[img_r]http://www.espnmilwaukee.com/includes/news_items/40/1872/packerscowboysrodgers.jpg[/img_r]GREEN BAY Aaron Rodgers walked into the Green Bay Packers locker room Sunday evening and found Ryan Gran, his teammate, friend and running back, waiting for him.
I said, Thats a hell of a way to stay poised, throughout the ups and downs. Wow, Grant recounted following the Packers must-win 17-7 triumph over the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field. He was great. I told him that, as soon as we got in here. But thats what we expect from him. Thats the type of player Aaron is.
Not only did Rodgers survive yet another week of punishment on and off the field he was sacked four more times, running his painful NFL-leading total to 41 on the season, during the game, and was lambasted on the national NFL preview shows before the game he also delivered when his team needed him most: Clinging to a 3-0 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Taking over at his own 20-yard line, Rodgers directed a 15-play, 80-yard march that at up 8 minutes 36 seconds of clock and ended in his 1-yard touchdown sneak to push the Packers lead to 10-0 with 13:14 to play in the game.
Along the way, Rodgers connected on three critical third-down completions, allowed Grant to do some of the work (five carries, 16 yards), got a little help from a pair of Orlando Scandrick penalties and overcame one of the four sacks he absorbed.
I thought it was a big moment in the game. I really thought it illustrated how you want to play, Packers coach Mike McCarthy said of the drive. You want to run the football, you want to stay in favorable down-and-distance.
Aaron had a lot on his plate. I told him earlier in the week that this was the most comprehensive game plan I think we ever have thrown a quarterback. I'm not trying to dramatize here I think you know that's not my personality but we had a lot on his plate. When you make adjustments and you're playing as much as we did, as far as protections and different calls, we did some new things this week. There wasn't a lot of time to get things repped. There were a lot of adjustments that carried over to Aaron's responsibility. So, from a management standpoint, I thought he did a very good job.
After the first half, that is, when the Packers converted just two third-down situations, suffered a pair of sacks, committed eight penalties on offense (seven enforced) and punted five times, with only Mason Crosbys 48-yard field goal as the half expired to show for their efforts.
It was a struggle, offensive coordinator Joe Philbin admitted. We had a bunch of penalties called on us, which is not good; had a couple negative runs; had some sacks, per usual. It was a battle.
But their quarterback emerged battle-tested. Employing a short passing game that had been in short supply of late, Rodgers got the crucial drive going with back-to-back completions to Donald Driver. Then, facing a third-and-11 from the Packers 34, Rodgers checked at the line of scrimmage and made a terrific throw to Jennings, who lined up in the right slot and beat Scandrick for a 14-yard gain.
Sacked on the very next play when DeMarcus Ware came unblocked, Rodgers ended up in another tough spot at third-and-14 from the Packers 45. This time, he zipped a 17-yard completion across the middle to tight end Donald Lee, standing in against a blitz while making the throw.
I told Donald Lee in the huddle right before that play, I said, Make sure you get across the middle of the field. And he ran a very nice route and made a good catch in traffic, Rodgers said. Those are obviously two big first downs for us and kept the drive going and kept our defense off the field and eventually got us a touchdown.
Even after Lees catch, though, the Packers still had work to do. Facing yet another key third down third-and-6 from the Dallas 8 Rodgers found Jordy Nelson for a 7-yard gain, setting up his touchdown plunge on the next play.
For the game, Rodgers finished 8 of 10 with six first downs and a touchdown (131.7 rating) on third-down passes and 25 of 386 for 189 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions (91.1 rating) for the game.
We didnt invent a whole lot of new plays today, but if you do them out of a little different look, (it) adds to what the quarterback has to get done in the huddle. Mentally, its something to get used to, Philbin said. Luckily he practiced all week (despite his ongoing foot problems) and executed it when it came game-time.
I think he managed the game pretty well. He made some nice throws on that drive, real nice throws. The one to Greg, the one to Donald Lee was a big throw and catch. I think hes stood in very well considering everything throughout the course of the year.
Asked if the game-plan had called for more quick, short throws Sunday, Philbin confessed, Maybe a little bit. We felt they had good pass-rush ability, so we may have had a few more (short passes). Normal down-and-distance, maybe we had a few quicker throws in there.
And Rodgers, for the most part, delivered. He played as if he had something to prove, as if hed watched the pregame shows on FOX, CBS and ESPN, where CBS analyst Charley Casserly claimed 60 percent of the Packers 37 sacks had been Rodgers fault and ESPNs Merril Hoge called Rodgers the Reggie Bush of quarterbacks because hes always looking for the big play.
He hadnt watched, of course, and after the game, when asked about the criticism hed received during the week and on Sunday, he demurred.
It feels good. I think youve got to give credit where credits due, though, and thats to the defense, he said. They played a great game today and shut down a good offense, a very good quarterback. (They) gave us good field position a couple times.
Our offense did just enough. We struggled at times in the first half, and in the second half we came up with the big drive, converted a couple third-and-more-than-10 and kept that drive alive and went down and were able to get a touchdown.