Aaron Rodgers can’t quite keep himself out of the headlines and the Green Bay Packers was back in them this week following COVIDToeGate.
On Tuesday, Rodgers appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and talked about how he was feeling after testing positive for COVID-19 a couple of weeks back (which was a whole thing), saying he had “no lingering effects, other than the COVID toe.” That led Andrew Beaton of The Wall Street Journal to talk with Harvard associate professor Dr. Esther Freeman about the actual medical condition known as “COVID toe” (a casual reference for pernio or chilblains, older medical issues that have seen recent uptick as a complication of COVID-19).
During a Zoom call with media on Wednesday, Rodgers showed off his injured toe, telling reporters that the injury is, in fact, a fractured toe. He then said that he did not have chilblains before wrongly chastising Molly Knight for writing the COVID toe piece and then going on a rant about “disinformation” as he is wont to do.
Sunday, Rodgers and the Packers took on the Los Angeles Rams in a game with huge implications for the NFC playoff picture. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were on the call for Fox and Buck apparently came ready for Rodgers. As the Packers quarterback took the field for the first time, he referred to him as “Mr. Bad Toe,” a sign of things to come.
Hey Mr. Bad Toe. pic.twitter.com/HRYyH4KiKP
— Sean Keeley (@SeanKeeleyIsMe) November 28, 2021
There’s something about the rock music that makes it feel like a snippet from a song that will surely be making the rounds on TikTok by Monday.
However, Buck was saving his best work for after the commercial break when Erin Andrews provided an update on Rodgrers’ toe.
“He took a pain-killing injection pre-game where he said he can only feel nine toes,” said Andrews. “And he told us his play will not be limited.”
Without skipping a beat, Buck responded by saying “So Aaron is telling us that he’s has his toe immunized against the pain.”
Credit to Joe Buck for having this one in the chamber and getting through this without a hint of giddiness pic.twitter.com/N3c6sFldsQ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 28, 2021
Buck’s cold-blooded quip was in response to Rodgers’ initial statement about whether or not he was vaccinated back in August, saying at the time that he was “immunized.”
Naturally, a lot of fun was had at Buck’s bit on social media.
Joe Buck feeling himself after that toe-immunized line.
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) November 28, 2021
Between this and Brockmire, Joe Buck is forever in good standing with me https://t.co/0rEMzzgxC5
— Ben Koo (@bkoo) November 28, 2021
https://twitter.com/friscojosh/status/1465071639775756292
Joe Buck: Aaron Rodgers told us he had his toe immunized against pain.
Goddamn, Joe with the haymakers.
— My name's Matt but you can call me Matub (@CallMeMatub) November 28, 2021
Between this and Buck’s fantastic zinger at the Detroit Lions’ expense on Thursday, he’s been in rare form lately. Who knows what else Joe has waiting in the chamber for Rodgers. We might have some more quips to add to the list before this game is over.