GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Jets were embarrassed 31-6 by the Cardinals on Sunday and are now 3-7. Here are some thoughts and observations from the game:

1. I’ve discussed many coaches and young players arriving with the Jets talking about turning things around and ending the Same Old Jets conversation. Then at some point you see their appearance change. They look beaten, perplexed and miserable after being beaten down by the Jets’ losing ways.

Aaron Rodgers had that look on Sunday.

On the field, he shouted and waved his arms in frustration. At the post-match press conference, his answers were short and quiet. The vagueness had disappeared.

As I chuckled at some of the coaches or rookies who came in to talk about championships, I actually thought Rodgers, one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, could beat the Jets’ bad vibes. While a Super Bowl would be a tall order, I thought it could lead them to the playoffs.

But now Rodgers has been eaten alive by the Same Old Jets. He looks nothing like the old Aaron Rodgers, but an old Aaron Rodgers. On Sunday, he seemed afraid to hold the ball and look downfield despite decent pass protection. His longest pass was a 15-yard checkdown to Breece Hall.

The Jets traded for his BFF Davante Adams thinking it would lead to this offense, but the two didn’t connect once in Sunday’s first half. On the goal line early in the third quarter, with a chance to get back into the game, he missed Adams twice.

During the Jets’ five-game losing streak last month, Rodgers got beat up and his struggle with it was explainable. But he is healthy now. Last week he trained fully for the first time since the start of the season.

This isn’t about a barking knee or a hamstring grab. Looks like Rodgers has fallen off the cliff. Rodgers passed for just 151 yards on Sunday despite 35 attempts. He’s never had so few yards on so many attempts in his career.

The Jets took a gamble with the Rodgers trade. They knew he was about to turn 40 and had a bad year in 2022. The risk was understandable, but it was a risk. It carried the risk that all decision makers would be fired if it didn’t work. Robert Saleh already watches Jets games from his couch. Joe Douglas is unlikely to return in 2025. The Jets will face a painful rebuild and Rodgers will cost them $49 million in dead money.

As for Rodgers, people will forget this Jets stint because that’s what it was – completely forgettable. It will be a footnote in his great career like the Chargers are for Johnny Unitas and the Rams are for Joe Namath.

The Rodgers experiment failed. Same Old Jets wins again.

2. Another trend with the Jets over the years has been young, good players getting crushed by losses. You can feel this happening now with Garrett Wilson, Sauce Gardner and Breece Hall. I’m not sure the Jets can do anything. You feel sorry for these players. They are talented and have probably won most of their careers. But now they’re staring at a third straight losing season. This year would be different with a healthy Rodgers.

You could sense Wilson’s frustration in the locker room after the game. He has had some dynamic moments this season, most notably his catch against the Texans. But Wilson wants to win. He doesn’t have the diva tendencies of many receivers. But here he was explaining away another loss, another game in which the Jets didn’t reach the end zone. It felt like the game could have been ripped from 2022 or ’23.

The only difference from those years, however, is that the defense generally played well in 2022 and ’23. That didn’t happen on Sunday. Gardner was partially responsible for his big missed tackle on third down. Gardner seems bewildered by this season and you can feel his frustration growing.

Jets fans should hope that these young stars don’t get tired of the Jets and ask for a trade this offseason. It will be tempting for a new general manager to deal with one and make enough choices to speed up the rebuilding process. The Jets have been down this road so many times before when they dealt players who looked like they would be career-long stars — Keyshawn Johnson, John Abraham, Darrelle Revis, Leonard Williams and Jamal Adams come to mind.

It would be sad to see the Jets move on from Gardner, Wilson or Hall for Jets fans. But it can be a relief after all this loss for the player.

3. What happened to the once mighty Jets defense? It’s not an easy answer. Here’s my list of what I think went wrong:

A) This season they were on their way to some regression. The defense has played so well the last two years. It is difficult to maintain that level. Even with a slight regression, the Jets would still have a good defense.

B) The loss of Bryce Huff and John Franklin-Myers was huge. These two were productive and popular players in the locker room. I had a player tell me that he always knew Franklin-Myers would make the tackle when the opponent ran towards him. They never worried about backs reaching the second level when JFM was there. I know Huff didn’t have a good year in Philadelphia, but he is built for this defense. Huff just turned out to be a very good player and the Jets let him walk. Haason Reddick was invisible on Sunday.

C) Firing Robert Saleh has clearly had an effect on this defense. I’m not sure if it’s from a schematic standpoint and they’re missing his defensive mind, or if Jeff Ulbrich is just overwhelmed with both the head coach and defensive coordinator positions. Whatever it is, the defense has gotten much worse since Saleh has been gone.

4. Lost in this mess of a game Sunday was Tyron Smith leaving the game with a neck injury and not playing the second half. This could lead to a significant change as 2024 first-round pick Olu Fashanu now plays left tackle. Smith hasn’t had a good season, so it can’t be a big loss. You knew Smith was going to get hurt at some point. That was part of the logic in drafting Fashanu No. 11 overall. Now the Jets could get an extended look at Fashanu. If the Jets believe Fashanu can protect Rodgers, they should just let him play the rest of the season and let him develop. We’ve reached that part of the season with the record where it is.

Revealing stat

Rodgers averaged 4.3 yards per attempt on Sunday and seemed afraid to throw deep. This season he is averaging 6.4 yards per attempt. That’s the lowest in his career since he became a starter in 2008.

Surprising number of snaps

Braelon Allen had just 14 snaps in Sunday’s game. Breece Hall played 47. I don’t understand why the gap is so big. Allen can move the ball through the middle. He is productive when he plays. The Jets need to give him a bigger role.

Game ball

The Jets missed numerous tackles, but Jamien Sherwood made seventeen. Sherwood continues to have a breakout season, playing in place of CJ Mosley and was one of the few positive players on Sunday.