"It's appearance vs reality": Aaron Rodgers frustrated with viral clip alleging beef with Nathaniel Hackett
During Monday night's game, ESPN's live broadcast showed Aaron Rodgers on the bench next to New York Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. The clip appeared to show Hackett facing a tablet towards Rodgers who was looking in the complete opposite direction.
On Tuesday afternoon, Aaron Rodgers was a guest on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show," and was asked about the clip. Rodgers was unaware the clip circulated around social media and that there was a narrative that he and his offensive coordinator were at odds.
"We were looking on X yesterday, Aaron, and there's like a two second clip of Hackett talking to you, but you looking down the bench, and people immediately said, like, oh, here we go. Aaron's already sick. A hack it. How was it actually working with him again in game? Because, you know, obviously last season didn't get much time with him. And how's that relationship going? And how do you see it, you know, growing as the season goes on," Boston Connor asked.
"So, so Connor, you tell me that clip you just showed where to God, yeah, you hate him, obviously," Rodgers said.
"On the TV version at the very end, they actually had to edit that clip out, because at the very end, you turn look at them and actually look at the thing. But they cut the camera very quickly. This is mid game, but you inevitably, in this shot, you look at the tablet, but it gets cut like half a second afterwards. These obviously the internet cuts it a little bit earlier than that, so you're not paying attention. But this world we live in, and most more specifically, you live in, especially with Hackett in New York," McAfee said.
The 40-year-old New York Jets quarterback then gave insight into the conversation and how there isn't any bad blood between he and Nathaniel Hackett.
Aaron Rodgers went on to explain how he was actually talking with backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor.
"Yeah, I mean, it's appearance versus reality. I don't know, you know, you can make up whatever you think it is based on the appearance I as I'm looking at that, it looks like I'm talking to Tyrod, who's sitting on my left, and then I'm looking I have a, you know, one of the surfaces in my lap, and I'm talking to Tyrod, and I'm coming back to the Surface as, you know, this is normal, like in the sideline stuff, there's conversation coming at you from all different angles. But yeah, Hack and I we're great. Yeah, you know, felt like we had to, you know, we had a good plan going in. We just didn't execute it very well. But yeah, I felt like the calls came in. Good communication was good. Communication on the sideline was good. So, yeah, that's great," Rodgers said.
"When you look at him?" McAfee asked.
"Ignored him the whole game," Connor said.
"Nice cold shoulder hacking," McAfee said.
"This is literally the f****** clip they're gonna go with," Rodgers said.
The quarterback then joked around with Pat McAfee and Boston Connor about the clip and that he was shocked that it went viral on social media.
Aaron Rodgers and Nathaniel Hackett previously worked together while both were with the Green Bay Packers.
Aaron Rodgers said he felt gratitude in return to field after Achilles injury
Aaron Rodgers injured his Achilles nearly one year to the day of his 2024 NFL debut on Monday night. He told Pat McAfee that he had a sense of gratitude when he took the field against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1.
"It was such a long road. I thought about all of the different things that happened over the last year. Tomorrow is a year since the injury, a lot's changed in my life in the last year. So I just felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. ... A lot of things were hitting me, 20th season, all the rehab that happened, all the ups and downs of the last year," Rodgers said.
Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets lost the season opener, but he completed 13 of 21 passes, with 167 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.