This game is about 1 thing: Rodger. Make no mistake about it, in Washington Rodgers single handedly effed up the offense on first 3 drives and had some help on 4th:
Drive 1: 3rd down; Abby had a full 1.5 yards of separation on a cross w/ Goldsen stepping up in his zone to guard Cobb/stop QB run. Aaron Rodgers had a choice to throw it before Abbey lines up w/ Goldsen or wait for him to clear. Aaron Rodgers threw it right at Goldsen, he didnt see Goldsen there, its lucky that wasnât tipped/INT. Rodgers is playing differently than his past nature suggests he would, among other things, he is just not seeing the field like he used to.
Drive 2: 1st down, good protection, Cobb had Hall beat on slant; but Aaron Rodgers threw a duck to Jones. On 3rd down [Washingtonâs 2 pt safety], there was adequate protection. JC gave up too much penetration and Rodgers tried to run inside the DE who was ready to close and it is not where JCT expects Aaron Rodgers to be. Initially Cobb was open right, but it would only be 1st if he broke a tackle or two. If Aaron Rodgers stayed in pocket and took a hit, he could have hit Jones on deep curl on left. Or he could have moved/scrambled right where he set his protection. 5 blockers had the other 3 rushers controlled. Yes, JCT gets a C-/D+ for his role; but the sack was caused by Aaron Rodgers making 2 mental errors: (1) he forgot where his protection was; and (2) OTs expect Aaron Rodgers to run inside the DE only if the DE is rushing wider and more upfield.
Drive 3: on 2nd down R.Rodgers was open for 1st on sideline comebacker; but Aaron Rodgers skipped the pass in there. And on 3rd down there was good pressure causing Aaron Rodgers to back-peddle; but Aaron Rodgers had Cobb lined up who was open by 2-3 yards and he just missed him.
Drive 4: Abby had a drop on 2nd down that would have left a 3rd and 4-5 instead of 3rd and 8. But on 3rd and 8 Jones was open on outside hook; but throw was too far inside and CB knocked it down.
If Rodgers plays like this for anymore than one quarter, weâre done. If he knuckleheads it for a quarter, thereâs a huge disparity in defensive snaps and we're down by 2 scores again, weâll only have a chance if AZ gets stupid later in the game. There is no force on the earth powerful enough to stop GBâs offense, except GB players.
AZâs defense was #24 last year and theyâre missing DRC, Dan Williams, Okefor and Mathieu. This Defense is worse than last yearsâ. The difference in the stats is that w/o Palmer the Offense went 3 and out almost every drive; this year the Offense gives the D less drives to defend and makes other Offenses one dimensional. If the GB offense sucks it wont be because a good defense shut us down; because this Defense is a major league statistical whore pretender.
On Ahrens ârunning up the score:â
If a team believes the other is better; it is hard to win. Ahrens wasnât ârunning up the score;â he felt theyâd be facing GB in playoffs 3 weeks later; he was trying to demoralize GB, especially Rodgers. Iâll bet he told his team at halftime; these guys have come back from 17 point deficits; and then stole a line from Coach Yost in Remember the Titans, âwe have to make them remember the day they played the Cardinals.â If they got into Rodgersâ head, weâre done.
Teams would NEVER defer after winning the toss; because GB was the BEST at taking that opening drive and scoring; now itâs the rage. Since bye week; give Rodgers the ball on the first drive and itâs a ticket to an automatic no more than one first and punt. This bullshit has got to stop! Rodgers MUST execute on that first drive; if he does, and finishes the game executing, then we will win and Ted Thompson will be a genius. If Aaron Rodgers does his Mark Sanchez impersonation; then we will lose and then Ted Thompson will for some reason be believed to have not made the right roster moves [Yes, it is that insane].
The warm temps until recently and Saturday night game time helps. The GB players have not acclimated to winter yet. The high in AZ is supposed to be around 65; but at 6:30 the temp should be 6-8 degrees cooler and dropping to low 50âs by end of game. So Mike McCarthy has got the guys practicing in mid 50 temps in the Hutson center; the temp difference wonât be a factor.
Originally Posted by: Barfarn