On Monday night, ESPN host Mike Greenberg had several people over to his New York City home to watch the New York Jets opening matchup against the Buffalo Bills. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was making his long-anticipated debut for the team, taking the field in front of a packed house at MetLife Stadium ready to watch the four-time Most Valuable Player lead the offense.
Four plays later, he was being helped off the field, leaving Greenberg in disbelief and devastation. Through discussions with the people at his home, including former Jets star Damien Woody, and a video call with ESPN host Pat McAfee, it was quickly discerned that the quarterback may have suffered a torn Achilles. The next morning, an MRI confirmed the team’s worst fears and officially sidelined Rodgers for the season.
Despite hosting a Boston morning radio show on 98.5 The Sports Hub, Fred Toucher is a fan of the New York Jets. Watching what happened to Rodgers ended what Toucher called an “awful” Week 1 in the National Football League that, nonetheless, still led to several flourishes in viewership. In fact, the prime-time matchup between the Jets and the Bills averaged more than 22.6 million viewers, establishing a new record for the most-watched Monday Night Football game for ESPN on record. The “Worldwide Leader” has been the rightsholder of the marquee property since 2006, and has these coveted rights secured until 2033 for a reported $2.7 billion annually.
“I was up until 1:30 in the morning last night; I’m sure you can understand,” Toucher said. “I couldn’t sleep [with] all the negativity surrounding the team.”
As the show began another segment focused on the callers of the SEC Network program, The Paul Finebaum Show, Toucher made sure to mention the source of what he believes to be the reason of Rodgers sudden season-ending exit on Monday night.
“It’s Mike Greenberg’s fault that Aaron Rodgers got hurt,” Toucher said. “It’s Mike Greenberg’s silly, little cutesy theatrics that got him hurt.”
Greenberg has been enthusiastic about the Jets from the moment the team acquired Rodgers, framing a special legacy throwback uniform at the ESPN Seaport Studios in New York City. When contributors to the morning show, Get Up, would voice their concerns with the team, there were moments where he would summon the jersey, presumably for protection. Greenberg also vowed to go on his own darkness retreat in southern Oregon if Rodgers came to the team, a promise he has yet to fulfill.
“[He was] really just [being] a silly goose about the whole thing,” Toucher added, who has been critical of Greenberg on numerous occasions. “He was not cool.”
Toucher has previously stated that ESPN consists of three people – Greenberg; Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee – in an attempt to demonstrate the silo of voices being heard on its coverage. Malika Andrews, however, was named as the new host of NBA Countdown in an effort for Greenberg to spend more time on Get Up and his national radio program, #Greeny.
