Aaron Rodgers apologizes to the fans, since the NFL won't
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was a lot less politically correct today during his interview with Jason Wilde of WAUK-AM in Milwaukee, via USA Today, than he was during his post game press conference after last night’s loss to the Seahawks.
“Some stuff just needs to be said,” Rodgers said. “First of all, I’ve got to do something that the NFL is not going to do: I have to apologize to the fans. Our sport is a multi-billion dollar machine, generated by people who pay good money to come watch us play. The product on the field is not being complemented by an appropriate set of officials. The games are getting out of control.”
“My thing is I just feel bad for the fans. They pay good money to watch this. The game is being tarnished by an NFL that obviously cares more about saving some money than having the integrity of the game diminished a little bit.”
“Rodgers read the NFL’s statement in a sarcastic tone and noted how it read ‘the officials determined both Tate and Jennings had possession of the ball’ when the players hit the ground,” wrote USA Today.
“I call bull on that because they say ‘officials,’ ” Rodgers said. “No, there was zero communication between them, there was zero communication between the guy who was responsible for the phantom first-and-25 pass interference call on (Packers cornerback) Sam Shields and the other referee who was responsible for calling a offsetting personal foul against (Packers receiver) Greg Jennings for a one-handed pushing of (Seahawks cornerback) Brandon Browner, who’d just punched him and thrown him to the ground.
“Those two guys have zero communication, zero eye contact. One of them is signaling over his head, meaning the clock’s stopped, game’s over, I’m about to signal touchback. And the other, from who knows what angle as he’s looking at M.D. on top of Golden Tate, and he’s going to say that’s a catch by the receiver while M.D. has the ball to his chest, which is usually the association with simultaneous possession rule: Who has the ball on their chest first?”
Rodgers was very upset.
“That’s garbage, obviously,” Rodgers said.
I give Rodgers credit for not blowing up during last night’s interview. I can’t imagine the disappointment the Packers are feeling right now.
