The Hail Mary King struck again Monday night at the Meadowlands.
Aaron Rodgers, who’s spent much of his 20-year career perfecting the Hail Mary, delivered his first one as the Jets quarterback at the end of the first half against the Bills.
The Jets had the ball on their own 48-yard line with eight seconds remaining in the half and trailed the Bills, 20-10, 13 seconds after Buffalo had scored a touchdown.
After dancing around in the pocket for several seconds, Rodgers let the ball fly into the MetLife Stadium north end zone and Allen Lazard, Rodgers’ former receiver in Green Bay, outleaped five Buffalo defenders and came down with the ball amidst a heap of bodies.
The ball was jarred out of his hands by one of the Bills defensive players, which made the fans packing the stadium freeze for a moment thinking it was incomplete.
But Lazard had secured the ball and landed on the ground and then had the ball knocked out of his hands, and the call was “touchdown” on the 52-yard completion.
Three players surrounded Lazard as he made his jump — Buffalo cornerbacks Taron Johnson and Christian Benford and safety Taylor Rapp.
Lazard beat them all to the ball.
It was the fourth Hail Mary of Rodgers’ career and it gave the Jets a new life entering the halftime locker room, trailing just 20-17.