Rodgers Watch

Tough game for the new $20 million man.

He made some good throws and had some good reads, but once again - when the game was on the line, when the game was there for the TAKING - Rodgers could not get it done. Sure the turnovers hurt - these fumbles are becoming alarmingly routine - and the interception was just a result of forgetting to look off the safety in the face of the blitz - but once again it was Rodgers' inability to move the offense when it counted the most that doomed the Packers yesterday. Add to that the continuing problems in the red-zone and it was just a tough day at the office for the first year starter.

On that note - has anyone else noticed that the Packers have regressed to 2006 in their red-zone offense? I'm not sure what it is, but this team is a mirror image of the Favre-led squad that could move up and down the field between the 20s but almost always bogged down in the red-zone. And it's no mystery what teams are doing - they are playing coverage, dropping seven to eight guys for Rodgers to navigate his way through. To his credit, he hasn't thrown many interceptions - however, he hasn't thrown many touchdowns either (though funnily enough, he did both yesterday) McCarthy must find a way to get Ryan Grant going and get some pressure off of Rodgers when it comes to getting the ball in the end zone, because right now teams know that Grant won't or can't beat them inside the 20.

 

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Comments (10)

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Alex Tallitsch's picture

November 03, 2008 at 11:44 am

When do you work?

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PackerAaron's picture

November 03, 2008 at 11:52 am

I try not to.

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FranksEZ's picture

November 03, 2008 at 12:11 pm

Aaron threw one more TD than Favre

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DaveK's picture

November 03, 2008 at 02:06 pm

Where was Donald Lee yesterday? Was he even playing?

I think that teams that do not run well have a rough time in red zone. You have got to get those LB's thinking the run is coming and cheating up or the passing lanes gets very small. There just isn't enough real estate to find zones between the layers if the LB's are not moving forward at the snap.

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PackerAaron's picture

November 03, 2008 at 02:10 pm

Great points Dave. (Lee was in and McCarthy chose THREE TIMES to target Finley instead. The mind boggles)

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Franklin Hillside's picture

November 03, 2008 at 02:28 pm

The play-calling had a lot to do with stalling drives. Grant had a productive day, but he would rip off a nice run, and McCarthy would call for three passes. Tough for Grant to get a rhythm going. You should have said McCarthy needs to find a way to keep Gratn going.

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Andrew's picture

November 03, 2008 at 03:00 pm

(For obvious reasons), I haven't watched a young QB develop..I guess ever. Are early red zone troubles common? Is Eli Manning a good comparison?

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Keith's picture

November 03, 2008 at 03:12 pm

The problem with running in the red zone is our scheme isn't really built for that. Down in the red zone you need to just clear bodies out and pound it in. The Giants are very effective in the "Green Zone" (as Coughlin calls it) because they just give it to either Jacobs or Ward and they just run it down the other teams' throats.

I don't know if my memory is accurate, but other than Terrell Davis, I don't recall Denver being that proficient at running the ball in from the red zone (again, going off recall here.)

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PackerAaron's picture

November 03, 2008 at 03:17 pm

Andrew - Eli and Rivers are both good comparisons - and I think Rodgers will end up being better than both.

Keith - Agree to an extent, but the frustrating thing is that Grant was pounding it in from 5-10 yards away with regularity last season - he's not doing much more than running into a sea of tacklers this year inside the opponents 20.

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ctpack's picture

November 03, 2008 at 06:39 pm

3rd year coach,1st year starter, do the math

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