EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — Aaron Rodgers approached his head coach with a message and an assumption.

“Two-score lead,” he told Robert Saleh as the New York Jets led the New England Patriots 14-0.

Then he gave his coach a push.

Consider it a miscommunication.

Rodgers and Saleh agreed on their message: the importance of a two-score lead to the team’s game plan and the significance of this dominant moment en route to what would become a 24-3 victory on Thursday Night Football.

But their celebratory gestures clashed. So when Rodgers gave the chest bump and Saleh the hug, gravity separated them instead of uniting them. They downplayed a moment the Internet found ominous.

“It wasn’t awkward at all,” Rodgers said. “He’s not normally a hugger, so I didn’t know he was going for the hug. He also likes to do the two-hand chest push. But he talks a lot about two-score leads.

“So I gave him a push and said, ‘Two scores ahead.’”

The explanation matched the first lip-reading attempts, but there was reason to be confused either way: The Jets have rarely had a two-score lead in recent years. Reasons to celebrate, too, to be honest.

The Jets need time to learn how to celebrate, just as they need time to get into shape with the four-time MVP at the helm.

But when the Jets ended a 15-year streak without consecutive wins over the Patriots, a rapt primetime audience saw more than just their division’s records change.

For the first time in his Jets tenure, Rodgers looked dominant. The Jets looked great. And a complementary brand of football returned to the Jets after a long break.

The game spoke volumes about what the Jets could become this season and how. And it also provided a warning for the Patriots, beyond the losing record.

Rodgers turns back the clock to lead rejuvenated Jets

Allen Lazard was amazed long before the visits to the end zone.

The veteran receiver, who played all seven seasons on the same roster as Rodgers, had seen this magic before.

But did Rodgers really escape the pocket, fake a pass and rush for a first down of 5 yards on the second play of the game?

Would the 40-year-old quarterback, who tore his Achilles tendon 374 days earlier, really throw himself off the platform so quickly and with such force?

“I mean, that plant medicine has to really work,” Lazard told Yahoo Sports after catching three passes for 48 yards and the game’s first touchdown. “I might have to try it out here soon, so hopefully I’ll be playing when I’m 40.”

The Jets’ first touchdown against the Patriots reflected Rodgers’ intellectual mastery of the football more than his physical mastery. The quarterback calculated his chances of success by isolating Lazard to his left, Rodgers throwing the ball loose almost immediately after the snap while Lazard baited his defender with an extra-flat route.

Lazard then suddenly stopped and restarted en route to a 10-yard score. It was the Jets’ first touchdown of the night, but certainly not their last.

“Our biggest emphasis was just trying to bury them in the second half and stuff like that,” Lazard said. “That’s what good teams do. We want to be a great team.”

The Jets’ running back space provided the second score, with Breece Hall scoring a touchdown that was so close it was a challenge, giving the Jets a long-awaited two-score lead.

Now, the Jets’ defense could frustrate Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett even more, as the pass rush up front is activated by the obvious passing downs, while the opportunistic secondary behind is salivating.

But Rodgers wasn’t done yet. He knew that opposing defenses had been selling out for three weeks to shut down receiver Garrett Wilson, protecting themselves with two top safeties even as Wilson went up against top corners in the 49ers’ Charvarius Ward, the Tennessee Titans’ L’Jarius Sneed and now New England’s Christian Gonzalez.

But with 6:24 left in the third quarter, the Jets found themselves 2 yards from home after Rodgers found Wilson for 8 yards. Wilson told his quarterback in the huddle to hit him again, and Rodgers was happy to comply with the assignment via a run-pass option.

Rodgers threw the ball in the air and Wilson caught it in mid-air. “For a mere mortal, it was a very difficult catch,” Rodgers said, “but (Wilson) made it look easy.”

That’s how most Jets saw Rodgers’ first complete home game overall: he completed 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards, two touchdowns and a 118.8 passer rating.

Lazard recalled a moment they spent together in the weight room before the season opener, when Lazard walked in and saw Rodgers squatting. He thinks he saw four plates and a 25-pounder, but maybe it was three plates and a 25, he estimates. Whether it was 325 pounds or 425, Lazard knew it wasn’t typical for Rodgers’ age and health.

“It was way more than any 40-year-old should be able to do,” Lazard said. “And for him to come off his Achilles tendon … it’s unbelievable.”

Will the Patriots take the Jets QB’s hard lessons to heart?

The magic of Rodgers’ night was in stark contrast to the Patriots’ quarterback situation.

After beating the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 and sending the Seattle Seahawks to overtime, only to lose in Week 2, New England was unable to put up a real fight through the first four quarters.

Brissett completed 12 of 18 passes for 98 yards and an 80.3 passer rating, after throwing for 149 yards and a touchdown in Week 1 and then 121 yards in Week 2. But Brissett’s limited production wasn’t New England’s biggest problem. The inability of the quarterback and offensive line to handle the Jets’ pass rush was.

After recording three sacks against the Bengals and just one against the Seahawks, the Jets sacked the Patriots seven times and hit their quarterbacks 15 times. Brissett survived the first 50 minutes of the beatdown before the Patriots gave up 2024 third overall draft pick Drake Maye on the final series.

Brissett was pressured 13 times. According to Next Gen Stats, his pressure rate of 56.5% is the highest he has ever experienced in a game with at least 10 attempts.

Maye completed 4-of-8 pass attempts for 22 yards and a 56.2 passer rating, and also rushed twice for 12 yards. His period of play indicated what should have been clear to the Patriots by now: Quarterback may not be the only problem with their offense, but he certainly isn’t their solution.

With eight pass attempts, Maye was halfway to the total the four-time MVP received at the other end of the court in his rookie year.

Rodgers didn’t play a single game in his first three years after the Packers drafted him in the first round in 2005. He attempted no more than 28 passes in each of those seasons.

The 10 Pro Bowls, regular playoff contention and a Super Bowl championship that resulted are far from a guaranteed outcome just because teams rest their quarterbacks. But on Thursday, a long-suffering Jets team showed the Patriots what’s possible when a team gathers talent to surround a quarterback before asking him to elevate the team. The Jets showed New England what quarterback play can look like when a gunslinger is given enough time to develop physically and mentally.

Rodgers’ ability to control the offense, avoid three-and-outs and prevent turnovers while repeatedly running the Jets down the field represented the opposite of what led the Carolina Panthers to bench 2023 first overall pick Bryce Young just two games into the season.

The Patriots were given examples this week alone of the risks and rewards they face in developing Maye.

They should take notice.

Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo declined to confirm whether he will replace Maye as the starter with Brissett, saying “I don’t know” about a quarterback change, but the coaching staff will “see where it goes” as the players battle on a weekly basis.

The Jets, on the other side of the stadium, breathed a sigh of relief that for the first time in a long time the quarterback issue was no longer an issue. their problem — and as they continue to learn not only how to align on the field, but also how to celebrate their accomplishments.

“If the expectation is that we win, then we’re going to celebrate, but we’ve got to expect to win,” Rodgers said. “The next step is to expect to dominate.”