Let's also look on the bright side. One penalty all game. No holding calls whatsoever on the O-line. And against a damn good pass rush. With two "pseudo-rookies" and one second yr guy on the line (Balaga). "Rookies" meaning Newhouse and Lang.
A few sacks and pressures were allowed, but in retrospect, we didn't take any -10 yarders and A-Rodge didn't die. With that kind of early discipline, imagine what a few years will bring?
A few people mentioned Lang having similar breakdowns as Colledge used to..... please keep in retrospect that Colledge was doing this in his so-called prime. Lang is pretty much a noob and hasnt had the advantage of playing next to Cliffy for most of the season. LET THESE GUYS GROW.

When you look at Rodgers' numbers the only stat where he is not head and shoulders above the league is in taking sacks - there he is near the bottom of the pile. If AR's thought is that's it's better to take the sack than throw and risk an interception, I get it, and I appreciate it. But the injury risk is real, Aaron's point about the check-down is well made.

As for Mr. Newhouse I was one of the ones who posted that I was not thrilled with his play. I cited the example of when he failed to keep Allen down, and Allen got up, went to the middle of the field and made the play. Without checking the tape, I suppose that this play was not much different than what Aaron described. And I also would admit that even on plays where Allen stayed outside, he was not always Newhouse's responsibility. Specifically, I remember one Allen play where Newhouse stepped up and out, and Lang looped underneath him to block Allen, but didn't really execute the block. All that said, I still stand by my comment for the play I was describing. I'm probably wrong, and I'm sure he will improve, but I don't think he has won the job yet, for either this year or next year.

There seemed to be some miscommunication between Newhouse and Lang when the Vikings would run line games. One play that stands out was when Lang and Newhouse both blocked down, the backer never came, and Allen was left unblocked on the edge.

Rodgers has morphed into Roethlisberger, holding the ball as long as he possibly can -- sometimes too long -- to try and make a big play with his arm or with his legs.

I'm fine with this early in games, but when the Packers have a lead in the second half, Rodgers needs to check it down. It keeps the clock moving without having the best player in the league take a hit.

Aaron -

My hunch is that Sitton is hurt. He has to be? Why else would he be such a drastically different player than he was last year and most of 09?

Either he's hurt or he's dogging it. I don't get the sense from listening to him talk that he's the type to check out once a big fat contract comes along, so he's got to be hurt.

Throw in the fact that Bulaga and Wells on either side of him are playing lights out... and well.. he's just gotta be hurt.

My prayers for the health to TJ's fam.

Just caught this on ESPN: Aaron Rodgers profiled on ESPN's E:60. Here's the link:
http://ht.ly/7vxpr

Not sure where else to post this, just wanted to give the CHTV folks a heads up.

One thing I've noticed is, and this drives me nuts, that Rodgers thinks he can escape a lot of the time. Sure, sometimes he's successful. But other times he twists and turns--backwards for a loss of even more--a three yard loss into something closer to ten.

To his credit, I'd rather he eat a small loss sack than toss it up into signficant coverage for a pick six. But, good lord, sometimes just taking a short-loss sack instead of risking signficant injury trying to break away may be better in the long run.

Rodgers pretty much refuses to check down... ever... Save for the second half of the Vikes game....

Not only does Rodgers bypass check-downs , but for some reason, and I cannot figure it out, he struggles at times with the execution of making short passes. Like against the Vikes he threw one in the dirt on a short check-down over the middle (don't know if he was protecting the receiver on that one). For whatever reason, Rodgers often looks stiff on the real short-stuff. For someone who's a perfectionist and excels in the passing game as Rodgers does, I've always scratched my head over this.

And on a related note, it would be nice if they worked on the screen game more. That alone would cause teams to hesitate selling out on the pass rush.

Thank you Aaron. Great thoughtfulness. I disagree with regard to your immediate thoughts concerning Defender Cliffenheimer. His Veteran Presence is MUCH GREATER than the effect he can have on his physical coverage area, or his physical or even verbal responsibilities. The OL is in a situation where they've lost their Senior Member after losing others in the last 2yrs. This is in some ways similar to loosing a coach. Its not as bad as loosing 30y/o Center Scott Wells, but maybe its a little worse in some ways because Clifton is 5yrs older than Scotty & that makes his presence more easily-connected-with, and missed. In addition, Clifton & Rodgers' ability to communicate on the ultimatum on whether Rodgers' blindside will be protected can be felt between those two in the moment, and seen in their eyes.

Ya Know . . . I'm thinking that tomorrow there will be a blog or story about this.

"One play in particular looked frighteningly like the play where Rodgers suffered his second concussion in Detroit last season." On that play I felt/saw the same thing and then I saw where ARodge looked both in back of himself extra-thoroughly, and in front of himself, before he left the pocket. He better be damn careful.

Spider

Have to get this fixed before Thanksgiving, or Suh, Avril and Fairley will rip Rodgers' head off.