porky88
  • porky88
  • Veteran Member Topic Starter
15 years ago
If he needs motivation this is a great read for the Packers' quarterback. Not saying some of it's not true because some of it is spot on, but some of it is also exaggerates a tad bit. I'll bold that part.

http://www.profootballweekly.com/2009/09/21/packers-rodgers-still-has-much-to-prove 

Prior to finishing his first year as a starter, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was awarded a long-term extension, and the media widely began to paint him as an up-and-coming star.

Through two weeks of the 2009 season, savvy evaluators remain very skeptical, pointing out his tendency to squeeze, squeeze and squeeze the ball before he unloads it, taking too much time to get it out of his hands and pull the trigger. His offensive line did not give him much help in the 31-24 loss to the Bengals, especially after OLT Chad Clifton was knocked out of the game early in the second half, and the pocket began to fold very fast.

ORT Allen Barbre is still very much a project, not strong enough or physical enough to handle the right side, and OLG Daryn Colledge, a college left tackle, proved why he needed to move inside as a pro when he kicked out to replace the injured Clifton. Colledge's short arms and soft demeanor allowed the Bengals to terrorize the corner. The Packers' edges looked like a swinging gate for most of the second half, as Antwan Odom notched a career-high five sacks, and pressure on Rodgers was very consistent.

Nonetheless, no quarterback can expect the pocket to remain clean, and Rodgers, who lacks escapability, was just as much to blame for not getting rid of the ball more quickly. He too easily is tracked down like he is moving in mud anytime a defender comes close to him, and his eyes too quickly began to drop when he was pressured.

"Everyone wants to anoint him before he passed the test," an NFL evaluator said following the game. "He was 6-10 in his first year as a starter, and people want to say he is better than (Brett) Favre. If I were Brett, it would probably hit my button, too. What has (Rodgers) done?"

Some evaluators are even convinced backup Matt Flynn has a brighter future than Rodgers, having shown great ball placement in the preseason and much better escapability, which is more valued behind a line playing as poorly as the Packers'. If Rodgers should go down, as he has had a tendency to do early in his career, it could be a blessing in disguise.

The jury remains out not only on Rodgers but on a Packers team that many predicted could contend for the NFC championship. The running game is struggling to establish itself, and the Packers barely escaped the first week, in which the Bears were badly stricken by injury and Jay Cutler tossed a career-high four interceptions in a loud, hostile environment. Now, the Packers could be seriously tested next week by a St. Louis defense that has been much improved under Steve Spagnuolo's leadership.


TheEngineer
15 years ago
Can't say I agree with much of anything in that article. It's easy to write these sorts of articles after the poor performance of the Packers but put any elite QB behind our offensive line and you'll see much of the same thing we saw from Rodgers, especially the cautious checkdown type we have with Rodgers. If Rodgers did get the ball out early he'd be intercepted a few times and we'll have the same article replacing "was just as much to blame for not getting rid of the ball more quickly" to "was just as much to blame for throwing 3 interceptions by not taking the sack."

Did those talent evaluators not see the game last season when Flynn was in? He's not ready. If Flynn showed "great ball placement and ... escapability" in the preseason then Rodgers showed god-like accuracy and poise. But look at us now. No, I don't agree with much of that article at all.
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porky88
  • porky88
  • Veteran Member Topic Starter
15 years ago
Flynn has like nine throws in preseason to go off of this year. It is a Chicago based publication I believe, but still, that part just got me kind of upset to be honest. The rest of it about Colledge and the tackles is all true. Rodgers is also a work in progress as are all younger QBs, but Matt Flynn.... Really. Not knocking Flynn, but he is what he is. A backup that will be a journeymen more likely.
TheEngineer
15 years ago
I'm going to nitpick this article, since I think it is fallacious or otherwise unnecessarily biased against Rodgers and the Packers.

Through two weeks of the 2009 season, savvy evaluators remain very skeptical, pointing out his tendency to squeeze, squeeze and squeeze the ball before he unloads it, taking too much time to get it out of his hands and pull the trigger. His offensive line did not give him much help in the 31-24 loss to the Bengals, especially after OLT Chad Clifton was knocked out of the game early in the second half, and the pocket began to fold very fast.



I've never heard anything about this squeeze, squeeeze squeeze thing. No citation.

The pocket was folding well before Clifton left.

ORT Allen Barbre is still very much a project, not strong enough or physical enough to handle the right side, and OLG Daryn Colledge, a college left tackle, proved why he needed to move inside as a pro when he kicked out to replace the injured Clifton. Colledge's short arms and soft demeanor allowed the Bengals to terrorize the corner. The Packers' edges looked like a swinging gate for most of the second half, as Antwan Odom notched a career-high five sacks, and pressure on Rodgers was very consistent.



Coaches disagree and think Barbre's problem is that he wasn't focussed on fundamentals. Same problem with Colledge, fundamentals. Physically they are capable of playing to a higher level than they did. No mention of the almost complete lack of practice for Colledge.

Nonetheless, no quarterback can expect the pocket to remain clean, and Rodgers, who lacks escapability, was just as much to blame for not getting rid of the ball more quickly. He too easily is tracked down like he is moving in mud anytime a defender comes close to him, and his eyes too quickly began to drop when he was pressured.



Rodgers ran into a sack on one play that I remember. A lot of the sacks was a stunt to move inside by Odom, whilst Rodgers did his 5 or 7 step drop back. Once Rodgers completed his drop back they were already in his face.

Whenever he did get outside you can see he's looking downfield to try and throw. EVEN THEN, Rodgers must have thought nobody was open. So he'd have to scramble.

"Everyone wants to anoint him before he passed the test," an NFL evaluator said following the game. "He was 6-10 in his first year as a starter, and people want to say he is better than (Brett) Favre. If I were Brett, it would probably hit my button, too. What has (Rodgers) done?



Favre, in this offense, would have taken more than 5 sacks. Favre is slow. In the Vikings game a lot of times Favre looked like he got caught in the middle of the pocket with nowhere to run and took a sack. I don't recall Favre scrambling outside of the pocket and making throws on the run which Aaron did, (I'd love to see highlights if he did though). Even if he didn't take sacks, he would have thrown more than zero interceptions. Yes, Mr. article writer, Rodgers IS better than Favre, in this offense at this stage.

Some evaluators are even convinced backup Matt Flynn has a brighter future than Rodgers, having shown great ball placement in the preseason and much better escapability, which is more valued behind a line playing as poorly as the Packers'. If Rodgers should go down, as he has had a tendency to do early in his career, it could be a blessing in disguise.



Already discussed in previous post.

The jury remains out not only on Rodgers but on a Packers team that many predicted could contend for the NFC championship. The running game is struggling to establish itself, and the Packers barely escaped the first week, in which the Bears were badly stricken by injury and Jay Cutler tossed a career-high four interceptions in a loud, hostile environment. Now, the Packers could be seriously tested next week by a St. Louis defense that has been much improved under Steve Spagnuolo's leadership.



Cutler threw a career high 4 interceptions precisely because he played the Packers defense. The loud, hostile environment is OUR stadium. They are not outside variables that the Packers fortuitously were given but part of the identity of this Packers team.
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mi_keys
15 years ago
The guy clearly doesn't watch football. Yes, Rodgers does hold on to the ball too long some times. That was a problem we sometimes saw last year and something many young quarterbacks have to work on, but he has very good escapability. He's escaped quite a few sacks these first two games. Also, who in God's name is projecting Flynn to be a better quarterback down the road than Rodgers. Most people weren't even sure he could be a backup until he displayed some decent work this preseason.
Born and bred a cheesehead
djcubez
15 years ago
Look at Favre's o-line too. Steve Hutchinson? Oh yea, and he has All Day to take a lot of the pressure off of him. We have Ryan Grant...
Greg C.
15 years ago
Wow, that was a bad article. The whole thing.

Thanks to the Engineer for his post. That saves me a lot of time. I just watched the game again, and like the Engineer, I counted only one sack that was Rodgers' fault. There was one more where he was sacked outside of the pocket, but the defender grabbed his arm to prevent him throwing the ball away.

The part about Flynn is, of course, laughable.
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dhazer
15 years ago
Well i have to laugh people still need to compare Favre and Rodgers on the Packers, they are 2 different qbs and Favre would be checking out of alot of plays that Rodgers don't. Remember 2007 most of our plays were slants and quick passes where the hell have those plays gone? But i'm just sick of all this talk of we were nfc contenders. As Dennis Green said "They are what we thought they were." We are a 6-10 team trying to improve.
Just Imagine this for the next 6-9 years. What a ride it will be 🙂 (PS, Zero should charge for this)
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Zero2Cool
15 years ago
lol dhazer isn't watching the Packers games.


And I've said it before and I'll say it again. I didn't like the pundits ranking us so high and putting us in the NFC Championship game or further. We have a young team and I'm thinking they started to believe the paper clippings or too much into their success in pre season.
UserPostedImage
PackFanWithTwins
15 years ago
Do this guy know what happens when a QB squeezes the ball. They end up with a terrible pass. Which is why quite often, long balls loose the spiral. Because when they throw harder they squeeze the ball harder. Rodgers throws one of the tightest spirals in the league. Which would directly contradict the squeeze to hard theory. Sure maybe now and then he does as any QB does, but for the the majority of the time. Not a chance.


And I say again, if Rodgers starts getting rid of the ball quicker, expect 10-20 balls thrown Out of bounds, because that is all the time he is getting.
The world needs ditch diggers too Danny!!!
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