CBS to benefit from Aaron Rodgers hype with eight Jets games this season
Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers during the first half of an NFL preseason game against the Giants in East Rutherford, N.J., on Saturday. Credit: Noah K. Murray
Most of the national media outlets in America have lined up for their pieces of the Aaron Rodgers pie this season, from HBO to Amazon Prime to ESPN, NBC and Fox.
But none will benefit more than CBS, which currently is scheduled for eight Jets games.
“To have a relevant Jets team on your network eight times, as we do, really, it’s a dream come true,” CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said on Tuesday during a video news conference previewing the season.
It starts with a bang in Week 2 when the Jets visit the Cowboys.
“I think the Jets-Dallas game – this may be a bit of an overstatement – is the most anticipated Jets game in many, many years,” McManus said.
It might well be an overstatement, given that one could argue it will be the most anticipated Jets game in six days – after the Sept. 11 opener against the Bills.
But you get the point. The hype is real.
McManus said he has watched every edition of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which only has fueled the fire.
“I think they're going to be a great story all year long, I really do,” he said. “So it's a pleasure to have the New York Jets exactly where we are in the pecking order.”
J.J. Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year in his first season as a CBS analyst, said, “Obviously, we all know (Rodgers) has got one of the most talented arms in the history of the game. And he clearly appears to be loving his time in New York.
“I mean, the guy took a $30 million pay cut. That says all you need to know about what he thinks can happen this season and what he wants to accomplish.
“So I think Aaron Rodgers has bought in 100% to this team, and I think that is a scary thing for the rest of the league when he's giving everything that he's got with the talent that he has and that defense.”
In 2012, Watt famously sacked Rodgers for the Texans against the Packers, then mocked him by mimicking Rodgers’ celebratory belt display move.
That was early in the game. Rodgers went on to throw six touchdown passes in a 42-24 victory.
Analyst Phil Simms spoke of the “unbelievable buzz” about the Jets entering the season, and Boomer Esiason recalled the “Hard Knocks” segment in which Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich showed his players video of Rodgers in action.
“[He was] saying, ‘We can win because ‘8’ is our quarterback, and all we’ve got to do is do our job,” Esiason said. “Anybody on this panel that may have been in a situation like that, you can see the confidence that is growing not only for the player themselves, but really for the team.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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