Colin Cord believes the planes should point the finger at themselves.
After vocally expressing their disinterest throughout the season, the Jets were tapped to appear on “Hard Knocks,” HBO’s annual docuseries, on Wednesday.
When the Jets were included among four finalists for the show in early June, coach Robert Salih told reporters that the NFL and the network should look elsewhere.
But Coward, who hosts “The Herd with Colin Coward” on Fox Sports 1, believes the decision was inevitable.
“You’ve got Aaron Rodgers, that’s what you get,” Coward said on the show. “This is the downside of being a master figure. mr vaccine.
“I don’t disagree with everything Aaron Rodgers has said about politics or vaccines. But when you’re polarizing, you’re noisy off-season, you’re going to want to tell us where to go in the off-season, condescendingly, kind of bluntly, taking punches for a lot of people. That’s what HBO wants.
“And now with Netflix in the game, you know they’re on the juice and the heaters and the gossip.”
Rodgers tore up the decision, claiming, “They forced it on us and we have to deal with it.”
The 39-year-old superstar, whose arrival for the Jets provides as much hope as he has for the team in some time, is likely to be the focus of this year’s series for both his exploits on the field and his livelier personality off the field. .
And with Netflix releasing competing series Quarterback this week, a similar docu-series that closely follows three NFL players, Cowherd insists HBO’s decision was clear, no matter how the Jets feel.
“While Netflix does its ads, HBO wants to single it out,” Coward said. And you know what they’re looking for in this series in ‘Hard Knocks.’ They want to be more exciting than Netflix. They are looking for juice, gossip, rumors and infections.
A, B, C, D for this move: A, the Jets are the hottest team right now because of Rodgers. B, Aaron kind of likes to take control of the narrative, he just wouldn’t be able to. It can be prickly. C, the planes didn’t want that. The teams in it don’t have a winning track record. The last 14 teams in ‘Hard Knocks’ have one playoff win. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.”
The last time The Jets were featured on “Hard Knocks” was in 2010 when they were coached by charismatic Rex Ryan.
“The downside of being a quarterback with an opinion on vaccines, an opinion on the media, wanting to have his own voice, to be seen as polarizing and building his brand — that’s why the Jets got it,” Coward said. “That’s exactly why the planes get them.”
