Nice piece from Greg Bedard on Aaron Rodgers and his play so far this year. Bedard highlights Rodgers’ maturation in the offense and his many accomplishments through his first seven games as a starter. He also looks at what Rodgers has to do to “take it to the next level” (To his credit, Bedard doesn’t use this phrase - I just like making fun of people who do) - namely, win a game on his own.
And here, dear readers, is where trouble comes in paradise for our young hero.
To be charitable, Rodgers has looked efficient at the end of halves and games. But his glaring weakness has been his inability to get the ball into the end-zone in crunch time. Of course, this deficiency is magnified ten-fold because it’s something his predecessor became a legend doing, but even without the Favre comparison hanging over his head, Rodgers play would be described as ’steady’. And ’steady’ does not get you to the Super Bowl, unless you have a dominating defense, which the Packers most certainly do not (the Colts game not-withstanding).
And I think Bedard is a bit too kind when he says:
Rodgers hasn’t been put in many tight spots yet but the circumstantial evidence, while a mixed bag, at least points to him being able to get the job done when it counts.
I would look at the Tampa and Atlanta games as times when Rodgers could have started to “get the job done when it counts”, but failed both times, throwing two game-killing interceptions. These are the types of games Rodgers needs to start pulling out for him to, yes, you guessed it, “take it to the next level”.
manolito said in October 28th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
PackerBelle said in October 28th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Keith said in October 28th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Donald's Designated Driver said in October 28th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
