Shannon Sharpe accuses Dan Orlovsky of being an Aaron Rodgers shill

Aaron Rodgers has been a major disappointment through five weeks and Shannon Sharpe wants Dan Orlovsky to call the New York Jets quarterback out.

It wasn’t long ago that things were going great for the Jets, with Rodgers even feeling the need to preach the importance of learning how to handle success, albeit while owning a 2-1 record. Two weeks later, the Jets are 2-3 with a 40-year-old quarterback who looks old and frustrated. And Monday morning on ESPN’s First Take, Sharpe urged Orlovsky to hold Rodgers accountable.

“You didn’t blame the offense when they had those other quarterbacks, you blamed the quarterback! But you wanna stay in good graces and you won’t call Aaron Rodgers out!” Shannon Sharpe to Dan Orlovsky pic.twitter.com/v5qXYrznn8

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 7, 2024

“The offense was inept when they had Zach Wilson. The offense was inept when they had Mike White. It was inept when they had Joe Flacco. It was inept when they had Sam Darnold. I was told by somebody that played the position up here that they’re bringing a guy in,” Sharpe ranted to Orlovsky. “Now, they’re losing. Why are they losing, D.O? Because you keep saying, ‘inept offense.’

“Talk about the quarterback play…Nah, I’m not gonna let you blame the offense because you didn’t blame the offense when they had those other quarterbacks, you blamed the quarterback. But you wanna stay in good graces and you won’t call Aaron Rodgers out! He’s playing awful! You know it, everybody in New York knows it and everybody around the NFL knows it. He’s playing terrible! Call it like you see it.”

Sharpe was on First Take last season, when Wilson started 11 games for the Jets at quarterback. Sharpe, however, was not on ESPN when the Jets were starting White, Flacco or Darnold, which would imply he doesn’t have evidence to back up the claim that Orlovsky blamed those putrid Jets offenses on their quarterback.

“Shannon, he said it himself! I don’t need to go on national television that Aaron Rodgers played poorly,” Orlovsky argued. “First of all, I never blamed the quarterbacks in New York, I always blamed the situation. I’m the guy who tries to put context on performances. I’m not telling anybody that Aaron has played well the past two weeks…but it’s also not my job to go on national television and talk about a Hall-of-Fame quarterback when I was a back-up quarterback and say that he stinks.”

Well, that puts Stephen A. Smith in an awkward spot. Because if Orlovsky can’t say Rodgers stinks, what gives Smith the credentials to call out any professional athlete?

That feels like a cop-out by Orlovsky, who has been accused of giving certain quarterbacks preferential treatment before. Usually, however, that quarterback is Matthew Stafford, who Orlovsky is open about being close friends with. But while Orlovsky wasn’t the level of quarterback that Stafford or Rodgers are, it shouldn’t stop him from being able to critique them.

Because a lack of Hall-of-Fame credentials certainly isn’t going to stop anyone else from calling professional athletes out.

[First Take]