New York Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams said quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ passes don’t sound like the footballs thrown by other quarterbacks.

“When I’m on the defensive line and the ball goes right past my head,” Williams said, “you just hear this little whistle like ‘shhhhew’ go right past your head, so it’s like, man, he’s getting it out there fast.”

Williams and the Jets are hoping those passes can make a difference for the franchise, which hasn’t been to the playoffs since the 2010 season – a postseason drought that’s five years longer than any other NFL team’s.

In the 13 seasons since, New York has had 17 starting quarterbacks, including Rodgers for one game. After the Jets obtained the four-time NFL MVP in a trade with the Green Bay Packers last year, Rodgers sustained a season-ending injury on his fourth snap of the opening game.

After almost a year in hibernation, the optimism surrounding a Rodgers-led Jets team is back for 2024.

“I enjoyed it, man,” Williams said about the team’s training camp during an appearance on NBC Sports’ “Pro Football Talk.” “Going against a great guy like Aaron Rodgers and a great offensive line today that we have has been unbelievable, man, so getting a chance to iron sharpen iron and battle it out every single day and get each other better has been great for me. Reminds me back to those Alabama days.”

A former Wenonah High School standout, Williams was an All-American and the Outland Trophy winner with the Crimson Tide in 2018.

During an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Williams said Rodgers set a winning example for the Jets.

“You see him in the weight room,” Williams said. “He’s squatting 405 and doing different things in the weight room, and you just see that’s a 40-year-old quarterback just getting after it every single day. Coming in early every single day. Last one to leave every single day. That’s the reason why he’s a Hall of Famer because of the way he works, the way he treats people, the way he analyzes the game itself, and it just spreads to the whole team because you got a guy like that doing it every single day.

“And everybody wants to be a Hall of Fame-caliber person in their position, so it’s like, ‘OK, he’s a Hall of Fame quarterback, and that’s how he works. OK, I’m going to work the same way, I’m going to treat people the same way and I’m going to go about things the same way.’”

Last season, only two NFL defenses yielded fewer yards than New York’s did. But only one NFL offense gained fewer yards than the Jets’. The prospect of coupling an offense helmed by Rodgers with New York’s defense has the Jets expecting better than their 2023 showing of 7-10 in 2024.

“Honestly, I just want to win,” Williams said during an appearance on “NFL Network.” “No matter how many touchdowns they score, no matter how they do it, I just want to win at the end of the day, so I’m looking forward to just doing my job to the best of my ability and executing at a high level no matter if we’re up, no matter if we’re down, no matter what the circumstance, so I’m just looking forward to dominate every single play and just be consistent.”

The Jets kick off the season in the Week 1 Monday night game against the San Francisco 49ers at 7:15 CDT at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. New York’s schedule then sends the Jets to face the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 15 before playing the New England Patriots in the Week 3 Thursday night game – three games in 11 days to open the season.

“We’ve been grinding this whole training camp,” Williams said, “so it’s going to be nothing new to us, man. We’ve been working hard, grinding this whole training camp and doing the necessary things we’re doing to get our bodies right for the season and for the grind. The whole season is a grind, especially when you talk to guys who go to the Super Bowl and then win the Super Bowl and stuff like that.

“It’s all a grind, so having the mindset to win football games and do the necessary things we need to do to be consistent on the field and off the field is going to help us with that.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.