Actually, what I said verbatim is "Aaron needs to be a better leader. Players are playing too tight and that's on him. WR need to earn his trust. WR get shit reactions from him."
I think you're taking things way too personally here. If I fucked up and assume things, it's because I fucked up and assumed things, not because I think you're a jerk or I'm trying to be a jerk or anything to do with you.
You said, verbatim:
If what you meant by that was not "Aaron locks in on guys that he trusts, and this is a thing that not literally every other quarterback does" and/or "You get ignored until you earn Aaron's trust", then please explain what you meant. I'm sorry if I was assuming things here, but it is an extremely, extremely common narrative by about a dozen people on this forum, in the media, and widespread among the fanbase that Aaron forces the balls to his favorite players and ignores people that are wide open until he "builds trust with that receiver". If I inaccurately pinned these views on you, that's my bad. But it's really hard to tell exactly what you meant from six words of explanation. And I'd like to know what you meant.
Originally Posted by: Porforis
I do not think Aaron Rodgers is (my god I wish we had a podcast for this crap) forcing the ball to his favorites.
I do think Aaron Rodgers makes his WR feel they need to earn his trust to get more snaps and ultimately more looks. Consequently, this makes them play tight and in fear of losing said trust.
I do think the fact (I'm going to say fact because Aaron has said it and WR's say it all the time) that Aaron requires WR to earn his trust adds unneeded pressure to the WR that is counter productive.
I do think Aaron could be a better leader. Some players like to be ripped into, some players don't. But when I see a WR fail to toe tap and I see the reaction from the QB like the one he did. It pisses me off because I know that it is wrong. If it was Davante Adams, sure, give him that disappointed look like he fucked up. A young guy though, no, you get up in his face, smile and say 'hey we will get it next time, keep alert I am still looking for you'. Something like that. That to me is GOOD leadership that lets players know their QB has their back and that there makes you work harder.
I do think Aaron misses (maybe misses is the wrong word) open guys because they are too easy and he wants a challenging throw. That's being crude about it. I do believe his ego warrants his name on SportsCenter type shows and being talked about with amazing throws. Do I feel he's going OMG 88 is open on 3rd down with an easy first down, screw it, I want ESPN baby I'm going deep!! No, I do not think those thoughts are racing through his mind. I do think his EGO makes that decision for him.
I probably made things more confusing than they are. Just understand when I fault a QB on missing a target, its done so with a billion factors that come to mind. Especially a QB who demands (speculation on my end) his WR earn his trust and then is having several bad misses a game? And gives other WR shitty looks for a mistake? How many times have we seen Aaron make a bad throw and then point to himself saying "that's on me, my bad" or anything like that? It's as if he's without flaw. I dunno. But I do know I don't think he's locking onto a guy because of trust. I think the whole trust thing is a leadership problem, not a targeting problem.
I still love ya Craig. We good.