Aaron Rodgers has spoken out after eagle-eyed social media users claimed to have caught him in a gross sidelines act during Sunday Night Football.
During the New York Jets’ 37-15 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the quarterback was caught on cameras tending to his nostrils, which many NFL fans claimed incriminated him in a far more disgusting act.
NBC cameras appeared to show the four-time MVP picking his nose, which one social media user quipped was his ‘third pick of the game.’
Rodgers was forced to confront the booger accusations Tuesday when he was quizzed by Pat McAfee and co. on the incident.
However, the 40-year-old issued a defiant denial during his weekly guest appearance on the ESPN show.
“It’s a tough look to try & defend because that video is a little incriminating..
There needs to be a side view..
I’ve actually never eaten my boogers and it’s something I’m very proud of” 😂😂 @AaronRodgers12 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/HCbjOD0CC2
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 22, 2024
‘I’ve been alerted to this and actually in the moment I was thinking to myself, “Man, I hope the camera’s not on me now,'” Rodgers admitted on Tuesday’s Pat McAfee Show.
McAfee and co-host AJ Hawk continued to interrogate the signal caller, who, despite confessing the evidence didn’t paint him in the best light, insisted that he had not in fact committed the nasal faux pas.
‘I’ve actually never eaten my boogers and it’s something I’m very proud of,’ Rodgers declared to the disbelief of McAfee and his panel.
‘It’s a tough look to try and defend because that video is a little incriminating,’ he continued.
‘There needs to be a side view that shows that there wasn’t a boog that actually went in the mouth. It seems like I didn’t get anything on that one. I was just seeing what was going on. But yeah, it’s a bad look.’
Sunday night was bad enough for Rodgers, who was reunited with former Packers teammate Davante Adams only to connect with the All-Pro receiver on just 3 of 9 targets. And then there were Rodgers’ two interceptions on the night, which only gave fans more ammunition online.
‘Jets season is going up in flames and Aaron Rodgers is on the sideline eating his boogers,’ one fan wrote on social media after NBC cameras appeared to show the four-time MVP doing exactly that.
Referring to the footage of Rodgers tending to his nostrils, one fan remarked it was his ‘third pick of the game.’
Others preferred to attack Rodgers for proudly refusing to take any COVID-19 vaccine.
‘Vaxxed?’ wrote one.
‘Ivermectin side effects,’ stated another.
Lastly, one fan simply chided Rodgers for ingesting empty calories.
‘Yikes,’ he wrote. ‘No nutritional value in those.’
Things were so bad for Rodgers that fans began longing for Zach Wilson, the former first-round pick who flamed out with the Jets before resurfacing as a backup in Denver this year. A year ago, with Wilson filling in for the injured Rodgers, the Jets were 4-3. Now they’re just 2-5 and fans are bracing for another rebuild.
‘Someone needs to inoculate America from having to watch this washed up conspiracy-hound, fake smart guy QB and his horses*** offense on national TV all the time,’ long-time NFL columnist Jason La Canfora wrote on X.
‘I wish I was immune to their garbage offense. Is there a shot for that? Who is Rodgers gonna blame for this s***show?’
Afterwards, Rodgers took a dig at the media for doubting the Jets.
When asked how to keep the belief alive in the team’s locker room, Rodgers said players need to ‘stop listening to you guys, number one.’
Rodgers added: ‘Just got to win, starting this week.’
The Jets travel to Foxborough on Sunday to face the 1-6 Patriots – the only team below New York in the AFC East standings. Rodgers and the Jets previously dominated the Patriots, 24-3, in East Rutherford, New Jersey on September 19.
