Aaron Rodgers made an eye-opening revelation about the Malachi Corley blunder.
On Thursday night, Corley scampered towards the end zone but dropped the ball in celebration before he crossed the goal line for what would have been the first score of the game — and of his career.
In his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers addressed the mistake, saying that the team had been warned by the coaching staff about a recent similar play involving Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts.
“You never know what you’re gonna see in a game. I will say: we get a little around-the-league analytics conversation, time management, clock management, things to do / things not to do presentation every week from our guy Smash [situational coordinator Dan Shamash] and he showed the Kyle Pitts play — which I believe was last week,” Rodgers said.
“So, it’s definitely on his radar. Great play call. Great execution. Only thing I’d say to Malachi, and I said this on the sidelines, is ‘Why would you ever drop the ball? That was your first touchdown! You celebrate with that thing, you run to the sideline with that thing, and you give it to [an equipment staffer] and say that this is mine.’”
Indeed, Pitts was cruising towards an easy touchdown against the Buccaneers last week when he slowed down and allowed Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield Jr. the opportunity to knock the ball out of his hand.
The ruling of a touchdown stood in that case as there was just barely not enough evidence to overturn it.
Rodgers could laugh about it as the Jets had a torrid second half and beat the Texans 21-13.
“But listen, he was excited. It was a play that happened. It sucks. It’s disappointing. Nobody feels worse than he does, but it’s kind of a crazy thing,” Rodgers said.
“I was getting made fun of because I was telling Tae [Davantae Adams] and Garrett [Wilson], ‘You guys score these touchdowns and hold the ball up before you get to the end zone, I guess I’m an old white guy but can we just run through the middle of the letters, please?
“You’re not exactly setting a great example for these guys holding that damn ball up.’”
