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The first episode of the newest season of HBO’s Hard Knocks premiered on Tuesday, August 8 and it featured an incredible handshake between teammates Aaron Rodgers and Sauce Gardner.
Clearly becoming friends as soon as Rodgers arrived in New York — Gardner and Rodgers attended a Knicks playoff game together virtually the moment Aaron got off the plane from Green Bay — the pair have developed a personal handshake that features them pretending to smoke a roach and then put it out.
https://twitter.com/wolfs_densports/status/1689183747747258371
Aaron Rodgers & Sauce Gardner doing their signature handshake 🤝 pic.twitter.com/rgtBfsToba
— 𝙅𝙀𝙏𝙎 𝙈𝙀𝘿𝙄𝘼🛫 (@NYJets_Media) August 5, 2023
That wasn’t the only cool moment between the pair in the episode, though, as cameras caught Rodgers telling Gardner that he’ll be in Canton (the Hall of Fame) someday.
"You'll be here one day."@AaronRodgers12 knows @iamSauceGardner has Hall of Fame aspirations in the league.
Watch #HardKnocks on @StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/wGWaLRN9Rm
— NFL (@NFL) August 9, 2023
Rodgers, Gardner, and the rest of the New York Jets head into the 2023 season with Super Bowl expectations for the first time in over a decade, as the team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010, which is the longest streak in the NFL.
The second episode of Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets will hit HBO and Max on Tuesday, August 15 at 10 p.m. EST.
While Rodgers didn’t suit up in the Hall of Fame game that was featured in the first episode of Hard Knocks, he might play in the Jets’ next preseason game, which will be this Saturday, August 12 against the Carolina Panthers. Then, on September 11, Rodgers will make his official debut for Gang Green in a Monday Night Football matchup (the first of the season) against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
The Jets’ week one game against the Bills will certainly be a decent indicator of how legitimate they’re going to be this year, as Buffalo is one of the few teams in the NFL with better odds to win the Super Bowl. In addition to the Bills, the Chiefs, Eagles, 49ers, Bengals, and Cowboys are the only teams in the league that the bookies like better than the Jets.