Rodgers: "I'm an emotional player"
By Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel
Dec. 8, 2010 4:37 p.m. |(1) Comments
Green Bay -- Peyton Manning does it often. Tom Brady does it once in awhile. Brett Favre almost never did it.
Whether to get on your teammates for mental mistakes is something every quarterback has to ponder because it can definitely backfire. Guys with the cache of Manning, Brady and Favre could take a belt to offenders at the 50-yard line and no one would blink an eye.
As we saw Sunday against San Francisco, Aaron Rodgers was very demonstrative in pointing out mental errors, dressing down fullback Quinn Johnson, chirping at tight end Andrew Quarless and in one instance, seemingly getting irate with wide receiver Donald Driver.
Many a quarterback has been emotional, but he also has to be careful how far he goes.
"I think as a quarterback and as a leader, you have to find ways to get through to your teammates," Rodgers said. "Some guys do better with a confrontation, some guys with a pat on the butt, some guys a one-on-one sit down. I'm an emotional player, and sometimes I share my emotions on the field, sometimes I share them in public.
"But I think some of the mistakes we've been making are so correctable, it's often most frustrating when I know those are mistakes that shouldn't happen. And when you've playing a tight game, you can't have alignment mistakes."
Rodgers was speaking more of the mistakes Quarless, a rookie, and Johnson, a second-year player made. Rodgers patted Johnson on the helmet after chewing him out.
As for the other instance, it turned out the swinging of his arm in total frustration was not aimed at Driver, an 11-year veteran who was unable to catch up to the ball thrown over his head in the corner on a first-and-goal play at the 6. But it sure seemed that way from afar.
It's not a good idea to show up a guy as honored as Driver, and even if you weren't showing him up you risk that possibility when you don't control your emotions.
Rodgers wouldn't say who he was gesturing at, but receiver Greg Jennings was on the same side as Driver, was a little late off the ball after going in motion and may have taken the route inside instead of outside. So it could have been Jennings. And if it wasn't Jennings then it was someone on the sideline.
On the very next play, Rodgers had to call a timeout because Quarless apparently wasn't lined up right.
"Sometimes I say things," Rodgers said. "I guess its frustrating when its a little thing and it shouldnt be an issue, I think. Youre probably talking about me getting on Quinn a little bit when he couldnt line up in the right spot. To me, that goes back to preparation.
"To me, physical mistakes are going to happen. They just are. Im going to throw a bad ball, guys are going to drop passes, might not be able to make a play at some point. But the mental stuff, I just have a really hard time with that. Because I just feel like the preparation should be the most important thing for these guys. "
Driver said he accepts Rodgers for the kind of person he is. He admitted Rodgers is cocky.
"But in a good way," Driver said. "I'm cocky. It goes hand in hand. I think I'm one of the best. He thinks he's one of the best quarterbacks. That's pretty good."