During the snap last Saturday before Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers capped his pre-season cameo with a touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson, Giants outside linebacker Jihad Ward poked “the bear.”
And Rodgers wasn’t thrilled.
And thankfully, the cameras for HBO’s Hard Knocks was right there to catch it all.
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As Rodgers drifted back during the first quarter of that game and completed a pass to Mecole Hardman, Ward kept rushing toward the quarterback and shoved him.
So Rodgers pushed back. He asked Ward, “What the f**k is that?”
Then, Rodgers dropped a line he later called “un-comeback-able.”
“I’ve never heard of you,” Rodgers said during the episode.
In the penultimate episode of Hard Knocks, which has followed the Jets throughout training camp, Rodgers’ competitive side — an underlying element of his 10 Pro Bowls and four MVPs — has shone through.
That included at a Jets practice session and ultimately during their 32-24 pre-season victory over the Giants, which resulted in plenty of f-bombs, a bit of genuine anger and a glimpse of a different side of the 39-year-old quarterback.
“I threw that ball and he f**king took five steps and pushed me,” Rodgers said while standing on the Jets’ sideline after the touchdown, as seen during the episode.
“I said, ‘I don’t even know who you are.’ And he said, ‘I don’t know who you are.’
“And I said, ‘Bulls**t.’”
The episode captured lingering signs of the honeymoon phase that has defined the relationship between Rodgers and the Jets since he first declared his intention to play for them.
A young fan was shown telling Rodgers he shouldn’t retire soon, and Rodgers responded by asking why he’d want to do that.
He joked with Jets receiver and longtime Packers teammate Randall Cobb after Cobb was penalised for an illegal blindside block against the Giants.
Rodgers helped the first-team offence pass its first test against the Giants.
He threaded a ball to Wilson for a touchdown, exchanged words with Ward again and jogged over to the sideline to end his Jets debut.
“That quarterback’s pretty f**king good, buddy,” head coach Robert Saleh said, seemingly to someone at the other end of his headset, following the touchdown.
But earlier that week, during one of the Jets’ practices, the offence was struggling.
Rodgers tried to connect with tight end Jeremy Ruckert but watched as D.J. Reed helped break up the pass and the ball fell to the ground.
Rodgers’ next five words included two f-bombs.
He yelled that the play should’ve been “f**king basic at 12-14 yards.”
Once he reached the sideline, his anger continued.
“F**king dropped three f**king balls,” Rodgers said. “F**king three wrong routes and a f**king false start.”
The next few minutes of the episode, though, captured another Rodgers trait: His ability to spark a stagnant offence.
He called Wilson into “my office,” explaining a route they should run.
When the offence went back on the field, Rodgers and Wilson connected on a pass across the middle, with Wilson wide open.
Allen Lazard also caught a deep TD throw.
“Show off,” offensive co-ordinator Nathaniel Hackett joked from the sideline, and everyone was content across the offence.
Rodgers’ fix had worked again.
This story first appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission.
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