The New York Jets fell to 2-6 on Sunday with a heartbreaking 25-22 loss to the New England Patriots. If Jets fans weren’t already panicking, Sunday’s stunner was enough to push anyone over the edge. The Patriots are bad – arguably the worst team in football – and Drake Maye left the game early with an injury, leaving backup QB Jacoby Brissett in charge for the second half.

To keep losing is an indictment of the entire Jets organization, top to bottom. The players, the coaches, the front office, the ownership. No one is safe from criticism at this point. That said, with Robert Saleh already out the door, the focus naturally shifted to 40-year-old Aaron Rodgers, who was supposed to break New York out of this vicious cycle of mediocrity.

Unfortunately, Rodgers, a little more than a year removed from a torn Achilles, doesn’t seem to have the same stuff he did once. The four-time MVP has always been a master of manipulation, reading the field at the speed of light and using every trick in the book — his eyes, his voice, his footwork, his throwing angle — to confuse defenses and get receivers open.

Rodgers’ football IQ hasn’t dipped, and he’s objectively the best Jets quarterback in years. But that’s a low bar, unfortunately, and the elite athleticism that once pushed Rodgers over the top has abandoned him.

Don’t take my word for it. His opponents think the same thing.

Patriots DT Davon Godchaux was remarkably candid in his postgame interview, saying Rodgers didn’t “look the same.”

“Hall of Fame Quarterback. I hate to see it come out like that,” Godchaux said. “It sure doesn’t look the same. It’s been moving back there — hell, I could take it down and catch it. It doesn’t look mobile at all. That’s good for us.”

Mobility is a key attribute for any defender, but Rodgers has always been particularly effective with his feet. That’s not to say Rodgers is a Lamar Jackson-style dual-threat quarterback, but in his prime, Rodgers was great at extending plays and finding unique angles to throw on the move.

That hasn’t completely left his game, but Rodgers seems a lot stiffer trying to push through pressure these days. He had just one sack on Sunday, but Rodgers has notably recorded zero rushing yards over the last four weeks. He is cramped in the pocket and collapses under the weight of even semi-effective rushes.

Through eight weeks, Rodgers has completed 61.6 percent of his passes, which would be a new career low. He has 12 touchdowns but seven interceptions, and his yards per attempt (6.7) also pushes into career-worst territory.

The Jets traded for Davante Adams, Rodgers’ longtime friend and his most successful former running back at receiver. Even that didn’t snap the Jets out of this stupor.

New York faces Houston Texans in a short Halloween week, that should scare fans enough. That game is 2-7 all over the place. At that point, what can the Jets do? This season is dangerously close to being lost, and Rodgers doesn’t have much time left in the NFL. New York is once again finding a new and creative way to come apart at the seams.