Let’s Be Honest About the Media Coverage of Aaron Rodgers Trying to Bait Travis Kelce

Also in Traina Thoughts: NFL’s most-watched games; college football gets ratings boost; Pittsburgh fans have had it with Matt Canada and more.

1. Aaron Rodgers loves to mess with the media. He also craves attention. This is not news.

Aaron Rodgers also generates clicks and pageviews. So while the media likes to act outraged by some of the things Rodgers says, don’t be fooled—they love the content. So the game goes on and on and on.

Last week, during his weekly interview with Pat McAfee, Rodgers called Travis Kelce, “Mr. Pfizer” because Kelce currently stars in a Pfizer commercial. Naturally, the media had a field day with this. Then Kelce responded (because he was asked about Rodgers’s comments) and linked Rodgers to Johnson & Johnson since Woody Johnson owns the Jets, and the “story” kept going.

All this is is Rodgers playing the media like a fiddle and the media going along for the ride because they love the clicks. And Rodgers doesn’t try to hide it or act like that’s not what he’s doing.

“I mean, the triggering, though, was that not incredible last week,” Rodgers asked McAfee on Tuesday. “People getting absolutely triggered.”

The game that Rodgers plays here is brilliant. He knows if he says wacky stuff, the media will run with it, but he shifts the blame to the media by saying the media gets triggered, so he can’t lose. He knows the media will pick up his comments and then he can say, “Look, I was right. They’re all triggered.”

Then Rodgers issues that stupid debate challenge, and EVERYONE GETS TRIGGERED.

Meanwhile, the media can’t wait to write stories about Rodgers challenging Kelce to a debate on The Pat McAfee Show with him and Robert Kennedy Jr. against Kelce and Dr. Anthony Fauci as if there’s even a 1% chance that would happen.

Instead of just ignoring Rodgers, the media breathlessly reports on everything he says because they love the pageviews.

So here’s what it’s all about: Rodgers loves to play the victim, but he loves the attention the media gives him. The media loves to act outraged by Rodgers, but they love the traffic that Rodgers provides.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

2. Here’s what’s interesting about the top-five most-watched games of the NFL season so far. 

🚨NFL Viewership Through Week 5🚨

*17.3 million (TV+Digital) avg. viewers per game -- highest avg. through Week 5 since 2015

*NFL games have ranked as the top 28 & 31 of the top 35 shows on TV since the start of the 2023 @NFL season

*New Top 5 Games pic.twitter.com/eB8fjT0T2c

— NFL Media (@NFLMedia) October 11, 2023

Three of the five were blowouts. The Cowboys beat the Jets, 30–10; the Niners beat the Cowboys, 42–10; and the Chiefs beat the Bears, 41–10. If any of these games would’ve been competitive, they could’ve topped Chiefs-Jets, putting a dent in the dumb narrative that people tuned into that game to see a pop star sitting in a suite.

3. Networks that air college football should be eternally grateful that sports betting is now legal in 34 states.

Total viewing of College Football across all networks is up +12% this year and up +28% over the last five years.

— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) October 10, 2023

4. The Steelers have been completely inept on offense this season and things have gotten so bad for their coordinator, Matt Canada, that Pittsburgh fans chanted, “Fire Canada” at Tuesday night’s Penguins game.

A “Fire Canada” chant has broken out here at the Penguins game pic.twitter.com/CeztxYWpv4

— Jenna Harner (@JennaHarner11) October 11, 2023

5. I have written and said on the SI Media podcast a million times that this is a horrible time to be a sports fan thanks to what you have to spend to watch games in this streaming world we live in. The problem doesn’t affect only sports fans. Bar owners also have issues, as laid out by this Ohio bar proprietor.

A local bar posted this about Ohio State playing on Peacock this weekend. pic.twitter.com/gJ74cONcV4

— Walk-On Redshirts (@walkonredshirts) October 10, 2023

6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast dropped Thursday. The episode features a conversation with The Ringer’s sports media columnist and podcast host, Bryan Curtis.

Topics included NBC’s Taylor Swift–heavy broadcast of Chiefs-Jets, Cris Collinsworth’s odd commentary on Zach Wilson and NBC’s Rodney Harrison taking a ton of heat for calling Wilson “garbage” during a postgame interview with the Chiefs’ Chris Jones.

Other items covered on the podcast: whether interest in Deion Sanders and Colorado football has peaked, why the NFL’s prime-time schedule is in big trouble, ABC getting Wednesday-night NBA games, ESPN’s usage of Alex Rodriguez, the proliferation of podcasts and much more.

Following Curtis, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week we discuss Sal missing an NFL Sunday to look at houses, Patrick Mahomes’s controversial slide at the end of the Chiefs-Jets game, the demise of Threads, the lack of interest in the MLB playoffs and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: We have been blessed by a new video from the @menwiththepot TikTok account.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.