Aaron Rodgers Injury Played Part in Record-Setting ESPN ‘Monday Night Football’ Broadcast

The AFC East rivalry matchup was one of the most hyped games ahead of the 2023 NFL season.

The Bills–Jets Monday Night Football game was one of the most hyped-up matchups of the 2023 NFL season, mostly because it would be Aaron Rodgers’s New York debut on the big stage.

However, on the Jets’ first drive, Rodgers tore his Achilles, and it was later reported on Tuesday that the quarterback would miss the entire 2023 season.

Rodgers’s debut being cut short didn’t turn away viewers from tuning in apparently as the broadcast was ESPN’s most-watched Monday Night Football game since the network took over the weekly broadcast in 2006, drawing about 22.6 million viewers, the network announced Tuesday.

The game peaked at 25.2 million viewers right around the time the Bills took a 10–3 lead.

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This viewership amount surpassed the previous ESPN record for Monday Night Football, which was coincidentally set by another former Packers quarterback, Brett Favre, back in 2009 during a Packers–Vikings game. That game’s viewership was set at 21.8 million.

Monday night’s Bills vs. Jets contest was relatively slow-paced as there was just one touchdown per team during regulation. The fourth quarter saw more excitement, though, as Jets receiver Garrett Wilson caught a wild touchdown to take the lead before the Bills scored a field goal, which doinked in, at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime.

The Jets won 22–16 after rookie Xavier Gipson returned a 65-yard punt in for a touchdown.