While many NFL fans are starting to believe the New York Jets are getting their superstar quarterback back this season, count Joe Buck as an Aaron Rodgers truther.
Buck joined The Michael Kay Show Monday afternoon ahead of the Jets’ second Monday Night Football appearance of the season. During the interview, Kay asked Buck if he’s “hungrily guzzling the Kool-Aid” that Rodgers will return this season like their colleague Mike Greenberg is.
Joe Buck told The Michael Kay Show he doesn’t think Aaron Rodgers is coming back this season. pic.twitter.com/pmczW3izid
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 6, 2023
“I think the odds are against it,” Buck admitted. “I’m not guzzling any Kool-Aid. I’m not. I think that you’re a long way away and I’m not putting limits on anybody, especially a man who believes in attention and all the stuff that he talks about.”
Shortly after Rodgers tore his Achilles in September, he joined The Pat McAfee Show and said, “Give me the doubts, give me the timetables, give me all the things you think can, should or will happen, because all I need is that one little extra percent of inspiration.” Rodgers can take Buck’s answer to Kay as fuel for his comeback then because ESPN’s voice of Monday Night Football definitely doesn’t think the Jets are getting their quarterback back this season.
“I think we’re a long way away from seeing him being able to move laterally, have a 300lb guy land on him, being pushed awkwardly against that tendon,” Buck continued. “And I get the sense from the Jets that…I think they’re being honest about it. There’s a chance, but I think the chances are more that he doesn’t compare to that he does.”
Buck is not guzzling the Kool-Aid quite like Greenberg, the Jets aren’t even guzzling the Kool-Aid quite like Greenberg. In fact, I’m not even sure Greenberg is guzzling as much Aaron Rodgers Kool-Aid as he says he is.
“Aaron Rodgers is coming back. He’s coming back. There’s no doubt about it,” Greenberg said after watching the injured Jets quarterback play catch last month. But earlier this year, Greenberg also said he would embark on a darkness retreat and consider chopping off a pinky toe if the Jets get Rodgers. Well, the Jets got Rodgers and Greenberg still has a pinky toe, and he still hasn’t gone on a darkness retreat.
It’s hard to see through Greenberg’s schtick as Jets fan No. 1. It’s also hard to see through Rodgers’ desire for attention. Is he on the field before Jets games playing catch for show? Or is he really on target for a miraculous December return? As an admittedly biased Jets fan, I’m guzzling the Kool-Aid and rooting for the latter. Common sense tells Buck otherwise. One can only imagine what common sense is telling Rodgers.
