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The attacks on Aaron Rodgers in the corporate media have been relentless this week.
Some advice for Aaron Rodgers.
If you want to get the media off your back, leak stuff to them, golf with them.
Their criticism will go elsewhere.
But I don’t think he will do that, nor should he.
It’s amazing what an echo chamber the corporate media has become. Check out some of these attacks on Rodgers this week. They kind of seem hive-minded.
“[Rodgers] seems to take particular glee in dragging Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, mostly for his commercials advocating flu and COVID-19 vaccines and perhaps subconsciously for the massive attention Kelce has received for his relationship with Taylor Swift.” – ESPN’s Tim Keown.
“Rodgers will most likely return to football activities with no restrictions at offseason practices in April, which puts him almost exactly in line with the recovery timeline the medical community he so resents.” – Nora Princiotti, The Ringer.
“I don’t think he ever thought he was going to play. I think this was all his attempt to be able to put his middle fingers up to modern medical science.” – FS1’s Nick Wright.
“Rodgers has made a late-career shift into carnival barker extraordinaire. He got hoodwinked by junk science during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and somehow thought that made him a renegade.” – Nancy Armour, USA Today.
I don’t want to get into vaccine debates here. To each his own.
But for goodness sake, can these people make their agenda a little less obvious?
But let’s focus on Rodgers and football here.
The Jets season wasn’t just ruined because he hurt his Achilles four plays into the season.
It was ruined by not having a good backup plan to him and a culture that needs to be fixed. Stop pushing us to vote for your players for the Pro Bowl when you have lost five of your last six games and missed the playoffs for 13 straight years, a current pro sports high. That is bad for the culture. Just win baby.
Now, Rogers appearing on that show with the host in the tank top surrounded by clapping seals certainly is a distraction, But honestly, Rodgers is the least of their problems.
People in the echo chamber are writing that Rodgers has too much say in Jets’ decisions. I contend he doesn’t have enough and needs more moving forward.
He has his warts, but also a future Hall of Famer who knows what a winning program, and, what a winning culture looks like.
Woody, Robert and Joe need to listen to him more, not less. Ignore the echo chamber.
Was Allen Lazard a bad signing? No. When Rodgers returns, you will see he’s just fine as a #2 receiver. It’s hard to be a #2 receiver on a team with a one-read QB.
Was Randall Cobb a bad signing? No., It’s hard to be a #3 receiver with a one-read QB.
Was Billy Turner a bad signing? No and Yes. No, if they told him to put on 15-20 pounds. Bad if they allow him to play at his current weight where he looks like a big tight end. That isn’t on Rodgers, that is on the coaches.
Was Nate Hackett a bad hire? With Rodgers at QB no? Without him, maybe. But with Rodgers, the veteran QB takes the call and changes many plays at the line based on the defensive look. They are co-offensive coordinators when they are together. But with a young QB, who isn’t a maestro at the line, maybe Hackett is pedestrian.
So this idea that Rodgers gave the Jets some bad advice is kind of overblown.
And I were them I’d say, “Aaron help us out as much as possible. We are all ears.”
December 21, 2023
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