https://www.si.com/nfl/packers/news/zebra-rodgers-shows-continued-mastery-of-offense

Zebra: Rodgers Shows Continued Mastery of Offense
Bill Huber

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Sometimes, accomplished athletes like a new challenge. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers would have preferred to skip the challenge of facing the Atlanta Falcons without receivers Davante Adams and Allen Lazard.

“Not really,” Rodgers said when asked on Monday night if he embraced the challenge. “I’d rather have those guys. I’d rather have us as healthy as possible, but the beauty in this game is that’s rarely the case, whether it’s guys playing with injuries or guys who can’t play because of injuries, and that’s just part of the game.”

Rodgers was sensational, with almost as many touchdown passes (four) as incompletions (six). On passes to tight end Robert Tonyan and running backs Jamaal Williams and Aaron Jones, Rodgers went 19-of-19 for 233 yards and four touchdowns.

“You love the opportunities for those other guys because a lot of them have really earned it, have earned the opportunity to be out there, earned the opportunity to be in position to make plays, and you get to learn a lot of about character and ability in those moments,” Rodgers said. “It’s different maybe with more of a crowd but it’s still ‘Monday Night Football,’ you’ve got the nation watching and there’s pressure to perform, and I do enjoy that part. But when it comes to having your guys, I think I’d always rather have my guys.”

Rodgers was typically sensational in plucking the feathers out of the Falcons’ defense. Check out these Next Gen Stats, which are made possible by Zebra Technologies’ RFID-based player-tracking technology and provided courtesy of John Pollard, the vice president of business development for Zebra Sports:
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Rodgers’ average time to throw was 2.54 seconds, which was the eighth-fastest among quarterbacks in Week 4. Last season, his average time to throw was 2.88 seconds, which was the sixth-slowest among 49 qualifying quarterbacks.

On the other hand, when Rodgers held the ball for at least 2.5 seconds before throwing, he was 10-of-14 for 182 yards and two touchdowns.

On passes with between 10 and 19 air yards, Rodgers was 6-of-7 for 119 yards and one touchdown. Last year, Rodgers was 52-of-100 in that quadrant, according to Sports Info Solutions.

Who needs Randall Cobb? On passes to players aligned in the slot, Rodgers was 6-of-7 for 75 yards and four touchdowns.[/list]With four touchdowns vs. zero interceptions, Rodgers has thrown 13 touchdowns and no picks this season. That puts him on an unimaginable pace of 52 touchdowns and no interceptions for the full season. Among quarterbacks with at least 500 passes in a season, Rodgers has the fewest interceptions (five) among quarterbacks with at least 30 touchdown passes (38), when he won MVP in 2014. Rodgers also has the fewest interceptions (six) among quarterbacks with at least 40 touchdown passes (45), when he won MVP in 2011.

The secret sauce to Rodgers’ game has long been his ability to make big plays while avoiding big plays for the opposition. He only hit on half of that recipe the past two seasons, when he had 25 touchdowns and two interceptions in 2018 and 26 touchdowns and four interceptions in 2019.Rodgers, in some ways, has never performed so well. During his MVP seasons, he had superb receiving corps to catch his passes. He doesn’t have that luxury this season, especially when Adams has been out. And yet, his 70.5 percent completion rate is the best of his career and far better than the 62.2 percent from the past two seasons. His touchdown rate of 9.4 percent would set an NFL record.

“Every year is different, every year has its own challenges,” Rodgers said. “There’s always chemistry to be worked out and team identity that takes place throughout the season. I’ve talked at length – you guys have heard it – talking about the stuff I did mentally this offseason that was really good just developing my own personalized practices and disciplines to get myself in the right head space mentally. That’s helped out on the field being even more relaxed than usual.

“Obviously, confidence has never wavered but I do feel really good in the offense. I feel like Matt and I are really on the same page – not that we weren’t last year – I just feel like we’re doing so much more. The creativity and the aggressive nature has been really good. We’ve known when to push, when to pull back. I think as a team, you never know what the team’s going to look like. Every year, you kind of have to have a new rallying cry, new mantras, new slogans, new sayings, new things that happen, new dances – you look at Jamaal (Williams) for that stuff – but I like the way we’re starting out. We’ve had to win with offense a couple of games and the defense really settled in and did a nice job tonight. We still owe them probably four or five games from last year, so we’re trying to pay them back early in the season.”