Former Packers safety Leroy Butler has some things to say about week four and the state of the Green Bay Packers. To follow is a transcript of the interview conducted with the Milwaukee Journal.

After each game this season, former Packers all-pro safety LeRoy Butler will team up with Journal Sentinel beat writer Tom Silverstein for "Five Questions with LeRoy Butler." Butler appears on behalf of his charity, "The LeRoy Butler Foundation" (leap36.org).

The following is the Q&A after Sunday's 30-21 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Q: How difficult will it be for Aaron Rodgers to play with a sprained right shoulder and would the Packers be better off letting him sit this week against Atlanta and getting him ready for Seattle and Indianapolis heading into the bye?

A: If I had to, I'd sit Aaron out. I wouldn't even play him. He's too valuable. If it's even close, I wouldn't play him. Not to take anything from Atlanta, but I wouldn't play him. With a quarterback a shoulder injury is a little different. If my shoulder was hurting or separated, I could hide it and tackle with my other shoulder. If it's your throwing shoulder you're going to stress it every time you make a certain throw. The throws I'd be concerned about are the deep throws and some of the intermediate ones. I'd say anything from 25 and beyond. Putting the ball right where the receiver wants it and out of the defenders hands, I'd be concerned. Just the throwing motion itself, puts a lot on the shoulder. Not so much the arm, but the shoulder. I think he can throw some of the other routes because he has a strong enough arm to make them, but it's the play-action where he has to stick the ball out and bring it back in - that's more stress on the shoulder - and then he has to wind up and make a long throw. That could really put some stress on that shoulder. They can do something to alleviate the pain, but it's not something you can tape up or put in a harness. You have to have enough velocity on the throws, otherwise defensive backs are just going to say, 'We don't think he can make these throws, we're just going to play the Packers a little closer to the line of scrimmage.' They'll get arrogant and blitz him all day.

Q: Based on what you saw Sunday and the pre-season before that, they're in trouble if Matt Flynn has to play, aren't they?

A: Yeah, but let's do the math here. We all knew this had to happen. We all knew they were one injury away from playing Flynn, a rookie. And another injury away from playing (Brian) Brohm, another rookie. This is not a shock. The Packers had to know there was a chance of this happening. So this had better work. You don't want to fall behind in your division and you don't want to fall behind in the NFC. I don't know how effective he can be if he misses a lot of practice time. You could cut his throws down in practice from say, 100 a week down to maybe 45. If they have to go into this game with a rookie, they have to get the running game going. This is not a surprise. The Packers have chosen this position. I'm sure they have a Plan B somewhere. Right now, it's on Flynn, so he has to be ready. You never know when he's going to be ready. I'd give him a lot more of a workload and move him out of the pocket and get him things he's comfortable with. I'd get Brohm some work if I could, too. If Aaron's out for awhile, you have to think about bringing in a veteran. You can't just go on with two rookies. The one thing I don't want to hear is anything about Brett Favre, should've, would've. That's gone. It's just going to your next move.

Q: Can you explain how the Packers allowed Buccaneers defensive end Greg White to rush unblocked into Rodgers on the last interception?

A: When you're in shotgun and you're pointing out the guys who you think could blitz, there always can be a "clean" guy. So as a quarterback you have to figure out who is going to be the "clean" guy. I've learned in my years of blitzing that sometimes a quarterback is responsible for one guy. So they can pick up everybody, but that's your guy as the quarterback. I just remember Steve Young, I got him on a zone blitz once because he didn't think I was coming, he thought Keith McKenzie was coming. But Keith dropped and I blitzed and sacked him. When I got up, he said, 'You're my guy.' I said, 'Really." He said, 'You're my hot guy, I should know that you could potentially be coming.' That led me to believe that if a guy is coming clean, it has to be the quarterback's guy and he has to get rid of it before the guy gets to him. It can be a miscommunication, but Aaron has to get rid of it. If you go empty backfield, your head has to be on a swivel. If you throw to where the guy is blitzing from you can make a lot of plays. That's something he can learn from.

Q: In your opinion, what's wrong with the running game?

A: I think Ryan Grant is not where he needs to be. He's missing some cuts that last year he made. In the zone blocking scheme, the cut can be early or late. On television, Tony Sirgusa showed where he was missing his cuts and running up the back of the linemen and almost had blinders on. When he gets the ball, the first cut is there. Don't just look to string it out. If the backside guard or tackle gets that block, there's the cut right there. I'm thinking that maybe if he sees that cut his hamstring is not healthy enough for him to do that. So if that's the case, you have to put someone in to make those cuts. The running game has to be a part of the offense. It's putting a lot of pressure on the offensive line to pass block. You can't be one-dimensional. On the fumble, I thought Grant was carrying the ball too low. He needs to carry it a little higher. He got hit around the thighs and the ball squirted out. The ball should be above his waist. If he gets hit in the waist he can use his arm to get away. He has to carry the ball higher, look for his cuts and be more aggressive in his running style. Last year, he was very aggressive. He was expecting to get going.

Q: Is there anything they can do schematically to get their offense going?

A: What I would do is get in my five-receiver set and go to a 2-minute offense and throw off the defense a little bit. I'd split Atlanta out and be more aggressive. If the running game isn't working, do what you did last year. Spread them out. No one can cover your five guys one -on-one. I'd move Greg Jennings around a little bit and line him up with Donald Driver and see if you can get a match-up with an inexperienced third corner. And then I'd go play-action and be more aggressive down the field. That would open up a lot of things for the running game. If Rodgers is healthy, get aggressive, like they were in Detroit. It's hard for anyone to cover them. Jennings right now is one of the top receivers in the game. And you still have Driver. I'd open the game up more with the 2-minute offense. Right now, the secret weapon is Greg Jennings so I'd try to get him the ball as much as possible.

Even good ole' Leroy seems a bit worried. I think he has every reason to be.

Thanks again to the Milwaukee Journal for their relentless Packer coverage.