There aren’t too many athletes that have had a worse year performance-wise than New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
In his first full season with the Jets, Rodgers has amassed a 4-12 record, gotten his coach fired, and sits 25th in the NFL in QBR. At least he still leads the league in insane conspiracy theories, complaining about the media, having an incredible lack of self-awareness, and an equally incredible amount of self-righteousness.
Somehow, Rodgers found a new low in Sunday’s loss to the Bills. With the Jets trailing 40-0 early in the fourth quarter, the quarterback admitted that he pulled himself out of the game. His backup Tyrod Taylor entered the game and led the Jets on two touchdown drives.
Rodgers asking to be benched drew the ire of former Jets star Keyshawn Johnson on FS1’s Speak on Monday afternoon. He likened the situation to 49ers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, who refused to enter a game earlier this season and had Ryan Clark saying he should never play in the league again.
.@Keyshawn: Aaron Rodgers quit!
“He decided to take his ball and go home because he wasn’t getting his way.” pic.twitter.com/Muijiu66Fs
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) December 31, 2024
“You decide to take your ball and go home because you wasn’t getting your way,” Johnson said. “What’s the difference between him and the dude in San Francisco? You quit on your team, man. I’m not going to be nice to Aaron Rodgers like that.”
As Joy Taylor and Paul Pierce tried to draw some distinctions between the two situations, Johnson wasn’t having it. Especially considering the sermonizing Rodgers has done about the Jets and how everyone needed to be as dedicated and focused as he was, the irony of the situation was too much to handle for Johnson.
“I thought he was on a mission to convince them that he should come back. Based on what he did yesterday I don’t want to be nowhere near him,” he added.
“He took his ball and went home! That’s exactly what he just did. He took his ball and went home because he wasn’t getting his way and the Bills was kicking his rear end. What the hell is wrong with Aaron Rodgers,” Johnson asked incredulously.
It’s a question that Jets fans have been asking all season. But at least they’ll have a couple more interviews with Pat McAfee where Rodgers can air all of his grievances and explain why it’s somebody else’s fault.
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