Months ago, when Aaron Rodgers’ future was still uncertain, Tiki wondered if the future Hall of Famer would be a bad mix in New York because of how aggressively Rodgers came after NFL insiders for reporting that he claimed to be false.
On Wednesday, at Jets training camp, Rodgers told reporters that he “laughed” at the notion from some in the “media” that he couldn’t handle the Big Apple, and when Evan heard the soundbite, he had to run a Google search to see who Rodgers could have been alluding to.
Turns out, it was his new co-host.
“You could tell by the way he said it,” Evan said. “He’s pissed.”
Tiki didn’t agree, at least not based on an interaction he had with Rodgers earlier this week. Well, maybe he agreed.
“No he wasn’t. Maybe he was,” Tiki laughed. “I said hello to Aaron the other day at Jets camp. He was Aaron. He was just like ‘Hey, how you doing?’ Yeah, just kind of blew me off. He was just eating a watermelon.”
If Rodgers is indeed mad at Tiki for suggesting he wouldn’t handle the New York media well, Tiki says that’s a good thing. Use it as motivation to prove him wrong.
“OK, be annoyed, and handle the media perfectly,” Tiki said. “That’s how you handle my assertion…all he has to do is be good, and this means nothing. It will just be a piece of media that never sees the light of day again. I’m just setting him up to be good.”
As for whether Tiki still has concern about Rodgers handling the New York spotlight, he still has some reservations, but is interested to see how Rodgers responds.
“I think the messaging matters in certain cities,” Tiki said. “If the Jets are 1-3 to start the season - not that I think they’re going to be - and Aaron isn’t playing well…very similar to what happened in Green Bay last year. The media should, and I know will, ask him the hard questions…how he responds to those tough questions is going to determine how we all view him.
“I was defending Ian Rapoport….it just seemed overly sensitive about something that didn’t matter…he reacted so viscerally pissed off, I was like ‘Damn dude, really?’ because I thought Aaron Rodgers was ‘Just relax.’”
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