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.”
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packerfanoutwest (9h) : he won't be wearing #12, maybe he will wear number two
packerfanoutwest (9h) : He will fail this season, should have retired
Mucky Tundra (9h) : Thus the cycle of Hall of Fame Packer QBs going to the Jets and then the Vikings is broken
bboystyle (13h) : Rodgers to steelers on 1 year contract
Zero2Cool (21h) : It's the cycle of civilizations. Get lazier, lazier, softer, softer and vanish.
Martha Careful (22h) : great point. every aspect of society, including art, culture and sports has degraded.
dfosterf (4-Jun) : Green Bay sweep meant something to society about stopping pure excellence. We have the tush push now
dfosterf (4-Jun) : We old Martha.
Martha Careful (4-Jun) : *front four
Martha Careful (4-Jun) : Re frout four, I wish we had some Green "People Eaters" or a fearsome foursome
dfosterf (4-Jun) : *directions*
dfosterf (4-Jun) : Just don't ask him for driving direct
dfosterf (4-Jun) : Jim Marshall was an all-time great DE for the Purple People Eaters. Didn't like him. That's a compliment. RIP
Zero2Cool (3-Jun) : ooppppss
Zero2Cool (3-Jun) : “Kenny Clark played all of last season hurt by the way and got surgery to fix it in January”
Mucky Tundra (3-Jun) : @ByRyanWood How much did the injury affect him last fall? “A lot.”
Mucky Tundra (3-Jun) : @ByRyanWood Kenny Clark said he had foot surgery in January. Injured his foot in opener against Eagles and played through it all year.
Zero2Cool (3-Jun) : Golden is wearing guardian cap again. I bet he plays with it on too.
Mucky Tundra (3-Jun) : All the stuff I'm reading from Lions fans are pointing at his toe; he more or less has permanent turf toe in one of his big toes
dfosterf (3-Jun) : Kenny played through it, and a shame he gets little credit for that, imo
dfosterf (3-Jun) : Big men. I hope it's not the undoing of Kenny Clark
dfosterf (3-Jun) : Probably his toe. Pretty much a great center. Toe injuries are brutal to bigen
Mucky Tundra (2-Jun) : Lions All-Pro C Frank Ragnow retires
wpr (30-May) : It's all good.
beast (30-May) : Yeah, and I enjoyed your comments and just attempted to add to it. Sorry if I did it incorrectly.
wpr (30-May) : Beast I never said Henderson was the salt of the earth. Nor even that he was correct. Just quoting the guy.
Zero2Cool (29-May) : What did you do??
Zero2Cool (29-May) : Whoa
beast (29-May) : OMG the website is now all white, even some white on white text
beast (29-May) : Henderson, who admits to taking cocaine during the Super Bowl against the Steelers, might dislike Bradshaw as he lost two Superbowls to him
wpr (28-May) : Hollywood Henderson said Bradshaw “is so dumb, he couldn't spell 'cat' if you spotted him the C and an A.”
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : Cooper stock=BUY BUY BUY
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : Also notes he’s playing with more confidence.
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : @AndyHermanNFL MLF says there was a time last year where Cooper was at 220 pounds. Now he’s at 240 and still flying around.
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : And don't even get me started on Frank Caliendos "impersonations"
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : I got tired of them being circle jerks with them overlaughing at each others jokes.
Zero2Cool (28-May) : It used to be must watch TV for me. now it's "meh" maybe to hear injury update
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : I haven't watched the pregame shows in years and I don't feel like I've missed a thing
Zero2Cool (28-May) : Love says knee affected him all season, groin injury didn't help matters.
Zero2Cool (28-May) : I used to enjoy him on FOX Pregame. Now it's like a frat party of former Patriots.
Zero2Cool (28-May) : LaFleur on Watson: “Christian is doing outstanding. I would say he’s ahead of schedule.”
Martha Careful (28-May) : Bradshaw is a dumb ass cracker. I am so tired of his "aw shucks" diatribe. He should shrivel up and go away.
buckeyepackfan (28-May) : He wad all butt hurt because Aaron duped the media saying he was immunized.
buckeyepackfan (28-May) : Bradshaw needs to retire. He's been ripping on Rodgers ever since the covid crap. He was all hury
Zero2Cool (28-May) : Terry Bradshaw doesn't want Rodgers in Pittsburgh lol wow
Zero2Cool (27-May) : one day contract, which he also feels is pointless, but if Packers came to him, he would
packerfanoutwest (27-May) : Aaron Rodgers talks possibility of retiring with Packers, just another rumor
dfosterf (27-May) : Go watch 2001
Zero2Cool (26-May) : 1984
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