Ref Clete Blakeman couldn’t help but laugh while announcing Aaron Rodgers’ unnecessary roughness penalty
Aaron Rodgers’ New York Jets have never been further from “The Mendoza Line” of normalness, generally organized function, and competence. Gang Green has won just two games since Halloween, and if we’re being candid, there is no hope in sight. It appears to be in a constant state of chaos, only offering up malaise-like play and headlines with poor optics, like a comical episode weirdly involving Madden and owner Woody Johnson’s sons.
The Jets’ unique circus-like brand of misery even snowballs on top of tiny innocuous moments in the middle of unimportant games. It’s so bad that even the refs are literally laughing at Rodgers and the Jets’ uncanny ability to step on rakes.
Around halfway through the third quarter of the Jets’ matchup with the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Rodgers tried forcing a pass into a tight window on a third-and-very-long. This, predictably, didn’t work out for him as Bills cornerback Christian Benford showed off his coverage range and snagged a terrific pick. You know, standard fare football mistakes when desperate.
On his return, Benford ran out of bounds, and Rodgers accidentally pushed him down when he was already out of harm’s way and off the playing field. Head referee Clete Blakeman delivered one of the funniest penalty announcements ever after the fact.
That’s right, dearest readers. A quarterback, in this case, Rodgers, somehow committed an unnecessary roughness penalty.
Both Blakeman and Rodgers couldn’t hide visible laughs as the chaos of this sequence was finally sorted out:
Christian Benford with the Bills' second pick of the day
: #NYJvsBUF on CBS/Paramount+
: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/9zFXcmpX0b— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2024
The ref laughed and Aaron Rodgers laughed at the reality of a quarterback getting hit with an unnecessary roughness penalty. pic.twitter.com/NBu5aGmBwP https://t.co/uTTtd48Rf6
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 29, 2024
That’s how awful this Jets season has been, everyone.
Even the quarterback is committing unnecessary roughness as his team flounders about against a vastly superior opponent. When insult starts getting stacked on top of insult, you know anything terrible is genuinely possible for these Jets.