AFC Notes: Aaron Rodgers, Tua Tagovailoa, Zach Wilson, Dolphins, Jets

Dolphins

Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa said WR Jaylen Waddle helps open things up for WR Tyreek Hill.

“What helps [Hill] is the other guy, the guy we have on the other side, Jaylen Waddle,” Tagovailoa said, via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN. “Although Jaylen didn’t get as much burn as Tyreek, it just tells you about the competitive nature for both of them, and it tells you the great teammates that both of them are. Jaylen was super excited when Tyreek caught his first touchdown, and when Tyreek led us down there for that final drive. It’s a team sport. We’re very excited to have the guys that we have on our team.”

Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel added that Waddle wasn’t quite 100%.

“He was fine. He wanted to go in more,” McDaniel said. “He was straining through some pain, but it was nothing that he couldn’t play with. He’ll continue to get treatment and be tough. I don’t see it as an issue moving forward.”

Jets

When asked if he needs to regain the confidence of his teammates, Jets QB Zach Wilson said he already has a “very good relationship” in the locker room.

“I don’t think I need to think of it like that,” Wilson said, via NFL.com. “I think how I can go out there and play football will earn that trust back from those guys. I would say I have a very good relationship with everybody in this locker room. We joke around, we eat lunch together, we go out for O-line/QB dinners. So I would always feel like the guys in this locker room have my back just like I’ve got their back no matter what.”

Jets OC Nathaniel Hackett is proud of how Wilson performed in his unexpected Week 1 appearance. 

“My respect for him is off the charts,” Hackett said. “For a guy to not have any practice, to come in there and execute the way that he did was just so great to see. It’s funny. I wish the world could’ve been in that locker room at halftime to just see the entire team, how they responded, especially the offense. Just the way that they were looking each other in the eye, they were fired up for the challenge, and they stepped up against a very, very good football team. So I think Zach did a really good job and I think he kept his composure, and that’s all you can ask.”

• Hackett said he expects Aaron Rodgers to play in 2024: “Oh, yeah,” via Rich Cimini. 
• Hackett is confident they are still a playoff team without Rodgers: “Of course. No one man makes a team. It just doesn’t … in the end, it’s how a team plays together,” per Zack Rosenblatt. 
• Hackett said Rodgers never expressed concern about their offensive line using cut blocks in Week 1: on whether Rodgers ever expressed any hesitancy about having OLM use cut blocks, which speed up the timing of a plan: “Every play that we have in the game plan, and every single thing that we do and with any quarterback that’s in there, we discuss to the finest detail. So that was something that we all knew that was going to happen and we wanted to do. And it was a very unfortunate incident.” (Cimini)

Jets

Jets WR Garrett Wilson said he continues to vocalize his belief in QB Zach Wilson and wants him to know that he has his back.

“Just because of the effect that can have on people,” Wilson said, via PFT. “Belief, people believing in you, people that you get to work with every day believing in you. Sometimes it can seem like the world is against you, but it’s never really the case. We always got our guy’s back. It can be tough playing ball, especially playing quarterback, in this part of the world. Because of that, and all the other things, we always want to make sure we got our brother’s back. If he doesn’t know that, then I’m doing my job wrong. I want to make sure I give him all the empowerment in the world, and I know all the other guys feel the same about it.”