Green Bay Let's just get this out of the way: Aaron Rodgers has done a lot more right than wrong in his 25 games as starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers.
His statistics are gaudy. He's fourth in the National Football League with a 101.8 passer rating. Rodgers' 134.9 rating on third downs is far and away the best in the league. He has thrown 17 touchdowns against just five interceptions.
And he certainly has the smarts and the physical tools needed at the position.
But has Rodgers really made the throws or the plays when the team needed him to? You know what we're referring to: tough throws into impossible spots in gotta-have-it moments? The kinds of plays that separate the good quarterbacks from the elite?
It's a small sample in a such a young career, to be sure, but perhaps not. It might be part of the reason, despite the stats and talent, that Rodgers owned just a 10-14 record as a starter heading into Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys.
And then "The Drive" happened against the Cowboys. And it might have changed everything.
Fifteen plays. Eighty yards. Eight minutes, 36 seconds off the clock. And two throws (and catches) that were described by Rodgers' coaches and teammates as "big-time."
And now as a result, maybe Rodgers' time has truly arrived.
"The two big third-down throws, you talk about your quarterback making three or four plays a game, those two right there are huge plays," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Wednesday in a Lambeau Field office right off the media auditorium. "And those kind of plays win games. Those plays can change a game. And that's when you talk about prime-time players. Your prime-time players win big games because they make those one or two plays. Those definitely fit in that category."
Up to that point, Rodgers had made two clutch throws that were in the same ballpark: the late third-quarter, thread-the-needle touchdown pass to Greg Jennings last year at Tampa Bay and the game-winning throw to Jennings in the season opener against Chicago.
But the Packers lost to the Buccaneers, and Jennings was wide open when the Bears busted a coverage.
There's no denying what happened against the Cowboys, however.
On third-and-11 from the Packers' 34-yard-line, Rodgers made a route adjustment at the line and then threw a bullet to Jennings, who was tightly covered by nickel back Orlando Scandrick on the inside. Cornerback Terrence Newman sagged on the outside as he looked to come off his man and jump the route.
Three plays later, on third-and-13 from the Green Bay 45, Rodgers somehow completed a pass down the middle to tight end Donald Lee with linebacker Keith Brooking underneath and safety Patrick Watkins charging hard from the top.
The receivers were, for all intents and purposes, covered on each play. But Rodgers gunned passes in there anyway, something he was reticent to do not only earlier in the game, but for much of his young career.
Rodgers had not shown much of a knack for "throwing a receiver open." But it's essential to success.
"That's something great quarterbacks do," said former Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick, who will call Sunday's game against the San Francisco 49ers for Fox. "When they go to let go of the ball, you can look at what he's throwing to and go, 'What the heck are you doing?' The really good quarterbacks recognize that the margins the receivers are open in this league are so very narrow and that you do have to throw a receiver open. He showed that ability to do that there."
Former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski said throwing open is a talent learned through experience.
"This isn't college football where receivers run free and there's big open space and big windows to throw into," Jaworski said. "This is the National Football League. You're constantly squeezing balls into tight coverage. It takes a while to figure out who you are at this level.
"I can remember one of my old coaches, Sid Gilman, would always tell me, 'In the preseason, especially, you've got to experiment. You've got to try to make those throws. Yeah, they're tough throws, but see what you can do. You've got to test yourself.' And it really takes time for a quarterback to understand what he can do in situations. Do you really trust, not only your receiver, but do you trust yourself? And I think what came out of that game is an opportunity where Aaron did make some throws, where there was tight coverage, where there were small windows, where there was only a small area to throw the football."
Rodgers also completed a tough pass on third-and-6 from the Dallas 8 to Jordy Nelson that set up the touchdown that put Packers ahead 10-0. Cowboys standout linebacker DeMarcus Ware was in Rodgers' face, which forced him into an awkward release. But Rodgers found a way to get it there.
There were other encouraging signs on that drive. Rodgers hit on four short passes. He released the ball almost always on rhythm with a three-strep drop. His only release time over 2.77 seconds came on a throwaway out of bounds (another improvement). On his 10 dropbacks (7 of 9, 59 yards, one sack), Rodgers released the ball in under 2 seconds five times.
"That was definitely a point of emphasis, the time clock and playing with some rhythm and some timing," said offensive coordinator Joe Philbin. "It all came together on that drive."
So too may the Packers' season, if Rodgers and the rest of the offense can build on it.
"There are always some defining moments in a player's career," Jaworski said. "You look back at plays, drives. That could be one of them. It's against the Dallas Cowboys, it's a must-win game. You're at home. You've had some people on your back a little bit. It was a heck of a drive under tough situations against a team that gets after the quarterback."
And it likely signifies a big step in Rodgers' development.
"Is this putting him into that elite group of quarterbacks? Yeah, I think he's taking that step with those throws," McCarthy said. "When you make those types of plays, those are the kinds of plays that win games.&ensp.&ensp.&ensp. If he continues to do those types of things, I think they'll talk about him that way."