Patriots veteran defender gives brutally honest assessment of Aaron Rodgers

FOXBORO — Patriots defensive tackle Davon Godchaux did not hold back when asked about Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ dwindling athleticism Sunday.

Rodgers didn’t scramble once in the Patriots’ 25-22 win over the Jets and struggled mightily when pressured.

“Yeah, I think he’s struggling right now,” Godchaux said of Rodgers. “Just a Hall of Fame quarterback like that, hate to see him go out that way but always gonna take a win against him, look good on your resume. But, yeah, he definitely don’t look the same. You just don’t know if he could move back there. (Expletive), I can run him down and catch him. He don’t look mobile at all. So it was good for us. We know we can get after him and attack him in the passing game too. So, you know, glad to come out here with the win.”

Rodgers did look much more mobile in the Jets’ 24-3 Week 3 win over the Patriots, when the Pats’ defenders kept allowing the veteran QB to get out of the pocket and make plays.

Rodgers did have a solid stat line Sunday, completing 17-of-28 passes for 233 yards with two touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to beat a Patriots defense that was missing three starting defenders from Week 3.

“So, to our eye, and he didn’t look as mobile as he did the first game, so we tried to take advantage that, be a little bit more aggressive in our rush, and just pressure him and everything like that,” defensive end Keion White said after Sunday’s win.

“We’d seen it probably second quarter, that he wasn’t really moving as much, and then we just seen it from there. But it’s all about getting to third down before you can really take advantage of it.”

Rodgers was just 3-of-8 for 50 yards when pressured. He was sacked once by linebacker Christian Elliss.