After Sunday’s 51-45 win by the Cardinals over the Packers, Arizona safety Antrel Rolle said that he didn’t want to see Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers again.
Ever.
According to Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports, Rolle illustrated his point by comparing this weekend’s opposing quarterback to Rodgers.
“I’ll face Drew Brees any day of the week before I face [Rodgers] again,” Rolle said.
Now that Rolle’s rant has raised eyebrows, Rolle claims he didn’t say what Silver says he said.
“My thoughts are that is a complete and total lie,” Rolle told reporters on Wednesday, according to Mike Sando of ESPN.com. “First of all, I wasn’t even talking to Mike Silver. Adrian [Wilson] and myself were having a conversation. I was simply praising Aaron Rodgers and he decided to throw Drew Brees’ name out there. I was just like, ‘I’m not even talking about Drew Brees. I’m talking about Aaron Rodgers.’ He twisted and turned it. I’m not even a guy that speaks to the media. My name is never out there. For him to go out there and say that to try to stir something up is just typical.”
(And for a guy who says something he shouldn’t have said to then say he didn’t say it isn’t typical, right?)
For his part, Silver stands by his reporting.
“I am both amused and angered that Antrel Rolle is claiming that I lied, lifted a quote from a private conversation and/or took him out of context after Sunday’s game,” Silver told PFT via e-mail. “The quote was 100 percent accurate, and the purpose of our conversation could not have been clearer. I interviewed him at his locker, writing down his comments about Aaron Rodgers on a notepad. Toward the end, as he was starting to walk away, I said, ‘And now you have to face Drew Brees on Saturday.’ At that point he gave me the quote in question (which I also wrote down in plain sight).
“Rolle is a passionate, intelligent athlete with whom I’ve enjoyed interacting over the years, but he’s clearly trying to back out of a controversy by blaming me,” Silver added. “He owes me an apology.”
We know what you’re thinking. It’s a he-said/he-said thing. A proverbial pissing match. But then there’s the fact that, before sounding off to reporters, Rolle contacted Silver.
Via text message.
A text message Silver saved.
The first line of it?
“Why did you put what I said in the papers.”
No further questions, Your Honor.