Former Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley recently generated headlines when he questioned the work ethic of former teammate and reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers and even went so far as to say that the Packers needed to be ready to make the switch to Jordan Love if Rodgers couldn’t rally the troops back following a 38-3 blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints in Week 1. That was before Rodgers and company downed the Detroit Lions Monday night to notch their first win of the season.
According to Chris Bumbaca of USA Today, Rodgers was asked during Tuesday’s appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” about those who would doubt his dedication to the cause. The future Hall of Famer didn’t hold back when answering.
“It’s absolute (expletive) to give people a platform who have no idea what they’re talking about as far as my mental state and my focus, my work habits – people who are not in my life or I’ve not had communication with them or not in the locker room,” Rodgers answered. “That’s just (expletive). It’s so ridiculous that people can get a platform to do this.”
He continued:
“I’m always going to give a reminder, ‘Listen to the source on some of these things.’ It’s often the same people, in the same tired rhetoric. I was just surprised after Week 1 there was such a story out there.
“What’s crazy to me is to let one storyline, by a person who has no contact with me, zero relationship, that becomes some sort of narrative that’s out there, that now I somehow don’t care about ball because of my Zen attitude during the offseason. That’s the (expletive) I was talking about (Monday) night.
“The truth and fact should not be replaced by conjecture, ill-founded conjecture. When it is, I’m thankful for this opportunity and my (press conferences) to be able to say, ‘Hey look, just think about who’s saying this.'”
Rodgers didn’t mention Finley by name, but it seems unlikely the signal-caller would’ve been referring to anybody else. The 37-year-old told fans and the media last week the team wasn’t experiencing any “freak out” following the loss to New Orleans, and one wonders if he now has a little extra motivation to silence critics moving forward.
The Packers play at the San Francisco 49ers this coming Sunday night. San Francisco improved to 2-0 with a 17-11 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles this past Sunday.
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