn't keep up with the Jets in the second half.

Rodgers was widely criticized by fans on social media throughout the game for his inconsistent play:

The quarterback did have some quality plays during the game, including a 25-yard touchdown pass to Allen Lazard.

Rodgers also entered with a thumb injury, which he suffered during last week's game against the New York Giants. The offensive struggles were still enough for some to call for backup Jordan Love to see the field.

Love eventually came into the game down 17 points in the final minutes, and the crowd showed its approval.

Even though Rodgers won MVP in each of the last two years, fans can turn quickly after back-to-back losses to the Giants and Jets.

The Packers are now 3-3 on the season, with the offense seemingly looking worse each week. Green Bay will look to get back on track against the struggling Washington Commanders in Week 7.

A pair of controversial roughing-the-passer calls served as one of the main storylines for the NFL's Week 5 action, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was asked about them during his weekly Pat McAfee Show appearance.

On Sunday, Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett was called for roughing the passer on Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. Referee Jerome Boger explained his decision postgame to The Athletic's Greg Auman.

On Monday, Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones was called for the same against Las Vegas Raiders signal-caller Derek Carr. Jones was called for the penalty after referee Carl Cheffers deemed he used his full body weight when tackling the quarterback. ESPN's Adam Teicher provided the quotes.

The Bucs would have punted with under three minutes remaining up 21-15, but they were able to maintain possession and hang on for the win. The Jones penalty didn't end up costing the Chiefs, who beat Las Vegas 30-29.

Rodgers got more in depth on his opinion regarding the Jones penalty and also roughing-the-passer in general at the 2:15 mark:

"Again, I'm making a generalization here and just speaking for myself, though, but I personally am not begging for those calls, that call last night. I don't know what else Chris Jones can do on that play. And that would not be a call I'd be begging to hit.

"The things I think are most important is the shots to the head. That's the most important thing. It's the shots to the head and the unnecessary roughness ones, where a guy doesn't have to pick you up and throw you down, or the two- or three-step shots."

Carr himself didn't agree with the penalty, per Jones' postgame comments.

The three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle also provided his two cents on the matter and advocated for a second look on such penalties:

He also noted that the penalty occurred at a "critical situation" in the game and that it was a "momentum shift in a game that could have affected us."

The Chiefs would have gotten the ball at the Raiders' 42-yard line down 17-7 with just over a minute left in the first half. Instead, the Raiders kept the ball and kicked a field goal for a 20-7 edge.

It ultimately didn't matter, but the chatter regarding roughing the passer has turned into a big talking point this year.

Whether wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. returns this season and what teams he signs with if he does are some of the biggest question marks of the 2022 NFL campaign, and he can count Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers as a fan.

During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers said he and Beckham are friends and remain in contact.

He also notably added, "Obviously with a player like that, you always hope that there's a time when you could figure things out and play together."

While Beckham attended the Los Angeles Rams' Super Bowl ceremonies for their season opener after helping lead them to the Lombardi Trophy and was in New Orleans for a game between the Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he was back in the news Monday for a different visit.

Josina Anderson of CBS Sports reported he "was in the building" to visit some members of the New York Giants.

However, other reports suggested there is nothing imminent between the wide receiver and the team that drafted him:

Beckham is recovering from a torn ACL, and Rodgers even said he is unsure of the LSU product's status, adding, "I first and foremost want to see him healthy."

He will reportedly be out until at least November, which means he may have the opportunity to choose between contenders that could use depth at wide receiver. It isn't a stretch to suggest the Packers would fit under both of those categories, as they are off to a 3-1 start with rookie Romeo Doubs leading the team in receiving yards with 184.

Beckham will turn 30 years old in November and will be coming off a major injury, but he still has a resume that is impossible to ignore and features an Offensive Rookie of the Year, three Pro Bowl nods, five seasons of more than 1,000 receiving yards and three seasons of double-digit touchdown catches.

As for a possible Packers connection down the line, he responded to a tweet on Sunday suggesting he and Rodgers would thrive together by saying: "Who u tellin. That's a different breed right there."

If nothing else, there seems to be mutual admiration between the two playmakers.

The Green Bay Packers probably would have lost Sunday if they were playing a better team that wasn't down to its third-string quarterback, and Aaron Rodgers knows things will have to change if they are going to live up to championship hopes.

"This way of winning, I don't think, is sustainable because it puts too much pressure on our defense," Rodgers told reporters after Sunday's 27-24 overtime victory over the New England Patriots. "And obviously I've got to play better and will play better."

The offense made a number of mistakes for Green Bay, with the most glaring coming when Rodgers threw a pick-six to Jack Jones right before the end of the first half.

That gave New England a 10-7 lead heading into intermission, and the Packers found themselves trailing by seven in the fourth quarter after Damien Harris' touchdown run. To Rodgers' credit, he found Romeo Doubs for a critical touchdown to even the score, but the rookie wide receiver also made a key mistake.

Doubs dropped what could have been the game-winning touchdown with just more than two minutes remaining, and head coach Matt LaFleur cost his team a timeout by challenging the play.

"I'm not too proud of that moment," LaFleur said. "That was an emotional decision, and I think it's a great learning lesson that you can never make those emotional decisions in the heat of battle. You know better. You've got to survive the ground."

Green Bay's offense also went three-and-out on the first possession of overtime, and New England took over at its own 49-yard line needing just a field goal to win. It ultimately ended up punting, but it's not a stretch to suggest it could have taken advantage of the situation had Mac Jones and Brian Hoyer not been sidelined by injuries.

Bailey Zappe did what he could at 10-of-15 passing for 99 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Packers from taking the next possession and moving into field-goal range for the win.

"You can't be 2-2 losing to a third-string quarterback and not playing great in all three phases, so we had to have this one," Rodgers said. "That doesn't take anything away from the joy of winning, but this was one we had to have."

Rodgers and the Packers are 3-1 with a number of winnable contests against the New York Giants, New York Jets and Washington Commanders on the immediate docket, so they can likely still get away with some mistakes as they settle into a new season.

But it's Lombardi Trophy or bust once again for the four-time MVP, and Sunday's effort probably wouldn't be enough to snap a streak of 11 postseasons without a Super Bowl appearance for the future Hall of Famer.

Green Bay Packers star quarterback Aaron Rodgers joined an exclusive club Sunday.

With his fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs against the New England Patriots, Rodgers now has thrown 500 touchdown passes in the regular season and playoffs combined. He's just the fifth quarterback in NFL history to reach the monumental milestone.

Rodgers, who also threw a touchdown earlier in the game to tight end Robert Tonyan, joins Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre as the only signal-callers to achieve the feat. Manning (579) and Favre (552) are already in the Hall of Fame, while Brees (608) is surely on his way when he becomes eligible in 2026.

Brady is the only player besides Rodgers who is still active, and he is the only player to surpass 700 touchdown passes as he enters Sunday with 713. Rodgers also joins Brady and Brees as the only players to throw 500 touchdowns with a single team.

The reigning NFL MVP for the past two seasons, Rodgers has shown no signs of slowing down with age. The 38-year-old is already in the top 10 for career completions, passing yards and passer rating.

Green Bay's offense has gotten off to a slow start to the 2022 season. Rodgers has been getting used to a new crop of wide receivers thanks to an influx of rookies and the departure of star wideout Davante Adams, who caught the most touchdowns from the 10-time Pro Bowler.

It appears that Rodgers is starting to get a better feel for his new targets as the season progresses, which should result in more touchdown passes to add to his legendary career.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has never been hesitant to speak his mind, and on Tuesday, he railed against what he feels is an unnecessary rule.

During his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, the reigning NFL MVP expressed his distaste for the targeting rule in college football.

"We just gotta be careful going too far with some of these rules. It's like what college did with targeting. Are you s--tin' me? Like, it's absolutely ridiculous," Rodgers said. "You're ruining these kids' and teams' opportunities by subjective calls..."

Rodgers further explained that most instances of targeting occur because of "weird movements" by offensive and defensive players that result in helmet-to-helmet hits. He believes ejections aren't warranted for those types of plays because it can cost a player a full game or half of the next game.

"The punishment doesn't fit the crime at all, it's ridiculous," he said. "So we gotta be careful with how far we go on some of these rules."

Rodgers said he feels that intent should be a determining factor to calling the targeting penalty.

"I think you can, especially with the help of replay, look at intent," Rodgers said. "If a guy is spearing, eyes closed, cheap-shottin' a guy ... kick him out of the game, for sure, kick him out of the game. But if a guy is making a head-up tackle and the offensive player lowers his head or does a weird thing and it becomes helmet-to-helmet, that shouldn't be grounds for an ejection. It's ridiculous, you're impacting these kids' lives on a grand scheme, and I don't think it's right."

Before pivoting to his dislike of the targeting rule, Rodgers was addressing the taunting penalty by Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones that eventually led to a game-winning touchdown for the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

Jones stood over Colts quarterback Matt Ryan after recording a sack and was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. Referee Shawn Smith explained the penalty was for "abusive language." The call kept the Colts' final drive alive, and they took full advantage when Ryan found rookie receiver Jelani Woods for a 12-yard touchdown with 24 seconds remaining.

"Again, I don't know what was said between Chris and Matt, but that's what happens, you know? These calls, they're 15-yarders, which severely impacts a game, especially late in the game like that," Rodgers said.