During NBC’s broadcast of the matchup between the New York Jets and Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday night, sideline reporter Melissa Stark caused quite the stir when she revealed that Aaron Rodgers had told her that he’s targeting a mid-December return from the torn Achilles injury he suffered in September.
“He told me that he has been working on a weight-limiting treadmill jogging at 50 percent of his body weight. His goal this week is to increase to 75 percent,” Stark said. “He said he can drop back, he can cross over. He just has to be able to get up on his toe. He has to get his heel off the ground to start running. His goal to come back: mid-December. He said, ‘I know it sounds insane. But you do a good surgery, you have a good patient, it makes this possible.'”
But while Rodgers has remained adamant about making what would be a science-defying recovery, he downplayed setting such a timeline during his weekly paid appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday.
“As far as what I talked to Melissa Stark about, I never said anything definitive,” Rodgers said. “She talked about having a conversation with my amazing doctor — she talked to my doctor about if it would be insane if I were to come back in three month and he responded about the fact that when you bring together the specific type of surgery, with a specific patient with the specific amount of stubbornness and desire to get back on the field and obviously playing quarterback, then there’s a possibility.
“Nothing’s changed as far as my timeline. We’ve gotta be in the mix and I’ve gotta be healthy and I definitely still want to come back.”
"I never said anything definitive about coming back in mid-December & nothing has changed as far as my timeline..
Melissa talked about having a conversation with my doctor..
We gotta be in the mix & I gotta be healthy & I definitely still wanna come back" @AaronRodgers12 pic.twitter.com/zhyEjKIjVe
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 14, 2023
There seems to be a disconnect between Stark’s reporting and Rodgers’ recounting of their conversation.
While Stark presented the information as if she had obtained it first-hand from Rodgers, the quarterback seems to be saying it actually came from his doctor. The last line of Stark’s report — “He said, ‘I know it sounds insane. But you do a good surgery, you have a good patient, it makes this possible'” — does sound as if it came from a doctor and not Rodgers himself, so perhaps the constraints of doing live television during a football game prevented her from properly sourcing the information during the hit.
Beyond Rodgers distancing himself from a set timeline for his recovery, it was interesting to hear him add that any potential return this season is predicated on the Jets remaining in the playoff hunt. At 4-5 in an ultra-competitive AFC, it wouldn’t be a surprise if New York was out of the mix one month from now. And if that’s the case, then we may never actually get a clear answer as to how ready Rodgers was to make a miraculous mid-season comeback.
