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Sports Seriously
The New York Jets snapped a four-game losing streak Sunday with a 32-25 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers had one of his best games of the season, throwing for 289 yards and three touchdowns with zero turnovers.
As he did last week, Rodgers made an appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday after the win. The four-time NFL MVP criticized sports media in his segment last Tuesday for how coverage has changed during his playing career. He said some of the pundits on sports shows have opinions that are “unfounded or asinine” and “believe they’re the celebrities now.”
ESPN NFL analyst and 13-year NFL veteran Ryan Clark responded to Rodgers’ criticism on the network’s “First Take” show last Friday. Clark called him “a fraud,” “tone-deaf,” “unaware” and argued Rodgers is doing exactly what he’s accusing others of: being paid to say “asinine things.”
Here’s what Rodgers had to say about Clark’s criticism Tuesday.
Aaron Rodgers’ response to Ryan Clark
Rodgers spent an hour on “The Pat McAfee Show” discussing topics like drones in New York, the Jets’ win over Jacksonville, the latest on the Jets’ search for a general manager, the NFL MVP race, the NFC division races, his Netflix documentary and the College Football Playoff.
After that hour, McAfee started to say “ladies and gentlemen, Aaron Rodgers” before Rodgers cut him off.
“I’m not done,” he said, to which McAfee replied “oh (expletive).”
Rodgers then went into what he called “just a quick PSA reminder” for the show.
“Say whatever the (expletive) you want about me, I don’t care, but just before you do it, whether you state your name, your accolades, pronouns, whatever it is, just state your [vaccination] status so that anything you say afterwards gets put in the right light,” he said. “Just get it out there.”
He did not name anyone individually at ESPN or elsewhere, but continued to emphasize vaccination status.
“Then when you say things about me people can at least be like, ‘oh, you are captured by the multimillion-dollar propaganda Skyhawk and you’re still upset about it,'” he continued. “Just so everybody knows where you’re coming from, everybody knows ‘okay, cool, you’re twice [vaccinated with] Moderna with three booster shots’ and then say what you want to say, whatever.”
McAfee and co-host A.J. Hawk both commented that this will help things at the network, likely referring to comments from Clark and others at ESPN.
“I don’t care,” Rodgers went on. “I’m just saying a PSA, just please help everybody who’s wondering ‘where is this coming from?’ Including myself… do a little bit of digging and then you know where it’s all coming from. You’re captured, you’re highly vaccinated and then say whatever the hell you want to say about me [because] I couldn’t give two (expletive)s about it.”
Rodgers ended with a request that media members put their vaccination status on-air in their biographies instead of their accolades “because [they] cared so much about it during the COVID years.”
He then made his lone reference to Clark, saying “you don’t just need a broach with your initials.” Clark wore a gold lapel with his initials “RC” on it during his appearance on “First Take” criticizing Rodgers’ assessment of sports media.
“Put your [vaccination] status on there too,” he said.
Minutes later, Rodgers said his comments on sports media obviously “struck a nerve.”
“My whole point in saying that was, most of you, nobody remembers your career,” he said. “Nobody remembers it. Guess what, in five or ten years you’re not going to remember my career either… in five or ten years when people forget about my career, I’m not gonna need to find some sort of relevance to be on TV. So all I’m just saying is just be humble when you’re talking about guys.”
Pat McAfee details paying Aaron Rodgers for appearances
After he finished, McAfee attempted to clarify reports that his company paid Rodgers for his appearances. Rodgers said minutes earlier that this year he did not “take a dollar” from the show.
“The amount of time and effort that you gave to our business on those Tuesdays and the value that it brought, I felt obligated to give you money,” McAfee said. “I felt in my soul obligated to pay somebody whose value is what it is… that whole thing being held against me, I was so confused… I had no idea that would be viewed in a negative way.”
Ryan Clark’s response to Aaron Rodgers
Clark responded on social media to Rodgers’ latest comments on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“Man, I wish @PatMcAfeeShow would’ve let him keep going! It just got good,” Clark wrote. “I don’t know about the Vax stuff, but shoot he almost put a name on it. It’s a lapel pin BTW!!”
Clark added that he has no issue with McAfee’s show or the host paying Rodgers for his appearances, but he does have an issue with Rodgers “behaving like he’s not paid to do exactly what the people he’s talking about do.”
The ESPN analyst went on to say he’d love to clear up any rumors about jealousy regarding his view of McAfee and the show.
“I only want to speak to [McAfee] because I didn’t say anything negative about him and spoke with no ill intent,” Clark wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “So him jumping in this for Aaron is confusing if he’s calling me jealous or thinking I’m attacking his business model.”
Clark ended his responses on social media in saying that he has the Pivot Podcast, which is nominated for a 2024 Sports Emmy in the “Outstanding Hosted Edited Series” category.