Social Media User Made Up a Completely Fake NFL Stat — Then Aaron Rodgers Repeated It on The Pat McAfee Show

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Tuesday repeated a stat on The Pat McAfee Show that turned out to be completely made up by someone on the internet.

On Sunday night, the Detroit Lions beat the Houston Texans 26-23. The win came in spite of a disastrous performance from Lions QB Jared Goff, who threw five interceptions.

While talking about the game, Rodgers recalled a stat he recently read.

“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?”

One of McAfee’s co-hosts confirmed the stat was real, causing Rodgers to say, “That’s wild.”

That stat came from Twitter user @MisterCiv, who tweeted it during Sunday night’s game.

When he realized that his made up stat made it all the way to ESPN, he used the opportunity to turn it into an important lesson about the spread of misinformation.

“If you’ve ever wondered how easy it is to spread fake information,” @MisterCiv said. “I made this stat up while laying in bed at halftime of the game.”

The tweet quickly went viral and even got the attention of McAfee himself.

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