Rodgers: I have 'a lot of gratitude' to be back on the field

Aaron Rodgers says it felt great to be back in an NFL game for the first time since tearing his Achilles in Week 1 of the 2023 season.

"Yeah, it's been a while," Rodgers said postgame. "Felt great. A lot of gratitude just to be back in pads. So many people helped me get back to this spot."

It didn't take much time for Rodgers to feel back at home during the New York Jets' 32-19 season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night.

"Obviously, wanted to take a shot and feel the physicality of it," Rodgers added. "Once I threw a couple balls and took a shot, I felt good. Felt like I was into the game."

The 40-year-old completed 13 of his 21 passes for 167 yards with one touchdown and one interception. But New York's offense struggled to sustain drives and lost the time of possession battle 38:40 to 21:20.

Rodgers, who didn't play in the preseason, shut down the possibility that a lack of in-game reps as a unit was the culprit for the offense's slow start.

"That's an excuse, for sure," Rodgers said on the podium. "I'm not gonna use that. I don't think we should. We expect greatness when we step on the field. There were moments that felt really good, but not sustained. Felt like if we could just get a first down, we'd be rolling."

He continued: "I think a lot of stuff is correctable, which is great for coaches. It's frustrating for players because we how close we were (or) are. But, no time for that. We're going to move to Tennessee quickly, then we got a game four days after that. This is a tough opener for us, travel-wise and schedule-wise but no excuses. We gotta play better, I gotta play better."