When it comes to Jets QB Aaron Rodgers and the New York media, the reputation for hard-hitting, no-nonsense questioning simply doesn't hold up, opined Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
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Once again, when given a golden opportunity to dig deeper into the firing of Robert Saleh, the Jets' press corps dropped the ball, Florio wrote.
Rodgers faced the media on Thursday, days after his head coach was shown the door. And instead of getting straight to the point — did Rodgers know this was coming, did he agree, did he have any say? — the questions were soft, layered, and easily evaded.
Rodgers gave a standard response: "It was obviously the direction Woody [Johnson] wanted to go. All we can do now is get behind [interim coach Jeff Ulbrich] and move forward."
That was it. No pushback. No follow-up about whether Rodgers felt Saleh deserved more time, or whether his opinion was sought by ownership, Florio pointed out. Just the typical nod and move on.
It's not that the questions weren't there to be asked. In fact, they were right on the table. Did Saleh deserve to be fired? Did Woody consult with you? If he didn't, how do you feel about that? Simple, straightforward, and effective — but somehow, none of them made it out. Instead, we got bundled, multi-part questions that let Rodgers wriggle out with non-answers.
The issue? It's clear no one in that room wanted to be the one to press Rodgers, to be "the guy" who makes things uncomfortable. Maybe it's fear of losing access, or maybe it's just the optics of challenging one of the biggest stars in the game.
But here's the reality: if you're covering a team like the Jets in a market like New York, you've got to be willing to ask those tough questions, Florio wrote. And, more importantly, you've got to press when you don't get a real answer.
Rodgers is a master at controlling the narrative — that's been evident for years. But the media's job is to cut through that, to ask the questions fans want answered, and to not settle for surface-level responses. Instead, Florio contends that Thursday's press conference was another example of missed opportunities, with no one willing to step up and demand the truth.
It's moments like these that define how much real accountability there is in the New York media," Florio concluded. And right now, with Rodgers and the Jets, it's looking pretty thin.
