The NFL world came to a halt on Monday night as New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was carted off from the team’s opening-night game against the Buffalo Bills with an apparent ankle injury.
It happened just a handful of plays into the game when Rodgers came down awkwardly on his ankle as he was being sacked by Bills pass rusher Leonard Floyd. Rodgers just sat down on the turf on the next play, and then he was off the field being evaluated by the Jets medical staff.
It wound up with him being carted off and being labeled as questionable by the team with an ankle injury. The Jets later ruled Rodgers out for the game.
It’d be a seismic moment for one of the NFL’s all-time quarterbacks who had literally just switched teams for the first time in his career from the Green Bay Packers to the Jets, giving a long-suffering franchise legitimate playoff hopes.
Well, Peyton and Eli Manning returned for another season of ESPN’s ManningCast on Monday night, and their reactions to the whole situation summed up the feelings of everyone watching at home.
Peyton and Eli react to Aaron Rodgers' apparent injury. pic.twitter.com/sykQOyKjpk
— ESPN (@espn) September 12, 2023
Peyton Manning’s reaction to watching Rodgers get into the cart is just surreal to watch.
Peyton Manning in complete disbelief seeing Aaron Rodgers get on the cart.
"Holy… cow. I CANNOT believe this…" pic.twitter.com/rhnPY7LYYw
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 12, 2023
Seeing Rodgers go down like this is just not something any NFL fans want to see, and it’s dually dreadful for Jets fans who finally had a reason for hope.
Peyton and Eli Manning were in the same era of quarterbacks as Rodgers, and seeing them react to what could wind up being a career-altering injury for the Hall of Famer is just not something we’ll forget anytime soon.
Feature image courtesy of ESPN.
