Aaron Rodgers, Pat McAfee Ridiculed After Falling For Bogus NFL Stat

ESPN host Pat McAfee and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers were both brutally mocked on social media after they parroted an NFL stat that was completely bogus.

After the Detroit Lions beat the Houston Texans 26-23 despite Lions QB Jared Goff throwing five interceptions, X user @MisterCiv posted a pretty incredible stat:

Although a community note quickly pointed out that Goff has only thrown at least four interceptions in only two games and had a 1-1 record in those games, Rodgers, a regular guest on McAfee’s ESPN show, apparently didn’t see that fact-checking.

Instead, he parroted the fake stat, wondering whether it was real.

“Jared hadn’t thrown five incompletions, I don’t think, in a game for how many weeks? And then he throws five picks?” Rodgers said. “I love Jared. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. The amazing stat though — is this a true stat, that he’s done four or more picks seven times and he’s won every single one of those games? Is that real?”

McAfee quickly responded, “Yes, yep, 7-0,” and Rodgers replied, “That’s wild.”

But when @MisterCiv, the person who posted the B.S. stat, saw that McAfee and Rodgers had amplified his post without fact-checking it, he felt obliged to retweet the exchange and point out how easy it was for him to spread the fake information.

“if you’ve ever wondered how easy it is to spread fake information i made this stat up while laying in bed at halftime of the game,” he wrote.

Considering that Rodgers has promoted lots of dubious conspiracy theories, including that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a “false flag” operation, few people were surprised he was willing to promote pro football falsehoods as well.

McAfee responded to the post calling out the panelists’ gullibility with a two-word response: “Oh no.”

Of course, that led to more razzing.