MintBaconDrivel
11 years ago

GREEN BAY — Even the guy who is arguably the best player in the game has room for improvement. And that guy — Aaron Rodgers — even knows that.

Although the Green Bay Packers quarterback bristles at the suggestion of one area where he can improve  — absorbing fewer sacks — he also knows that as he goes, so go the Packers, who can ill afford to lose him if they fancy themselves Super Bowl contenders.

That's why both quarterbacks coach Ben McAdoo and offensive coordinator Tom Clements would like to see Rodgers cut the number of sacks he was responsible for in 2012 in half. Rodgers was sacked a league-high 51 times last season, and according to ProFootballFocus.com, 10 of those were subjectively his fault.

"We've always said it's a fine line between 'Should I throw it away or should I try to scramble?' Sometimes a scramble gets you a big play, sometimes a scramble gets you a sack. So we're never going to give that up," Clements explained. "We just want to avoid the big hits and avoid the sacks that are very avoidable. If we can do that, we think it'll help us."

After suffering through injuries during his time as a backup — a broken foot that ended his 2006 season and a torn hamstring that sidelined him for much of the second half of the 2007 season — Rodgers has been durable since taking over as the starter in 2008. He played through a painful injury to his right (throwing) shoulder early in 2008, then suffered two concussions during the 2010 season, the second of which caused him to miss a December game at New England. All told, Rodgers has started 86 of 88 possible games (including playoffs), and the only other start he missed was the meaningless 2011 regular-season finale, when he was a healthy scratch after the Packers had wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

Rodgers, who became the league's highest-paid player with a five-year, $110 million extension in April, said he altered his offseason workouts in hopes of extending his career and his durability streak.

"This is really the first year where I've felt like I had to do a little bit more to get myself into the same I wanted to get in," said Rodgers, who turns 30 in December. "And that's because it's not only my ninth season, but I know the most important thing for me to be able to play to the end of this contract is going to be to make sure my legs stay strong and I'm able to do the things I like to do on the field: Be athletic out of the pocket, make some plays with my feet, and be able to have that balance to throw in the pocket with my legs underneath me. So it's going to be all about getting myself in the best, tip-top physical shape I can, and getting ready to have a good season."

In terms of his game, Rodgers appears to be at the height of his powers, even though his numbers did dip last season from his MVP totals of 2011. While his quarterback rating was still the NFL's best (108.0), it did drop from his NFL-record 122.5 rating the year before. His touchdown passes dropped by six in one more regular-season start (39, down from 45) and his interception total went up (eight, from six). He still finished with more than 4,000 yards passing (4,295, eighth in the NFL), but the most telling statistic was his yards per attempt, which plummeted from an NFL-high 9.25 yards last season to only 7.78 this year.

According to coach Mike McCarthy, where Rodgers can improve the most isn't statistically, but in furthering his leadership role in the locker room. Throughout the offseason, that's just what McCarthy saw.

"Aaron Rodgers has the opportunity to grow like anybody else. It's not the level of play, per se, but his ability to raise the level of play from the people around him," McCarthy said. "He does an excellent job of that. His interaction in the meeting rooms, with the quarterbacks, with the perimeter group, is higher than it's ever been.

"It is very important for a veteran, established player to do that; our veterans do that as a whole. I think Aaron's exceptional at it. He's done a really good job of helping the younger quarterbacks and helping everybody. It's important to create that environment for growth. For Aaron, it is definitely a strength of his. He's just like everybody else, he's hit the fundamentals hard this year. He's had some little things we're working on. And I look forward to it carrying over on to the field. Just make sure he has the tools and the resources to do what he does. And that's play great football."

That's not to say Rodgers doesn't see room to improve his game, however. He said both Clements and McAdoo have been good about coaching him hard and making sure he keeps his edge.

"We watch a lot of film, so you have to be really critical of yourself from year to year and look for things you can improve on," Rodgers said. "Having a new quarterback coach helps, second year with Ben McAdoo, he's always trying to find new ways to challenge me and get me to work on different things. And having Tom in the room also helps because he's just that steady voice and we've had a lot of time together. Always working on things, trying to get better.

"I see my role kind of changing as I get older. I've taken so many (practice) reps. When I'm in there, (it's about) making sure I feel comfortable with the reps I'm taking. And when I'm out of there, especially in like a walkthrough setting, making sure I'm doing as much as I can to help the young guys out because getting those guys ready to play preseason football, I know what that's like; three years as a backup. There's a lot of moving pieces and different calls and you have to make sure everyone is on the same page. I'm trying to help out those young linemen because if those guys are more confident, the quarterback can have more time and they can look better in the preseason."

Jason Wilde  wrote:


Pack93z
11 years ago
How freaking predictable.. prop up the glory boy as the #1 player... typical media brown nosing. [grin1]
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"
steveishere
11 years ago
Greg Jennings won't be happy about this.
nerdmann
11 years ago
Jersey Al 

I’ll quickly dismiss Jennings’ assertion that Rodgers thinks he is perfect and not about the team as “bitter pill syndrome”. As I have said before, I think Jennings is still feeling the sting of not getting a new contract to stay in Green Bay. Back in 2011 when receiver James Jones was a free agent, Rodgers lobbied the team to keep Jones and while the Packer did let Jones test the free agent market, they ultimately brought him back on a three-year deal. Jennings probably felt he was worth similar, or more, public support from Rodgers. While Rodgers didn’t say much about bringing Jennings back prior to his signing with the Vikings, he did drape constant praise over the Jennings during their time together in Green Bay. Rodgers is also and very likely disappointed in Jennings’ take on his dedication to the Packers.

Rodgers signed his mega-deal contract extension earlier during the offseason and perhaps Jennings feels that one of the reasons Rodgers didn’t go to bat for him was because he wanted the team to focus their financial efforts on his own contract. Purely speculation on my part. But when one player gets a new deal or a contract extension, teammates who are also waiting for their new deals are often found feeling passed over. In this case, it’s no comparison between the team deciding to lock up one of the league’s best quarterbacks during the prime of his career, and a wide receiver who missed significant time and is approaching age 30.



Interesting take.
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”
Fan Shout
Mucky Tundra (6h) : Getting help would have been nice, but helping ourselves should always be the plan
beast (6h) : Too bad Seahawks couldn't beat Vikings
bboystyle (6h) : We just need to win Monday night and were in
Mucky Tundra (10h) : Or ties, but let's be real here
Mucky Tundra (10h) : Other scenario was Falcons+Rams losses
Mucky Tundra (10h) : Needed a Falcons loss for a Seahawk loss to clinch
buckeyepackfan (10h) : Am I wring in saying if Tge Vikings beat The Seahawks, The Packers clinch?
Mucky Tundra (21-Dec) : Agreed; you stinks
Zero2Cool (21-Dec) : I'm not beating anyone. I stinks.
Mucky Tundra (21-Dec) : rough injury for tank dell. guy can't catch abreak
beast (21-Dec) : So far the college playoffs have sucked... One team absolutely dominates the other
beast (21-Dec) : Well even if you weren't positive towards a guy, you wouldn't nessarily want to tell the media that (if they don't know about it)
Martha Careful (21-Dec) : I think MLF want Love to look past the end half issues, and feel good about his play. Our coaches generally keep a very positive tone.
beast (21-Dec) : I think a great running game will do that for most QBs
packerfanoutwest (21-Dec) : Coach Matt LaFleur has said quarterback Jordan Love is playing the best football of his career.
beast (21-Dec) : Oh, that's how you keep beating buckeye, with cheating
Zero2Cool (20-Dec) : There is a rule that if your name starts with 'b' you lose 15 points. Hey, I don't make the rules, I just enforce them!
wpr (20-Dec) : and then there is Beast. Running away with it all.
beast (20-Dec) : As of tonight, 3 way tie for 2nd in Pick'em, that battle is interesting!
beast (20-Dec) : Lions vs Vikings could be the main last game as it could determine division winners or #1 vs #2 seed
Mucky Tundra (20-Dec) : Or if KC needs to win for the #1 seed
Mucky Tundra (20-Dec) : Right now it looks like the only prime worthy games are Det-Minny and KC-Denver (if Denver can clinch a wild card spot)
Mucky Tundra (20-Dec) : The entirety of week 18 being listed as flex is weird
Zero2Cool (19-Dec) : Matt LaFleur today says unequivocally "Ted Thompson had nothing to do with the drafting of Jordan Love."
Zero2Cool (19-Dec) : Apparently, the editing is what pieces comments together. That Ted thing ... fake news.
Zero2Cool (19-Dec) : LaFleur "opportunity that Ted Thompson thought was too good to pass up"
Zero2Cool (19-Dec) : Jordan Love pick was Ted Thompson's idea.
Mucky Tundra (19-Dec) : Kyle Shanahan on signing De'Vondre Campbell as a FA last offseason: “We obviously made a mistake.”
packerfanoutwest (19-Dec) : Alexander’s last season with GB
Martha Careful (18-Dec) : if I were a professional athlete, I would probably look to see who the agent is for Kirk Cousins and then use him
beast (18-Dec) : $100 million fully guaranteed Kirk Cousins gets benched for rookie
Mucky Tundra (18-Dec) : a lower case b
Mucky Tundra (18-Dec) : The real lie is how beast capitalized his name in his message while it's normally spelled with
packerfanoutwest (18-Dec) : haha that's a lie
beast (17-Dec) : Despite what lies other might tell, Beast didn't hate the Winter Warnings, it felt refreshing to Beast for some reason.
Zero2Cool (17-Dec) : whiteout uniforms in general are pretty lame and weak. NFL greed at it's worst
Martha Careful (17-Dec) : The Viking uniforms, the whiteout uniforms specifically absolutely suck
beast (17-Dec) : Thanks Zero2Cool, looks a lot better now
beast (17-Dec) : Seems like someone has a crush on me, can't stop talking about me
Zero2Cool (17-Dec) : Should be gooder now. The forum default theme went to goofy land.
Zero2Cool (17-Dec) : What the hell
packerfanoutwest (17-Dec) : yeah beast hates the Winter Warning Unies
Mucky Tundra (16-Dec) : Okay I'm glad to know it's not just something happening to me lol
Mucky Tundra (16-Dec) : Zero, did you copy the Packers uniforms from last night and white out the board?
beast (16-Dec) : Oh crap, is the board going to the Winter Warning Uniforms too?!? It's all white on white right now!
Zero2Cool (16-Dec) : WR Odell Beckham Jr is officially a free agent after clearing waivers.
Zero2Cool (16-Dec) : Packers are 6th in sacks.
Zero2Cool (16-Dec) : RB David Montgomery will undergo season-ending knee surgery.
Mucky Tundra (16-Dec) : Dan Campbell on onside kick with 12 minutes left: In hindsight, wish I didn’t do that
Zero2Cool (16-Dec) : They have that whole 12th man thing so ...
Please sign in to use Fan Shout
2024 Packers Schedule
Friday, Sep 6 @ 7:15 PM
Eagles
Sunday, Sep 15 @ 12:00 PM
COLTS
Sunday, Sep 22 @ 12:00 PM
Titans
Sunday, Sep 29 @ 12:00 PM
VIKINGS
Sunday, Oct 6 @ 3:25 PM
Rams
Sunday, Oct 13 @ 12:00 PM
CARDINALS
Sunday, Oct 20 @ 12:00 PM
TEXANS
Sunday, Oct 27 @ 12:00 PM
Jaguars
Sunday, Nov 3 @ 3:25 PM
LIONS
Sunday, Nov 17 @ 12:00 PM
Bears
Sunday, Nov 24 @ 3:25 PM
49ERS
Thursday, Nov 28 @ 7:20 PM
DOLPHINS
Thursday, Dec 5 @ 7:15 PM
Lions
Sunday, Dec 15 @ 7:20 PM
Seahawks
Monday, Dec 23 @ 7:15 PM
SAINTS
Sunday, Dec 29 @ 12:00 PM
Vikings
Saturday, Jan 4 @ 11:00 PM
BEARS
Recent Topics
3h / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

6h / Green Bay Packers Talk / Mucky Tundra

22-Dec / Green Bay Packers Talk / packerfanoutwest

19-Dec / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

19-Dec / Random Babble / Zero2Cool

18-Dec / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

17-Dec / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

17-Dec / Featured Content / Zero2Cool

16-Dec / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

16-Dec / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

16-Dec / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

16-Dec / Feedback, Suggestions and Issues / Mucky Tundra

16-Dec / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

16-Dec / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

16-Dec / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

Headlines
Copyright © 2006 - 2024 PackersHome.com™. All Rights Reserved.