There’s no helping Mike Greenberg anymore. The Get Up host has cycled through the five stages of grief since Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending Achilles injury. But it seems that the crazed New York Jets fan has decided to skip the final stage, acceptance, entirely.
Maybe it’s time we take a step back here. And I write this as someone who once believed that an Adam Gase-coached Jets team, that went 2-14, would have a chance at going 9-7. So, I understand the optimism, but let’s pump the brakes and take a walk, shall we?
On Tuesday’s edition of the show, Greenberg suggested that the Jets were the biggest threat to the Chiefs in the AFC, while fellow ESPNers Dan Graziano, Dominique Foxworth, and Jeff Saturday all chose the Dolphins. Based on New York struggling to put away a Denver Broncos team that allowed 70 points to Miami, that’s hard to envision. But that’s not even the craziest part of this take, which for all accounts, Greenberg believes.
Mike Greenberg, who doesn't seem to be kidding, is banking on Aaron Rodgers returning in Week 13. pic.twitter.com/eNGveU31gR
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 10, 2023
“I once again [am] staying with the Jets,” Greenberg said. “I’m telling you right now, if the Jets keep it to .500 by Week 12, Aaron Rodgers is coming back! He’s coming back!! And he’s gonna do exactly what Brady did. They were .500 with like three or four games left in the season—his first season in Tampa—they caught fire, he got fire, and the next thing you know, they win the Super Bowl. Aaron can do it.”
This would be all fine and logical if Rodgers had two healthy Achilles tendons, like Brady did that season, as Saturday and Foxworth made sure to point out to Greenberg. The other point here is that the Buccaneers were never at .500 during Week 12 or 13 of the 2020 NFL season. In fact, the only time that season that the Bucs were .500 was after they started 1-1. They entered their bye week at 7-5 after back-to-back losses, but that’s still not .500.
You have to remember that Rodgers ruptured his Achilles tendon on Sept. 11, so a return in Week 12 or 13 would be nearly three months after surgery. Whether it’s embarking on a four-day darkness retreat, cosplaying as Cameron Poe, or debuting a new tattoo, it’s hard to categorize Rodgers as “normal,” but even he may categorize those expectations as being unrealistic.
Rodgers has previously hinted at a return this season, but that’s more so being thought of as targeting the playoffs. First, the Jets have to get there. At the same time, Rodgers has also been pretty limited on details of how he could approach recovery differently than others, and return much sooner than is medically advised. He said he would hold his approach “tight to the vest,” but he referenced his decision to get the surgery so quickly after the injury as one tactic.
Rodgers also joked that “there’s an idea that the noise from the Dolphins with some of their lovemaking, the frequency of that is actually healing to the body.”
Perhaps when he isn’t having vaccine debates with “Mr. Pfizer,” Rodgers can get Greenberg to slow his role, but alas…
Foxworth jokingly told Greenberg that he was with him, but he was left at a loss for words, sounding a bit like Charlie Brown’s teacher.
“It can happen,” said Greenberg. “I’m telling you right now. I’m not giving up. I’m not giving up! The odds are getting longer. It’s an opportunity to buy low and sell high.”
As Foxworth mentions, it’s also an opportunity to sell low and then sell even lower.
[Awful Announcing on Twitter]
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.