From Love to Wilson, former Utah signal callers stepped up to open NFL's 2023 season

AROUND THE SHIELD — Aaron Rodgers' debut with the New York Jets lasted as long as an emotional runout with an American flag in the Big Apple on the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, plus four more snaps.

The future Hall of Fame quarterback had to be removed from the Jets' Monday Night Football clash with upstate rival Buffalo with an ankle injury that Jets officials feared was an Achilles' injury. By Tuesday morning, those fears were realized with a torn Achilles tendon, as first reported by ESPN, the Associated Press and others.

Because of the nature of the injury, the extremity and Rodgers' age, there is a lot of concern around the organization — so much that head coach Robert Saleh addressed the former Green Bay quarterback's status before taking a question following New York's 22-16 overtime win Monday night.

"Concerned with his Achilles," Saleh said somberly, per the AP. "MRI is probably going to confirm what we think is going to happen, so prayers tonight. But it's not good."

A few months after trading a massive haul to Green Bay for Rodgers, New York's quarterback hopes lie once again with former BYU quarterback Zach Wilson — though the franchise has already "started to reach out to veteran free-agent quarterbacks," the Athletic's Dianna Russini said.

The Jets brought in Rodgers in exchange for the No. 15 overall pick and a fifth-round selection in this year's draft back on April 26. The Packers also received the No. 13 pick, a second-rounder, a sixth-rounder and a conditional second-round pick in 2024 that would have become a first-round selection if Rodgers played 65% of New York's plays this season.

Zach is back

Now the franchise is likely back in the hands of Wilson, the Corner Canyon product who struggled in his second season after being drafted No. 2 overall and caused New York brass to go searching for a veteran great.

Is Wilson ready for the long-term start again?

"I've just got to keep getting better," Wilson told reporters late Monday night. "Trust my feet, trust my coaches, trust the guys around me, rely on this defense that we have and progressively just rely on everything I feel like I've done throughout training camp, as well. Just do my best to keep improving as a player."

Even after just one summer practicing alongside one of the signal callers he grew up idolizing and a training camp chronicled by HBO's "Hard Knocks," Wilson appeared more poised and mature in handling the devastating news of Rodgers' likely Achilles injury — and "a lot more prepared" to take back the reins of his team.

"The hardest part is putting that into a game," Wilson said. "I've got to be able to do that. Going into this week, it's applying everything that he's kind of helped walk us through and being able to watch him and the coaches, how they've handled this offense. I've got to be able to handle that efficiently."

Wilson completed 14-of-21 passes for 140 yards, a touchdown and an interception with two sacks taken for the Jets (1-0), but led a pair of fourth-quarter drives that ended in a 3-yard circus catch for a touchdown by Garrett Wilson with 4:55 to go and Greg Zuerlein's go-ahead field goal from 30 yards with 1:48 remaining.

New York forced four turnovers on defense, including a three-interception game from Jordan Whitehead off Bills quarterback Josh Allen. The former Wyoming star then led his own game-tying drive nine plays over 43 yards in 1:46 to set up Tyler Bass' 50-yard field goal to force overtime.

After Buffalo punted on its first possession of the extra period, Xavier Gipson — a rookie undrafted free agent out of Stephen F. Austin — zigged and zagged 65 yards on a punt return a minute into overtime to seal the win and set off pandemonium at MetLife Stadium.

"The defense obviously getting four turnovers was huge; we've got to capitalize on those more as an offense," Wilson told SNY's Jeane Coakley on the field. "But then the finish like that, with Xavier, a young dude who has so much talent — I'm so happy for him. An unbelievable team win."

For the Love

Wilson wasn't the only Utah-made quarterback who produced under the bright lights of the NFL's opening weekend.

After two seasons mentoring under Rodgers, former Utah State quarterback Jordan Love — himself a first-round pick — stepped into the role of full-time signal caller and led the Packers to a 38-20 win over the Chicago Bears.

Love completed 15-of-27 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, a 123 passer rating to go along with three runs for 12 yards while out-dueling Chicago counterpart Justin Fields (24-of-37 passing for 216 yards, one touchdown and one interception).

The native of Bakersfield, California, wasn't always flashy in his debut. But he was poised, collected and more than good enough as he found his receivers, including Romeo Doubs four times for 26 yards and two scores.

"Obviously, that was the plan for us, to come in here and start the season off the right way," said Love, who received the game ball in the postgame locker room after leading the offense to 329 yards on 60 plays. "I think we did that in all three phases. ... It just feels good to get a win."

Love had four completions of 30 yards or more, and admitted he "slept great last night" before his debut — devoid of butterflies and nerves, apparently.

"I was pretty tired," he said. "After we got done with meetings and everything, I was looking forward to getting to bed. But we had a little bit of a later kickoff, and looked forward to sleeping in until about 8 o'clock or so this morning. It was pretty nice."

Perhaps more importantly, Love earned the trust of his Packers teammates with his performance.

"There's a big time belief in that locker room for Jordan Love," Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said. "The guys are going to rally around him. They're excited for him; they love him and respect him."

But can he punt, too?

Former BYU quarterback Taysom Hill also made news over the weekend, but not necessarily for the 20 snaps or so he played across offense and special teams in the New Orleans Saints' 16-15 win over the Tennessee Titans.

Hill made waves after CBS broadcaster Ross Tucker called the Pocatello, Idaho, native was one of the best football players "ever" while calling the game.

"I'm talking about the pure essence of playing football," Tucker explained Monday in an interview with Jim Rome regarding the part-time quarterback, running back, tight end, kick returner and punt gunner. "To me, he's the closest thing in my lifetime to what evidently Jim Thorpe and those guys did back in the day."

To be fair, Tucker also hasn't seen Hill line up at kicker — which he did briefly in practice when he first got to BYU after committing to Stanford. He also played punter as a sophomore at Highland High in Pocatello, where he moonlighted at kicker, cornerback, safety and linebacker before lettering in basketball and track and field.

Here's a look at how other former high school and college football standouts from Utah performed in Week 1 of the 2023 NFL regular season.

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