Aaron Rodgers says recent rehab has been tough, but he's still ahead of schedule

Aaron Rodgers will be back inside MetLife Stadium and on the field playing catch again this weekend. Rodgers might even toss the football around with Eli Manning, this time.

Rodgers asked Manning to have a catch before the Jets play the Giants on Sunday.

Every time Rodgers throws the football on the field, he gets a little closer to returning this season from a torn left Achilles tendon. During his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers said rehab has been tough lately and the next major step in his recovery is walking normally without a limp.

“It’s been kind of smaller gains,” Rodgers said Tuesday. "When you get to a certain point you’re not maybe having the jumps that I did early on. … It’s been more of a grind the last week or so. But a lot of good things we’re trending towards.

“Just a matter of trying to get to 100 percent walking as far as it looking normal. After that there’s progressions that will maybe start to take a bigger jump. Once I can get to walking normal in a shoe  - which is close, really close - then we’ll make a jump.”

Rodgers, who got injured in Week 1, wants to play again this season. He hasn’t put any timetable on when he would return. Rodgers still has some markers he needs to reach before that even can become a discussion with his doctor and the Jets.

That goal seemed farfetched until Rodgers walked without crutches and played catch before the Jets beat the Eagles 10 days ago. He also stood on the sideline the entire game.

This was by design - almost.

Rodgers said he planned to walk on the field without crutches and play catch that day. But he also meant to bring the crutches with him when he flew from California to New Jersey. He said he thought they were in the car he took to the airport. Rodgers accidentally left them at home. He felt the universe was telling him he didn’t need crutches anymore.

“I felt like that was kind of a sign, ‘Ok, you’re done with the crutches,” Rodgers said. “I haven’t been on crutches since that day. But I don’t quite have the strength in my calf to be able to walk without a limp yet.”

Rodgers, who had surgery six weeks ago, is ahead of schedule but he’s still aggravated that he’s not as far along as he wants to be.

“Based on normal timetables, I have to have some perspective here because I’m not on a normal protocol,” Rodgers said. “However, I’m competitive and I want to be walking without a limp so there’s frustration when you’re not quite all the way there yet.”

Rodgers said all the muscles around the Achilles are getting stronger and he’s “getting close” to having “a perfect gait” when he walks on an Alter G Anti-Gravity Treadmill

“You’ve got to be careful walking too much with a limp because you’re going to start adjusting to certain things,” Rodgers said. “That’s why we do so much work on the Alter G walking at a lower body percentage to try and retrain yourself to have a proper gait to get everything firing at the same time.”

Rodgers is doing his part to keep the dream alive. The Jets have to continue to do theirs by staying in the playoff race.

The Jets won two in a row to go into their bye with a 3-3 record. They come out of it with three winnable games against sub-.500 teams, starting with the Giants.

“The environment will be crazy and the human nature side of it will feed into that,” receiver Garrett Wilson said during his weekly spot on “The Bart and Hahn Show” on ESPN New York. “Just get to 4-3. We feel like everything’s in front of us. None of that happens if you don’t take care of the opponent right in front of you.”

Rodgers said it will be strange to be the road team in MetLife, but he’s looking forward to being there and feeling like he’s part of the team again.

“It’ll be fun to get back in there,” Rodgers said. “I know it will be painted blue but there will be a lot of green in the stands.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.