Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin mentioned he’s centered on successful after buying and selling jabs with Pat McAfee on their respective podcasts.
Over the weekend, Franklin clapped again at McAfee, a former Colts punter-turned media star, for being vital of Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson — and McAfee responded by stating a mess of points Indianapolis is coping with.
Franklin squashed their beef when requested Monday by a reporter if he had plans to have interaction with McAfee on his “The Trenches” podcast.
“To be honest with you, I got a lot of respect for Pat. I understand exactly who he is to the organization, to our city, and quite frankly I think maybe I probably didn’t handle it the right way going into it,” Franklin mentioned. “Now he mentioned some issues about me, so that’s what it’s … We’re all a household. All of us need the identical factor. I believe on the finish of the day, Pat needs what’s greatest for us, he needs us to win, he needs one thing to cheer about he needs one thing to go on his present and scream about in a great way.
“And that’s what I want for him. At the end of the day, me being in the locker room, me being the boots on the ground, I want to give our fans — I want to give our alumni something to be proud of and something to continue to cheer for. So, there is no back and forth. There is no feud because at the end of the day, we want the same things.”
Franklin laughed when the reporter joked, “think about the ratings” if he had McAfee on his podcast.
“Look man, playoff ratings hit the best,” Franklin mentioned. “So as long as I get to do a playoff battle, that’s all that matters.”
McAfee, who lives in Indianapolis along with his spouse and daughter, is a daily at Colts residence video games and he typically sits in a set Lucas Oil Stadium.
Throughout an look on “GameDay Morning” forward of the Colts’ 24-6 loss to the Lions this previous Sunday, McAfee joked that his conflict with the gamers was “brewing.”
Franklin known as a truce with McAfee after the Colts misplaced 4 of their final 5 video games — together with Sunday’s setback that dropped them 5-7.
Final week, Franklin and Colts linebacker EJ Pace took problem with the media’s criticism of Richardson asking to sub out of a division sport at Houston for one play in Week 8 as a result of he was drained. The Texans beat the Colts, 23-20.
Richardson was subsequently benched in favor of veteran Joe Flacco for 2 video games along with his inconsistent play being the biggest issue within the resolution.
Franklin and Pace didn’t title McAfee, however they did use his picture to advertise the episode, entitled, “Zaire & EJ CLAP BACK at the media.”
McAfee was publicly vital of Richardson and the Colts within the media and on social media.
McAfee first lobbied for him to be benched, after which mentioned the Colts ought to return to Richardson after back-to-back losses with Joe Flacco on the helm.
The Colts face the Patriots (3-9) at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on Sunday.
