While ESPN apologized for Aaron Rodgers’ comments on The Pat McAfee Show, McAfee himself took a much different tone.
ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show has found itself in hot water and potential legal jeopardy with one of the parent company’s biggest stars, and McAfee doesn’t seem to be on the same page as his bosses.
During an appearance earlier this week, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers — a frequent guest on the show — implied Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, would appear on the Jeffrey Epstein list, seemingly without any evidence.
ABC is owned by Disney, as is ESPN.
After Kimmel threatened potential legal action, ESPN senior vice president Mike Foss called Rodgers’ comments “dumb and factually inaccurate,” Front Office Sports first reported Friday.
“It never should have happened,” Foss said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY Sports. “We all realized that in the moment.”
Front Office Sports continued reporting that “Foss did not condone Rodgers’s comments, but he says he expects the Jets quarterback to remain on the show through the rest of the football season.” More from the report:
“Pat announced today that he’s planning on Aaron joining the show Tuesday. Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel,” Foss tells Front Office Sports on Friday. “The show will continue to evolve. It wouldn’t surprise me if Aaron’s role evolves with it.”
McAfee has taken a much different tone, however. He initially brushed off Rodgers’ comments as a joke, and he took his rhetoric a step further on his Friday show.
He accused Norby Williamson, an executive senior vice president of studio and event production at ESPN, of sabotaging his program. McAfee went as far as calling Williamson a “rat.”
Pat McAfee — while on ESPN — accuses certain ESPN executives of sabotaging his show and leaking info to the media.
McAfee said he believes Williamson is leaking false information about his show in order to make the program look bad. The Pat McAfee Show began on YouTube in 2020 but has aired on ESPN since September when the network acquired it in a lucrative deal.
McAfee also appears as a co-host for ESPN’s College GameDay.
While it’s clear that the suits at ESPN are intent on smoothing things over with Kimmel, who has hosted his show on ABC since 2003, McAfee seems to have different plans.
Gooooood morning, family! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us this morning. We appreciate you reading!
I’m sure you saw the uneasiness that came across the internet from Aaron Rodgers’ latest guest appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. It’s been all over the internet at this point.
Rodgers’ appearances on the McAfee Show are normally cringeworthy enough without the Jets’ star quarterback basically saying one of ABC and Disney’s biggest stars could be on the Epstein list that will reportedly be released. But, uh, that’s exactly what happened after McAfee’s co-host, AJ Hawk, brought up the list to Rodgers on Tuesday.
For those of you who don’t know, it’s a list of over 200 names of the business associates Jeffrey Epstein worked with. Epstein was an alleged sex trafficker who hanged himself while imprisoned back in 2019. This list supposedly contains the names of some of the biggest luminaries, celebrities and politicians we know.
To be clear, being on that list doesn’t mean that the individual is guilty of sex trafficking or participating in any of the crimes Epstein allegedly took part in. But it could mean that. That’s why this list is a big deal.
That’s what Rodgers — seemingly baselessly — directly accused ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel of. The Jets’ QB said “A lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, are really hoping that doesn’t come out,” during his appearance on Tuesday.
That triggered a swift — and strong — response from Kimmel, himself, who actually threatened to sue the quarterback if he keeps this up (WARNING: NSFW language ahead).
Dear Aasshole: for the record, I’ve not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any “list” other than the clearly-phony nonsense that soft-brained wackos like yourself can’t seem to distinguish from reality. Your reckless… https://t.co/p8eug12uiS
Jimmy Kimmel Live! is one of Disney’s premier programs on ABC, which is one of the company’s flagship networks. The Pat McAfee Show is an ESPN property, which is also owned by Disney. So, through that connection, these are two programs on sister networks working under the same umbrella.
For Rodgers to create a situation that Disney CEO Bob Iger may have to step in on to mediate and mend fences is not a good look, plain and simple. It’s getting in the way of business. And, if it gets in the way, it may be moved out of the way. Again, the Mouse doesn’t play when it comes to money.
If it is? Then: good riddance. Aaron Rodgers has been nothing but a public nuisance. He comes on the show every week, puts on his best tinfoil hat and just throws baseless claims everywhere under the guise of doing his own research.
In reality, this is just a dude who loves to hear himself talk. He can’t get enough of his own celebrity. He’s totally wrapped up in it — consumed by it. His hubris is constantly in control. That’s even the case in this situation here, which essentially stems from Kimmel making fun of Aaron Rodgers a year ago for, well, doing exactly what he did on Tuesday.
We’ll see how this ultimately turns out. There’s been no official response from Disney on all of this as of yet. It’s hard to feel bad for the company considering that this is what the Pat McAfee Show has always been. Working with McAfee and giving him the longest leash by far at the company means dealing with problems like this one. ESPN and Disney earned this chaos — it’s well deserved.
Pat McAfee isn’t going anywhere. The company pays him way too much for him to just be dismissed. He’s interwoven in its programming and will be for years to come.
You can be sure of one thing, though. The company is monitoring this. There’s a solid chance that this is the last time Rodgers will be putting his foot in his mouth — at least on ESPN’s airwaves, anyway.
A 141-point win is WILD
(AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
When I woke up this morning and saw the box score from Grambling State’s women’s basketball team at home against The College of Biblical Studies, I thought I was looking at a typo.
But nope. The final score was 159-18. That’s really a thing that happened. One team made 70 shots. The other team made 8. Two of Grambling’s players scored at least 20 points, which means they outscored CBS by themselves.
Tom Brady may have been right all along. In Christian D’Andrea’s latest NFL power rankings, he makes the point that both the 49ers and Ravens seem like legitimate title contenders.
Everyone else? They’re kind of just…middling. Literally. Here’s Christian with more.
That makes this week’s power rankings a tricky enterprise. The AFC and NFC have each crowned their regular season winners. The Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers have each locked up home field advantage through the playoffs. After that? Well, it’s tough to have confidence in teams like the Eagles (spiraling to their doom), Kansas City Chiefs (host to a suddenly pedestrian offense), Dallas Cowboys (can’t win big games on the road) or Miami Dolphins (can’t win big games unless they’re against the Cowboys).
That leaves a ranking system with a lush second tier of untrustable teams. Here’s how they shook out after 2023’s penultimate week.
The NFL’s playoffs are a different beast. All anyone has to do is simply win one game and they advance, so anything can happen. But, man. The 49ers and the Ravens just seem unbeatable right now. Or, maybe more accurately, everyone else just seems extremely beatable. At least by good team standards, anyway.
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. We appreciate you. Have a fantastic Wednesday. Let’s chat again tomorrow. Until then, peace.
Aaron Rodgers makes case for Josh Allen as MVP (video):
Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers even thinks Josh Allen deserves some consideration for the 2023 MVP Award.
Breaking down candidates during his weekly segment on the Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers said that the Bills quarterback should get consideration. But things have to go according to plan in his eyes.
Rodgers thinks as long as the Bills (9-6) win out over their final two games, Allen should be in contention.
“How do you not put him in the conversation,” Rodgers said.
Bills running back James Cook joined a segment of the Pat McAfee Show this past week. Cook is fresh off a massive game against the Cowboys where he had 221 scrimmage yards.
Cook discussed the improvements the Bills have shown in recent weeks and discussed even more. See the attached clips below for Cook’s appearance on the Pat McAfee Show:
Adam Silver is going on a press tour. And he should. That’s what you should do when you orchestrate a huge win. You gloat about it.
Make no mistake — the NBA’s In-Season Tournament is absolutely that. We have no idea what the ratings behind this thing are just yet, but that part doesn’t really matter. There’s been clear buy-in from both players and fans across the board. These games just feel like they matter more — the NBA has been searching for that feeling for years now.
That’s why it’s so confusing to see him talking about literally anything else during this press tour.
One would think that he’d appear on all of these different platforms and simply rattle off numbers and opinions about how successful his new tournament has been as well as what that means for the future of NBA basketball. One might also think he’d throw in a little elevator pitch for that next TV deal the league is so desperately searching for. It’s the perfect time, Adam!
McAfee asked Silver if he felt obligated to be a part of “international relations” with other countries considering how much of a global game the NBA has become. All Silver had to do was give a boiler plate answer about how global the league has become and leave it at that.
Instead, the man compared himself to Henry Kissinger. Yes, THAT Henry Kissinger.
Adam Silver is asked by Pat McAfee about the NBA's place in international relations and compares himself to Henry Kissinger, "one of the great global diplomats" before telling ESPN's audience he is a "big believer" in a strong military… pic.twitter.com/LHUCrgt4L4
“I will say, I was reading a lot of those long obituaries around Henry Kissinger’s death at 100. And, where he was an exemplar of one of our great global diplomats. I understand, I mean this is going to be far-field, maybe, to your question. I, of course, believe we have to have a strong military. I’m a big believer in it. At the same time…I think, through sport, through culture, through arts, it brings connectivity together with people of diverse cultures and backgrounds.”
Far-field might have been putting that kindly. A Henry Kissinger comparison is absolutely not where anyone thought that question was going. Of course, people are absolutely torching Silver online now. As they should be. This was legitimately weird. Things did not have to go this way.
Would you believe me if I said things actually got weirder here? Because they did.
Silver went on to talk about how the World Cup in Qatar was celebrated despite “whatever was going on in those countries. Whatever autocrat or dictator” was in power, everyone accepted the rules of the sport.
If you boil down the dictionary definition of tone-deafness into a single moment, this might be what that moment looks like. Its Adam Silver mixing a slimy heap of word salad that somehow conflates togetherness and community with rich people buying tickets to sporting events in autocratic countries. This is so silly. But it’s not unexpected. This is the same commissioner of the same league that has opened itself up to sovereign wealth funds. It is what it is. That’s just the way things are going in sports today. Adam Silver isn’t any different from any other league’s commissioner. You have to believe this gobbledygook to have that job. You don’t forsake money to preserve morality.
But, man. Here’s the thing: Did we really have to talk about this today, Adam?
Maybe next time instead of comparing yourself to “controversial” foreign diplomats, you can just keep it chill and talk about your shiny new tournament.
Aaron Rodgers expressed his displeasure with the recent report on Zach Wilson with Pat McAfee.
Earlier this week, a report from Dianna Russini and Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic said the Jets were leaning toward going back to quarterback Zach Wilson following the benching of Tim Boyle. The report also said Wilson was reluctant to return to the starting role, adding Wilson was concerned over a perceived injury risk.
Jets QB Aaron Rodgers is none too happy about the report. He even went as far as to call the report “chicken (expletive) at its core” during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“When you use sources and whether intentional or unintentional try to assassinate someone’s character like that report does for Zach, I have a hard time with that,” Rodgers said (via the New York Post). “You’re basically saying that this kid is quitting on the team and doesn’t want to play and is giving the middle finger to the organization.”
Rodgers also went on to question why a reporter (in this case, Russini) would want to attack the character of one of his teammates.
“What is your impetus, what is your motivation to try and bury someone like that?” Rodgers said in reference to those making the report. “That’s a problem with the organization. We need to get to the bottom of whatever this is coming from and put a stop to it privately, because there’s no place in a winning culture where this is not the only time. There’s been a bunch of other leaks. I think it’s chicken (expletive) at its core, and I think it has no place in a winning organization.”
Russini joined Robert Mays of The Athletic to discuss the report and said Rodgers is “frustrated with the leaks coming out of this Jets building right now.”
New Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko makes his first media appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday afternoon.
New Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko is making the media rounds in just his second full day on the job, first appearing on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show to officially announce to the world that any preconceived notions regarding the program’s mediocrity on the gridiron are coming to an end in 2024 and beyond.
Already making multiple changes to the coaching staff, including OC Bobby Petrino, WR coach Daymeune Craig, and OL coach Steve Adazzio, Elko is looking to revamp the Aggies offense. At the same time, the defensive coordinator postion, still held by D.J. Durkin, is something to pay attention to in the coming weeks.
This is a new era for Texas A&M Football, as the issues that plagued Jimbo Fisher’s tenure will hopefully cease to exist moving forward, including the second-half collapses that resulted in four out of the Aggies’ five losses this season. However, during his time as A&M’s defensive coordinator from 2018-2021, Elko’s second-half adjustments were his bread and butter, and Aggie fans couldn’t be more excited to see next year’s team finish games.
Here is everything Mike Elko had to say during his appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.
Aaron Rodgers eyes December 6 return to practice which could set up him playing on Christmas Eve.
Even with his team at 4-6, Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers still has plans to return to the field this season from his Week 1 Achilles injury. He even has a target date that he shared during his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show Tuesday.
Rodgers suggested a potential return to the practice field on December 6. That’s in just two weeks. That would give him three weeks of practice before a potential return to game action on December 24 against the Washington Commanders, a date many have speculated for some time now would be his grand return to the Jets.
“I’ve said that I’d love to be trending towards practicing by my birthday,” Rodgers told McAfee. Rodgers’ 40th birthday is December 2. Opening Rodgers’ 21-day practice window on the 6th would give the Jets until the 27th to activate him from injured reserve, meaning a return on Christmas Eve would be in the cards.
One caveat to Rodgers’ return has always been, in Rodgers’ words, that the Jets have to be in the playoff mix for him to consider an early return. The Jets fell to 4-6 after their 32-6 loss Sunday to the Buffalo Bills. New York now sits two games out of a playoff spot with seven games to play. The Jets split with the Bills and have head-to-head losses to the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders, two teams above the Jets in the AFC standings, where New York sits 14th.
Rodgers insists the Jets are still very much alive. The four-time MVP compared this season to that of the 2016 Green Bay Packers and the 2009 New York Jets, both of whom also started 4-6 before making a run to the Conference Championship Game. ESPN currently gives the Jets a 1% chance of reaching the postseason.
Nonetheless, Rodgers has been continuing to train for a return, including running on an anti-gravity treadmill. He’s pushing as if he’s going to play again this season after going down just four snaps into his Jets debut against the Bills on September 11.
With the Dolphins coming to town in Week 12, a loss would drop the Jets to 4-7 and further diminish Rodgers’ chances of playing. Friday is almost a must-win for both their slim playoff hopes as well as their hopes to see No. 8 again in 2023.
In addition, he followed that up by defending quarterback Josh Allen. Orlovsky does not think there is anything wrong with the way the Bills QB is throwing the ball right now.
“I see things on the internet that say Josh Allen’s mechanics have fallen off. I disagree with that, respectfully,” Orlovsky said. “I don’t see that.”
Orlovsky’s full breakdown can be found in the Pat McAfee Show clip below:
“Josh Allen’s mechanics have not fallen off and I don’t see that..
While ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky declined to say anyone should be fired in football, he did hint at it. Orlovsky called Buffalo’s offense “wildly predictable” and that’s the reason why there are issues.
Orlovsky gave his analysis on the Bills offense on the Pat McAfee Show and the clip can be found below:
"The Bills offense is wildly predictable and it's easy to prepare for right now..
