McCarthy Compares Rodgers to Montana, Glosses Over Favre
Head coach Mike McCarthy called Aaron Rodgers the best decision maker he's been around since his days in Kansas City coaching Joe Montana.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is having a remarkable season, an MVP-type season, that has him currently leading the NFL in touchdown passes, completion percentage and passer rating.
It was in reference to that dominance, that sky-high level of play that head coach Mike McCarthy was asked what allows his quarterback to connect on so many passes.
McCarthy didn't hesitate to hurl out the superlatives in describing Rodgers' abilities, citing in particular his decision making and going so far as to compare him to a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
"He is clearly the best decision maker that I've been around probably since my time in Kansas City with Joe Montana," said McCarthy, harkening back to his days as the Chiefs offensive quality control assistant back in 1994.
One can only assume McCarthy didn't forget his first two seasons in Green Bay coaching another Hall of Famer to be, Brett Favre.
Not that anyone would disagree with McCarthy. Brett Favre has many admirable traits as an NFL quarterback including arm strength, toughness and the innate ability to make something out of nothing, but not at the top of the list would be his decision making.
Favre is the NFL's all-time leader in passes intercepted with 336, 59 more than second-place quarterback George Blanda.
So it's not exactly a surprise that Favre doesn't have some of the qualities McCarthy applied to Rodgers on Monday.
"He does not get bored throwing an easy completion, and that's a great attribute to have as a quarterback," said McCarthy. "He's clearly in tune in taking what the defense gives you. He can throw the tight spots. He has the anticipation and arm strength and accuracy to attack the seams, but he does a great job of staying disciplined and staying within the offense."
The follow-up question posed to McCarthy was if Rodgers challenged him as a playcaller because of those attributes.
"The reality is, if you watch us play on offense, we're pretty aggressive," said McCarthy. "We line up with a lot of receivers. I don't know if there's a formation we haven't used yet. We move people around. We stretch the field vertically. I would challenge anybody in the league with our vertical passing game.
"So we're not just a three-step, take-what-they-give-us offense. That's not the point I was making. He's running a well-oiled machine. It's the offense that has a lot of options, and he's in great command of it right now."
Comments (22)
October 25, 2011 at 07:37 am
There is nothing wrong about it , besides Montana was a great QB as good or better then #4
October 25, 2011 at 07:49 am
It's also important to note that McCarthy only played with Favre for two years as his head coach and one year in 1999 as his QB coach. So it's not like he is throwing out Favre's entire career...he's just saying that Rodgers was the best QB that he has worked with since Montana.
I hope this doesn't become controversial...
October 25, 2011 at 08:16 am
I don't think MM was tossing Favres career out the window by the glossing over.
Simply,336 INTs,even if discounting those that can be considered not the fault of the QB,the number that remains still dictates that Rodgers is so much more a better decision maker than...Favre ever was or could ever be!
IDK this stat but,IMO the only thing that Favre has over Rodgers at this point may be the sacked numbers.
Then again,Rodgers will take the sack then toss the INT.I'll take sacks and give this to Rodgers anyway.
October 25, 2011 at 10:35 am
Favre has more career tackles.
October 25, 2011 at 10:43 am
I know, irony... I'm aware of it, BUT: The most important play of Rodgers career was a tackle. NFCChampionchip against Urlacher. If doesn't make this, the Packers lose, probably.
October 25, 2011 at 08:28 am
Watching both is incredibly hard to argue against McCarthy's notion. One doesn't have to look further than the Rams' game in the playoffs, the Eagles' game in the playoffs, the Giants' game in the playoffs, the Saints game in the playoffs'...
October 25, 2011 at 08:50 am
I seriously doubt that McCarthy meant to slight Favre by leaving him out of the conversation. McCarthy seems to have (successfully) kept out of that particular mud pile. If he had said something like "Rodgers is the most durable QB he's ever coached" and then drawn a comparison to Montana, then maybe. As stated above, Favre was a great QB but "good decision making" won't be the first line of his bio when he's inducted into the HoF.
I thought McGinn made an excellent point in one of his articles this weekend when he said that the Packers haven't had a perfectionist playing QB since Starr, but they have one now. How you define "greatness" is subjective, but championships won is a good starting point, IMO. Given a choice, I'm more comfortable with a QB with the qualities of Montana and Starr than pretty much anyone else.
October 25, 2011 at 11:25 pm
I've always thought that Steve Young is the best analogy for Rodgers. In terms of intelligence, efficiency, scrambling ability, and the fact that both followed legends.
October 26, 2011 at 02:10 am
Excellent point. To be honest, I never thought of Young. He manages to fly under my radar when considering great QBs (not that anyone should give a shit about my radar), and I'm not sure why. But I think you are probably right in that he's a better comparison.
October 25, 2011 at 08:57 am
Brent forced throws with his arm strength. Arod finds the opening and makes the toss. Does Arod have more weapons... probley but you can't fault Arod for that...
October 25, 2011 at 08:59 am
Tony Romo idolized Favre - look where it gets him.
Aaron Rodgers idolized Joe Montana - this is the result.
October 25, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Actually, it's a common misconception that Romo grew up idolizing Favre; that's just assumed since he grew up in Burlington, WI.
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/29337284.html
October 25, 2011 at 01:09 pm
He has since said things that are contrary to that 4 year old article.
October 25, 2011 at 10:18 am
Dink & Dunk? "No," says MM.
October 25, 2011 at 11:27 am
McCarthy, for better or worse, inherited Favre and all of his talents as well as well-honed bad habits. And let's face it, by the time he inherited Favre, there was no way he could refine or help him develop further. Favre was his own island of one at that time (which is probably part of his decay as well as I think his inability to be coached really led to the uglier aspects of the behavior and performance of a later Brett Favre that no coach could control.)
He, on the other hand, had the opportunity to develop Aaron Rodgers. He didn't draft Rodgers, but he has been his head coach. There is a partnership in this situation. Of course he's going to be proud of it. And there is a mutual buy in. I don't ever think we'll see an Aaron Rodgers that thinks he knows more than his coach.
And, shockingly enough, I agree with McCarthy. Rodgers is cut from the same cloth as Joe Montana. Elite quarterback with integrity. Too bad not all elite quarterbacks don't have both qualities.
October 25, 2011 at 11:58 am
"He does not get bored throwing an easy completion, and that's a great attribute to have as a quarterback"
Seems like a thinly veiled shot at Favre maybe? Could explain why he was always taking unnecessary chances, out of boredom.
October 25, 2011 at 01:43 pm
There's a famous old clip of Holmgren saying that Favre gets bored out there and eventually wants to throw a rocketball. Don't recall if it was on the sidelines talking to Favre, but it was an old Holmgren reference.
October 25, 2011 at 10:43 pm
I remember it pretty well.
NFL films caught the exchange between Holmgren and Favre after Brett had made one of his trademark fireball throws into triple coverage that got the team either a big first down or a score and Holmgren's quote was something like "Enough with the rocket-arm sh*t" as Favre walked to the bench with a little smirk on his face.
One of those moments that made you simultaneously love Brett (then) and hate him (later).
October 25, 2011 at 02:05 pm
I definitely understand why people are thinkings this was a shot towards Favre.
I do believe Favre is nowhere nead McCarthy's mind right now, with an undefeated team with problems and potential signs of complacency, with injuried players and a shuffling OL entering a bye.
October 25, 2011 at 06:03 pm
As far as decisions with the football, Rodgers is the best he has worked with since Montana. McCarthy tried to get Favre to stop with all the ridiculous forced balls, he did better, but still made boneheaded throws that resulted in INT's. Rodgers and Montana are worlds above Favre in decision making. I think that is more what Mike was trying to say.
October 25, 2011 at 07:43 pm
Honestly, who give a sh!t. We , packer fans, constantly get irritated by the media wanting to compare these two. So Mm didn't mention Favre, big deal. If we want to help this issue die we need to quit feeding into it. Bye Bye bye week, please.
October 26, 2011 at 01:23 am
Favre deserves all shots intended or not. Screw him. He's dead to me. And will be till he apologizes for his Viking BS. Which he won't. Till then, I hope the Dong Slinger retires a Viking.