This past Monday, the hype was through the roof for Monday Night Football, as future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers was making his debut for his new team, the New York Jets.
Many believed that bringing Rodgers in at QB would take the Jets to the next level, as the only thing they lacked last season was consistent quarterback play.
However, that excitement was gone nearly in an instant, when Rodgers went down with what appeared to be an ankle or calf injury only four plays into the game.
With Zach Wilson under center, the Jets actually won the game, but Jets head coach Robert Saleh quickly confirmed everyone’s worst fears after the game… Rodgers probably tore his Achilles tendon.
And he did.
If you know anything about the Achilles, then you know it’s one of the most difficult injuries to recover from, and can take up to a year to fully recover, and some people never fully recover at all.
Not to mention, Rodgers is 39-years-old, and is definitely on the back end of his career. As you can imagine, tons of people are wondering if the QB will be retiring the cleats and pads after this one.
With that being said, Rodgers made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show today, to possibly discuss his future in football.
And long story short… he ain’t going anywhere. In fact, he seems determined to come back sooner that anyone ever has… if he can.
Rodgers said:
“Of course, I mean a lot of that was that night, as I’m in the locker room. Before even an MRI I knew what happened, and I knew I had torn my Achilles.
I popped my calf a few times, especially the soleus and this was not that sensation, so I knew right away this was not a good situation, so and I’ve known about this situation, this rehab I’ve had friends who’ve done it, fellow competitors who I know who’ve done it and have come back from it.
I think what I’d like to say is give me the doubts. Give me the doubts, give me the media, the timetables, all the things that you think can should or will happen, because all I need is that one little extra percent of inspiration.
That’s all I need. So give me your… doubts, give me your prognostications, and then watch what I’ll do.”
The QB discussed his thoughts right after he got hurt on Monday night:
“I stood up and put weight on foot and felt like I had drop foot… Yeah I knew right there.
I was about 95% sure unless there was this crazy lower soleus rip, but I was pretty confident that it was Achilles, and yeah I think there’s been some guys with some interesting timetables on Achilles returns, but we’ll see what happens.
It’s just a process, there’s certain markers we’ve got to get.”
And that’s when McAfee asked him if he was possibly coming back this season, or the playoffs. And his response?
“I’m not gonna make any of those statements. I don’t feel like that’s fair to myself… I think as Kevin Garnett said, ‘anything is possible.’ …
But yeah, I’m gonna try and push this thing as much as it’ll allow me to, and there’s markers I’ve got to see where I’m at in a week, two weeks, and a month, two months, and then we’ll see what the conversation is from there.
Stack all the odds against me and see what happens.”
LET’S GO…
So, I think we can all not lose a drop of sleep tonight, wondering if Aaron Rodgers is going to try and come back from his injury or not, because it looks like the guy is dead set on getting back on the gridiron as quickly as possible.
Here’s the full conversation:
