Aaron Rodgers doesn’t say no to many interviews, prompting Erin Andrews to call him out for not speaking with Charissa Thompson on Thursday Night Football.
Last week, Rodgers handed the New England Patriots their biggest loss to the New York Jets in 25 years, intimating the polarizing NFL quarterback is all the way back from last season’s career-threatening Achilles tear. Following the game, Rodgers spoke with Thursday Night Football sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung on the Amazon Prime broadcast, but he didn’t join Thompson, Tony Gonzalez, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andrew Whitworth, and Richard Sherman on their postgame show.
On the latest episode of their Calm Down podcast, Andrews and Thompson lauded Rodgers’ performance, noting that he told Hartung he “felt like his old self” during the win.
“I’d rather it have been up there on the desk,” Andrews said, explaining that she wished Rodgers would have made that same declaration during an interview with Thompson and the entire Thursday Night Football postgame crew. “I was looking forward to two of my really good friends yukking it up. I didn’t love it.”
While that was sort of said in jest, Andrews did note that as a reporter, you do expect interviews from athletes who you consider a friend. And apparently, Andrews and Thompson both consider Rodgers a friend, even though he snubbed Thursday Night Football’s postgame show.
“I get really sensitive when our people…it’s not that they don’t make the time – I’ve made jokes to Tom Brady about it, ‘Remember the game that you threw for 400 yards and you ran right past me on postgame and I reapplied lip gloss, are you insane?’ It’s just rude,” Andrews continued. “Or now Aaron, when I talk to you, ‘How dare you not go up on that desk with Charissa.’ It does get personal.”
It is a different atmosphere than sitting on set with Thompson and the NFL on Prime’s team of analysts, but Rodgers gave Hartung two full minutes immediately after the game. Without Rodgers making himself available, however, Thompson was left to speak with Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner following the Jets’ win. And luckily, Nikki Glaser still attempted to make Rodgers a focal point of the postgame show.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com