Steady starter
Rodgers has shown consistency in two seasons
By Greg A. Bedard of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Dec. 30, 2009
Green Bay Apparently the way to successfully transition from one franchise quarterback to another in the National Football League is to look for polar opposites as far as on-field style.
It worked for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1990s, when the cool pocket presence of Joe Montana was replaced by the whirling dervish mobility of Steve Young.
Both are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The Green Bay Packers seem to be following the same script because Brett Favre - football's version of a roller-coaster with jump-out-of-your-seat highs and head-shaking lows - has been replaced by a player who might as well have consistency stamped on his forehead.
Because if there's one thing that can definitely be said about the 31-game start to the career of Aaron Rodgers, which reached an apex with his selection Tuesday to the Pro Bowl, it's been remarkable in its invariability.
In comparing Rodgers with some of the best quarterbacks in the game - Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Donovan McNabb, Favre and Philip Rivers - over their last 31 starts, no quarterback has had more games with a passer rating between 70.1 and 120. Rodgers has 24 and McNabb 23.
The rest have had at least as many big games over 120, but only Rivers (two) can say he's been better than Rodgers (three) at avoiding the flop game (below a 70 rating) that every quarterback seems to have once in a while.
Aversion to turnovers
And nobody has had more games with no interceptions than Rodgers (18). McNabb and Rodgers both have 24 games with less than two picks.
"I think it's very impressive to not throw interceptions and not to turn the ball over," Packers receiver Donald Driver said Wednesday. "I mean, that's amazing.
"And that's one thing we as an offense have said we don't want to have. And he has the ball in his hands. He controls all of it. And he has kept his composure and went out there and made sure he made the right reads and threw the ball to the right people. I think he's just very consistent with what he wants to do and what he has done."
It would be easy to say Rodgers has become this even-keeled quarterback as a result of being in the stringent development system employed by coach Mike McCarthy and quarterbacks coach Tom Clements for two years before moving into the starting role last season. Certainly that hasn't hurt.
"You have to give Tom a heck of a lot of credit," said offensive coordinator Joe Philbin. "Tom spends a phenomenal amount of time with the guy in the off-season.
"And you watch those guys during practice, during special teams they're working. They're working on footwork, working on different throws, hot throws and getting the ball out of their hand quick. So I think it's a reflection of the work ethic of those guys. They take it very seriously."
But like Favre with his rifle right arm, quick mind and flair for the dramatic, some players are just born with special tools. Rodgers' paramount gift seems to be his aversion to turnovers, the biggest factor in staying consistent.
In his two seasons at the University of California, Rodgers threw 43 touchdown passes against 13 interceptions. In his one season at Butte College, he had 28 touchdown passes and four interceptions.
That's 71 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. So far in his pro career, Rodgers' ratio is 57 to 20.
"It's just not my personality (to throw the ball up for grabs)," Rodgers said. "I've always tried to take care of the ball as best I could.
"It starts in the off-season, being here 95% of the time and putting in the time in the film room, studying the previous year's plays, studying our own offense, being able to work with a guy like Tom Clements, who is a perfectionist and is always giving you things you can work on. I think that's been great for my development.
"But the way I prepare each week I think allows me to have a supreme confidence going into the game on Sunday that I expect to play well."
It should be almost unfair to Rodgers to compare him with the best quarterbacks currently in the game. Those players, save Favre, are in the prime of their careers and have gotten to that level by playing a lot of snaps in the NFL.
Certainly Rodgers benefited from developing in anonymity for three years, but he still turned just 26 earlier this month. Rivers is 28. Brees will be 31 on Jan. 15. The rest are over 32.
"I'm very impressed," said cornerback Charles Woodson, who has played with and against many quarterbacks in his 12 seasons. "I think the numbers speak for themselves. He comes to work every day, prepares every day like a winning quarterback and then on Sundays it shows up. Again, he just keeps getting up off the ground and making plays for this team. And there's not enough that can be said about what he's done this year."
It's certainly been a strange transition, going from the rock and roll of Favre to the mellow overtures of Rodgers. But like San Francisco before it, different doesn't seem to be a negative for Green Bay.
"Aaron Rodgers is a Pro Bowl quarterback, and that's the facts," McCarthy said. "Trust me, I fully understand the greatness of Brett Favre, and I had the opportunity to be part of his career, and he deserves everything that comes his way.
"But this is the beginning of potentially another great career at quarterback here in Green Bay, and (fans) should embrace it."