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Monday, November 25, 2024
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UPCOMING EVENTS

Pat McAfee Didn’t Like Tone Of Media’s Confrontation With Gio Bernard

A planned fake punt that went awry isn’t the only reason the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, but it certainly did not help. A video of the media questioning Gio Bernard, who did not realize the snap was coming to him on the play has gone viral, with many wondering if media members crossed a line. Pat McAfee tried to explain what he saw and also how players view those moments on his show on Tuesday.

McAfee said it is always an interesting dynamic for players when media are in the locker room. There is no good time to answer questions from the press after a loss.

“Just because we point out something is interesting from a player’s perspective doesn’t mean it should be abolished and eliminated,” he said. “We’re just saying if you step back and zoom out, it is a weird thing. It is a very weird thing.”

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This is the first season that the media has had full locker room access since the end of the 2019 season. Pat McAfee wonders if that has changed the way the players think about their relationship with the people covering them.

“A lot of these guys in the NFL got very comfortable, I would assume. They’re used to not media coming into the locker room, because it is a weird thing.”

Giovanni Bernard is widely regarded as a nice guy. McAfee noted that he is a good football player too. There is no reason to think the guy doesn’t know what he is doing out there.

In the video, ESPN’s Jenna Lane and FOX’s Greg Auman can be heard pushing Bernard for answers and objecting to the idea that Bernard has been ignored. Auman even says “what have you done for us to talk to you about all year.”

Bernard eventually stopped and answered the media’s questions about what went wrong on the fake punt, but as Pat McAfee pointed out, he was “seething inside.”

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“I’m happy they got the answer,” McAfee said. “I do believe in professional sports you do have to answer for your mistakes, so I do appreciate that they have him answer the question, but the tone, I think, is what has everyone saying ‘That’s a human. That’s a human as well as a professional athlete.’”

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