WFAN’s Joe Benigno thinks he caught COVID from Jets ineptitude

Years after sparking a national uproar over his vaccination status, Aaron Rodgers may have indirectly given someone COVID.

Longtime WFAN host Joe Benigno joined the station’s afternoon show with Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber for his weekly spot to discuss the Jets on Monday. And at the start of the segment, Benigno said something he’s said many times before, the New York Jets make him sick. This time, however, he meant it literally.

“Yesterday’s loss was so bad,” Benigno said. “I mean we have seen so many brutal losses over the years and this season has been just one hideous loss after another. This loss was so bad yesterday that I actually got COVID from it. I’m serious, I’m blaming the Jets because I was weak after this game.”

If this sounds at all familiar, that’s because Skip Bayless said the same thing about the Dallas Cowboys last season. Bayless caught COVID in January, shortly after the Cowboys lost a home divisional round playoff game to the Green Bay Packers.

“My theory is, that the Dallas Cowboys destroyed me to such a point, to such a depth that they shredded my immune system,” Bayless said. “I was so down, I was so low that I was even more susceptible than ever to COVID. I actually got boosted…six weeks ago? I got the latest Moderna booster, but my immune system was so low, so shattered, so shredded by my Dallas Cowboys that I caught Cowboy COVID.”

At least Bayless caught COVID from a playoff game. As bad as the Jets’ loss to the Seahawks was on Sunday afternoon, it was largely meaningless. Seattle did everything they could to lose that game, but the Aaron Rodgers and Jeff Ulbrich-led Jets still blew it and fell to 3-9 after the loss. But Jets fans have known their season was over for weeks, which is part of what makes Benigno so unique. Even in a lost season and a meaningless game, no Jets fan is more invested than Benigno. So invested that he caught COVID from the loss.

[WFAN]