“Everybody has an opinion, I understand it,” Rodgers said. “It’s a very polarizing issue for some individuals. But I’m just focusing on the support that I got and it was deep and wide and greatly, greatly appreciated.”
Rodgers conducted his postgame interview via video conference. When asked why he chose not to be interviewed in the same room as all season, he declined to answer. Rodgers is known for carefully choosing his words and his silence was a subtle admission that he didn’t want to follow the mask-wearing protocol when unvaccinated players spoke in person with reporters.
When asked directly in late August whether he was vaccinated against Covid-19, he first said, “yeah” — insinuating that he had been — before stating that he was “immunized.” It was a clever bit of misdirection, and it allowed him to escape the criticism that other quarterbacks, like the Colts’ Carson Wentz and the Vikings’ Kirk Cousins, have absorbed. McAfee asked Rodgers about his disingenuous response last week.
The Packers, though, knew all along that Rodgers was not vaccinated, and their permitting him to amble around their headquarters and conduct news conferences unmasked — a clear violation of the league’s Covid-19 protocols — reinforced an N.F.L. An old adage states that the more talented a player, the greater the organization’s ability to endure.
Rodgers’s talent conferred upon him certain privileges that lesser players, vaccinated or not, probably would not have enjoyed. The Packers were fined $300,000. for allowing Rodgers and Lazard to play at the Packers’ Halloween party. Last week, both players were fined $14,000.
Though protecting Rodgers was clearly in their best interest, the Packers’ benevolence could be perceived as a conscious move to avoid harshing his mellow after an inferno of an off-season. Rodgers and his management seem to be synchronized for now. Rodgers before the trade deadline praised Brian Gutekunst’s communication with him and the personnel moves that have steered Green Bay. Arizona lost to Carolina Sunday on the N.F.C.
Rodgers, through concessions the Packers agreed to with his contract, has the power to choose where he plays next season, and it likely won’t be in Green Bay. There are four regular-season home games before the playoffs, which bring Rodgers closer towards a break after 17 seasons of playing in green and golden. He left the field feeling grateful Sunday. It is easier to recall the good times.
Source: NY Times
