Aaron Rodgers Completed The 4th Hail Mary Of His Career To End The First Half Against The Bills

Aaron Rodgers may not be what he once was as a four-time NFL MVP, but despite his age and limited mobility post-Achilles injury, he still has one of the best arms in the NFL. When given time, he can absolutely send it, and over his career he has punished teams that give him time to chuck it downfield at the end of halves, completing three Hail Mary passes in his career entering Monday night against the Bills.

That total is now up to four successful Hail Mary throws, as the Bills opted to rush just two with eight seconds to play in the first half and the Jets with the ball near midfield, allowing Rodgers to load up and huck one to the end zone, where Allen Lazard hauled it in over a trio of Bills defenders to make it a 20-17 game at the half — the ball got ripped out after Lazard was already on the ground, making it a clean catch for a TD despite initially being called incomplete by the first official.

It’s an incredible play by Lazard, who uses his size to box out the Bills defensive backs to make the play, but it really is unbelievable how often Rodgers is able to pull this off. As Troy Aikman joked on the broadcast, it’s just throwing it up and hoping your guys can make a play, but Rodgers does have a knack for putting the right amount of air under the ball to make it a true jump ball and let his taller receivers out-leap smaller DBs. While this one wasn’t a game-winner, it did keep the Jets in the game after Josh Allen drove the Bills down to make it 20-10 with under 30 seconds to play in the quarter.