First and foremost, I am sorry that Aaron Rodgers was injured on Monday night, ending his season and, possibly, his storied career. No player ever “deserves” to get injured, and I feel for you, as you hoped that this would be “the year.” I hope he is literally on his feet in no time.
Having said that, Aaron has developed two patterns over the years that have worsened with age.
First, he holds on to the ball too long during passing plays. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve screamed, “Throw the damn ball, Aaron!” at my TV, I’d be a millionaire. His preferred read and throw is the long ball. If he has an open slant several yards in front of him, he often won’t take it and will keep looking downfield. He expects his receivers to know when he’s in trouble, and their job is to then run back towards him and improvise. In the meantime, his offensive line is improvising to keep him from being sacked while he’s running around improvising.
Yes, it’s important for a team to be able to improvise when things go wrong. But with the Packers in recent years, improvising was a fixture, not a bug, in the Packers offense. In other words, the Packers offensive plan called for 10 guys to be mindreaders, trying to anticipate what the eleventh guy was going to do. Sometimes it worked. More and more often, it didn’t.
In addition, he’s just not as mobile running as he used to be. He used to be able to get himself out of quite a few jams with his legs. He hasn't been able to do that the past few years.
Which brings me to the second pattern that’s worsened with age…
It’s always someone else’s fault if things go wrong. He EXPECTS the other 10 guys to read his mind. The receiver ran the wrong route, wasn’t in the right place, didn’t run back to him, didn't do this, didn't do that, etc. The offensive line didn't hold their blocks, didn't adjust to a blitz read, didn't do this, didn't do that. And then he screams at them back in the huddle. And then he gets this crabby look on his face for the rest of the series. His attitude totally goes south, and I believe he plays worse the rest of at least that series, sometimes longer.
Case in point: Monday night. Look at his face after his first near-sack. He’s crabby and angry. And he doesn't shake it off. And who is he blaming now for his injury? The offensive line, because they used cut blocks, which meant he didn't have time to run around and improvise. He had to get rid off the ball right away. He hates that. I can’t imagine what it’s like for his teammates who are frequently on the receiving end of that.
The ABC announcers talked about how the Jets have built their whole offense around Rodgers, and the players, especially the offensive line, hadn't adjusted yet — to the stand-up, long blocks; to the improvisation in the backfield; to that infernal hard count he likes to use to draw the defense offsides, which it hardly does anymore. [N.B. A good team shouldn't have to use hard counts and cadence to win football games.] They noted that even quarterback Zach Wilson was expected to learn Rodgers’ style of play when running the offense and was struggling with it. Obviously.
Jets fans, the Packers have been to a Super Bowl only once with Rodgers, in 2011, almost 13 years ago when he was 25. With all the MVP’s he’s won, the big game wins have eluded him. It’s odd that nobody has ever questioned or analyzed why the Packers have lost so many post-season games. All of those tendencies I mentioned above? He does that stuff in spades in big games, almost as if he “chokes.” Yes, the rest of the team has to pull its own weight in those games, but Rodgers isn’t blameless.
The vast majority of Packer fans appreciate how Rodgers has played these many years. Just the same, a lot of us were happy to see him go, feeling the team had gone as far as it could go with him at the helm. And, frankly, a lot of people were tired of his prima donna attitude. Jordan Love is our guy now — a guy with a positive attitude who gets the ball out of his hands quickly and can run if he has to. And Matt LeFleur can finally be the head coach, who doesn't have to bow to the whims of one player. All in all, I feel like the Packer organization is healthy again.
Good luck to the Jets team this year. You have some exciting new players, like your running back. And you need to get behind Zach Wilson before the owners bring in another old quarterback to “save” the team. And be glad that you don’t have to spend this football season screaming, “Throw the damn ball, Aaron!”