Green Bay - A Packers spokesman had already doused the hot rumor that QB Aaron Rodgers played with a crack in his helmet during the Jacksonville game Sunday, but being the "investigative" reporter that I am, I asked to see the helmet to make sure he had not.
Some background: A video circulating on the internet showed a network feed that had a closeup of Rodgers and showed what appeared to be a crack on the back left side of his helmet. Since you could see no symmetrical line on the other side, it did look like a little bit like a crack.
However, as the Packers explained, and a few others with knowledge of how the stripes on an NFL helmet are pasted on confirmed on Twitter, the "crack" is merely an outline of the decal secured to the surface of the helmet. The sticker widens at two places on the helmet and the outline that was evident on the video, actually exists on the left and right of the stripe down the middle.
For some reason, the lighting was such that the outline on the right wasn't visible.
Part of the reason the sticker widens, I was told, is so that it can cover holes on the top of the helmet and prevent the little rubber pellets that are at the base of Field Turf surfaces from getting inside the helmet.. It also probably assures that the stripe across the top of the helmet stays affixed.
Quarterback Graham Harrell's helmet had the exact same pattern on both sides of the stripe that Rodgers' helmet had.
So there you have it. Controversy avoided. Case closed.