NFL 'Rigged'? Patriots' Matthew Judon Speaks Out with Sarcasm on 'The Script'
If the NFL is indeed scripted, the New England Patriots are giving that screenplay two thumbs down.
Former running Arian Foster unintentionally vindicated any football fan who believes that the NFL has it out for their team during the latest episode of his Barstool Sports talk show. With claims of rigged NFL games in full force after the controversial final stages of last Sunday's AFC Championship Game, the former Houston Texans star leaned into the idea of fixed outcomes by facetiously claiming that the league's season is determined by a script each player receives at the start or training camp.
Startling? Indeed.
Sarcastic? Of course.
While Foster was obviously joking, the internet's most gullible ran with the idea, prompting NFL players past and present to bring sanity back to the picture. Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon, whose team was subjected to several heartbreaking defeats this season, perhaps killed the idea's authenticity once and for all with one fateful question.
"Who TF wrote the vegas ending?" Judon asked rhetorically, saving the internet from foul language.
Even the most casual fan is likely aware that Judon refers to the Patriots' bizarre defeat at the hands of the Las Vegas Raiders in December. With overtime looming in a tie game, the Patriots' final play of regulation went disastrously wrong as receiver Jakobi Meyers' ill-advised lateral was intercepted by former New Englander Chandler Jones, who took the errant lob the distance for a walk-off touchdown.
The defeat loomed large in the final standings, as the Patriots (8-9) missed out on the AFC playoffs by one game.
Judon was far from the only player who poked fun at Foster's comical concept.
Former quarterback Robert Griffin III referenced the career-altering injury he sustained at the end of his brilliant rookie season in 2012, while ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky brought up his infamous blunder in which cost the Detroit Lions a safety by dropping back into - and out of - his own end zone in 2008.
Foster, now the host of Barstool's "Macrodosing" alongside Eric Sollenberger (better known by his character "PFT Commentator"), even faces humorous pushback almost immediately after his comments. The "Macrodosing" crew playfully pushed the two-time All-Pro running back about his thoughts on the script that said his career "would fall off a cliff when (he) stopped believing in God."
Injuries sustained after Foster revealed he was an atheist cut his career short, rushing for only 218 yards over his final two seasons (2015-16) between Houston and Miami after earning his fourth and final Pro Bowl bid in 2014. While that's far from a Hollywood ending, it's rather clear that Foster doesn't actually believe there's scripted foul play afoot.
"Oddly enough, the scriptwriters didn’t have anything to do with (my decline), actually. It has more so to do with they needed a change of scenery in Houston," Foster said, referencing his brief time with the Dolphins after his seven-season heyday with the Texans. "We were really dedicated to (the act) ... that’s what practice was about, it was about practicing the script. This is what goes on, this is what we have to do … (it's like) WWF, so it’s like we know what’s going to happen. You've still got to put on a show."
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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