Which bring us to the real question...In sports, how does one define leadership from player, or what makes a great leader? And for this thread, does Rodgers exhibit those characteristics.
From what I am reading, many of us think leadership is running up and down the sidelines in a game "firing up the troops." While that may occasionally be called for, many of the most important leadership qualities are exhibited in practice and in meetings, specifically dedicating yourself to learning your job, and acting as an example to (and urging) others to work hard and stay focused on preparing...doing things that aren't on camera.
Athletes can not effectively lead when they either (i) don't exhibit the discipline in practice, or (ii) when they don't execute what they were supposed to be doing in the games. Beast pointed out
... I do remember "Matthews leadership" got brought up to Sam Shields and his body language negatively SCREAMED
I would suggest that Shields would have rolled his eyes when CMIII ran up and down the sidelines yelling,
"c'mon fellas, let's stop em here." Shields was probably thinking,
"if you set an edge and contained once in a while, I wouldn't have scrambled brains from being the first line of defense on running plays....FIRST DO YOUR JOB, THEN YOU MIGHT HAVE THE MORAL AUTHORITY TO LEADI am reminded of a story about Ditka when he was in college. At halftime, a senior safety said something to the effect of, "cmon guys we are only down seven points." To which freshmen Ditka replied, "if you did your job, we wouldn't be down seven." A hardworking leader was revealed.
One of the best sports leader was Michael Jordan. He absolutely busted his ass (and everyone else') in practice. I can't recall him as a "rah-rah" in his career. Quite frankly, I think a lot of that stuff is for show, i.e. the camera.
I honestly don't know if Rodgers urges others to bust ass in practice, in meetings or breaking down game film in study with teammates. I hope he does, but if not, its a good time to start. However, to lead effectively one has to make the most of one's abilities and opportunities...and I believe he works very hard at his craft and as NYRPACK pointed out, even when he isn't at his best, he is damn good.
Further, during games, I don't know if it was his job (or place) to talk with receivers. I would think the OC or receivers coach would be doing that. I personally would like to see more of that, but I don't what the protocol was. I hope in the future it is encouraged.
So just because we don't see the "rah-rah" stuff, that doesn't mean he isn't a good or great leader
In Luce tua Videmus Lucem KRK