NFL 'Forced It Down Our Throats!' Aaron Rodgers Gripes About 'Hard Knocks'
There is nobody in the NFL who gripes more than Aaron Rodgers. (That's a stat; you can look it up.) And every once in a while, the now-New York Jets quarterback has a point. ... including right now.
"Look, I understand the appeal with us,'' Rodgers said, moaning about the NFL's decision to make the Jets the centerpiece of this summer's "Hard Knocks'' show on HBO. "There's a lot of eyes on me, a lot of eyes on our team, a lot of expectations for us, so they forced it down our throats and we gotta deal with it.''
On the one hand, this might be a good spot for Rodgers to "shut up and play.'' The "eyes on him'' are the result of both his excellence (as a four-time MVP before being traded from Green Bay) and his diva-level behavior; If he doesn't like "eyes on him,'' playing in the NFL, forcing his way to New York, and entering a wildly competitive AFC East where good teams are chasing the Buffalo Bills ... all represent awful career choices.
On the other hand, "Hard Knocks'' - while it can provide great and insightful content for fans - does the involved teams no favors. Cameras are where they should not be. Conversations are often faked. It's an "unnatural'' way - even know "Hard Knocks'' has now been around 18 years - to work through a training camp.
That's enough to raise some hope from Buffalo Bills fans that the presence of the show - and Aaron's discomfort with it - might derail the Jets' chase of Buffalo's AFC East crown.
The show will be filmed during training camp and the first episode will be released on Aug. 8 on HBO and MAX. The hour-long episodes will run until Sept. 6. ... and the theatrical Aaron Rodgers will be asked to, well, be theatrical.
"One of the only things I like about Hard Knocks is the voice of God who narrates it,'' said Rodgers, trying to be funny. "I hope I get to meet him.''
Alert to Aaron: It's not "God''; it's actor Liev Schreiber, and no Aaron, he usually does the voice-overs from a studio, not from hobnobbing on the sideline. ... though given the "unnatural'' state of it all, maybe HBO should "shove that down the throat'' of the Jets as well.
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