Aaron Rodgers Discusses Malachi Corey’s Dropped Touchdown

Thursday night's game between the New York Jets and the Houston Texans was not an enjoyable football game to watch. One of the ugliest games of the year though, with more combined penalty yards than the Texans had passing yards late in the fourth quarter, somehow provided several remarkable highlights.

The first being perhaps the most frustrating Jets play of the season. Rookie wide receiver Malachi Corley took a quick toss to the end zone, but dropped the ball onto the turf before actually crossing the goal line. 

Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers had a front row seat to Corley's mistake, and spoke about it during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday afternoon.

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets looks on during the third quarter against the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

Aaron Rodgers Doesn't Hold Mistake Against Malachi Corley

Rodgers told McAfee that the Jets had actually coached the team on this exact possibility after seeing Kyle Pitts do almost the exact same thing a week ago.

"You never know what you’re gonna see in a game. I will say: we get a little around-the-league analytics conversation, time management, clock management, things to do, things not to do presentation every week from our guy Smash [situational coordinator Dan Shamash] and he showed the Kyle Pitts play — which I believe was last week," Rodgers said. 

"So, it’s definitely on his radar. Great play call. Great execution. Only thing I’d say to Malachi, and I said this on the sidelines, is ‘Why would you ever drop the ball? That was your first touchdown.’ You celebrate with that thing, you run to the sideline with that thing, and you give it to [an equipment staffer] and say, 'This is mine.’"

"But listen, he was excited. It was a play that happened. It sucks. It’s disappointing. Nobody feels worse than he does, but it’s kind of a crazy thing," Rodgers continued. 

"I was getting made fun of because I was telling Tae [Davante Adams] and Garrett [Wilson], 'You guys score these touchdowns and hold the ball up before you get to the end zone, I guess I’m an old white guy, but can we just run through the middle of the letters, please?’"

That's the only way to handle these types of situations; obviously Corley didn't do it on purpose, and now that it's happened, it'll never happen again. That said though, all was forgiven because the Jets held on to win the game. Had they not, it might be a different story.

Rodgers' suggestion seems like a smart one though: run through the middle of the letters. It's a near guarantee to never result in embarrassment.