Aaron Rodgers knew what he was doing when he went on The Pat McAfee Show in early December and knocked ESPN for its indulgence in personality-driven, athlete-hosted content over classics like SportsCenter. But so far, Ryan Clark has been the only ESPN talent with the stomach to stand up against the crotchety, washed-up quarterback.
Perhaps that’s because Rodgers made subtle allusion to Clark in his initial rant on PMS, commenting on Clark’s signature lapel pin after he criticized Rodgers on Monday Night Countdown. That led Clark to respond directly to Rodgers, calling the New York Jets star a hypocrite and fraud.
Doubling down on his critiques of Rodgers heading into Week 16 of the NFL season, Clark revealed the ruse behind Rodgers’ insistence on framing every negative take about him around his infamous vaccination comments in 2021.
“The part that rubbed me in a way where I felt like I had to respond was the whole vaccination thing,” Clark said on The Stephen A. Smith Show. “Because I feel like he uses that to get those people who are of like mind … to try to ignore the facts. The facts were that what he said was hypocritical. The facts were that he has an issue with people talking about his play in a negative way when that’s what the film is telling us.”
Clark reminded Smith, who stood up for him after the first wave of mess with Rodgers, that he has the sickle cell anemia trait in his blood, has had his spleen removed, and therefore is immunodeficient. So Rodgers probably didn’t pick the greatest tree to bark up with his “tell me your vax status” shtick this time around.
Beyond that, Clark explained his specific approach to defending his fellow athletes in media and the specific criticisms he has of Rodgers.
“What’s different about us is the things I say about him will be viewed from a professional perspective. I am an NFL analyst, so in responding to Aaron Rodgers, I need to be able to respond with facts,” Clark added. “I can’t just come out and insult his fashion, I can’t just come out and say things that make zero sense like, ‘state your vaccination status.’ I don’t get to do that. I have to be factual.”
While Clark refused to tell Smith the stories he has heard through the NFL grapevine about Rodgers, he hinted at instances in which Rodgers tattled to the front office about teammates. Those incidents lead Clark to believe Rodgers’ leadership front on PMS and in press conferences is fraudulent.
Rather than engage with those criticisms, or those of his poor play this season, directly, Clark showed how Rodgers directs the conversation back to a years-old pandemic.
“Instead of saying Ryan Clark is wrong about me being hypocritical because of X, Y and Z, Ryan Clark is wrong to call me arrogant because of X, Y and Z … that is what athletes will do now. They won’t have to combat you with facts, because in truth … the current athlete is more popular than I am,” Clark said.
“So [a current athlete can say], I don’t really have to be truthful, I don’t have to be factual. I can use the emotions of the fanbase I’ve built off of the skill in my sport.”
In closing, Clark described how he is usually careful when it comes to the fights he picks. The 13-year NFL veteran, who lost to Rodgers in the Super Bowl in 2011, said he actually held back from his initial response to the QB because it felt too personal to McAfee rather than just Rodgers.
Clearly, the baggage Rodgers and Clark both carry with their past commentary around social issues is getting in the way of their messages on this topic. We are pretty far away from Rodgers’ initial point about ESPN and its evolution, however hypocritical it may have been on a show hosted by McAfee and A.J. Hawk.
Still, the point Clark is making is the one most of Rodgers’ detractors probably would make. So it’s useful to see how Rodgers engages.
