Rodgers Review Part 2: The Two Minute Drill
By PackerAaron
Much was made last year about Rodgers' failings in "crunch time" and some of that is fair. Rodgers had three big interceptions that positively killed games against Tampa, Carolina, and Jacksonville. He also had a devastating interception on a 3rd and 19 with 4:40 remaining in the Atlanta game. (How the offense put itself in a 3rd and 19 hole is a whole other issue *cough, penalties, cough*).
What do they all have in common? Rodgers refusing to read 'low'.
Quarterbacks, good quarterbacks, read the field high to low - in other words, deep patterns first and then shorter, shallow patterns. Of course, some plays are designed with shallow routes as their primary reads, but most plays, QBs are taught to read high to low. And throughout the course of any given game, Rodgers does a pretty excellent job of this. But for whatever reason, whether it's the Ghost of Favre hovering over him, a youthful impatience, or just a natural anxiety, Rodgers completely throws out the 'low' option when the game is on the line. Now, yes, sometimes the team needs big chunks of yardage and time is quickly running out. But too often last year Rodgers was throwing deep with plenty of time on the clock. Look at the Jacksonville game. The clip above shows the final throw that was intercepted - what it doesn't show is the throw before it, a throw meant for Greg Jennings nearly 20 yards downfield that was also almost intercepted, when Rodgers has two options breaking open underneath. Look at the throw that is picked at the end of the Carolina game - he has a receiver (I think it's Ruvell Martin) practically right in front of him, all he needs to do is toss it and let him run for the first down, get out of bounds and move on the the next play. Rodgers doesn't even look at him, instead chucking a 40+ yard throw to a bracketed Donald Driver.
Dale Z of PackersLounge fame (infamy?) commented in my earlier Rodgers post that Rodgers did a good job of "tucking and running" last year. I tend to think he did too much of it most of the time and not enough of it at the end of games. Almost every one of the downs in question above, maybe save for the Tampa game, Rodgers would have been better served tucking and running. For whatever reason, he felt he needed to throw, and throw deep at that.
I could go on, but you get the point. Rodgers needs to learn that at the end of games, things are not as hurried as they might feel. You can still live to run another play. What you can't live through are sacks and, most of all, interceptions. My hunch is this is mostly a "young quarterback" thing that he will improve on as the years go by. I also don't completely discount the fact that he was and might still this year, feel the whole 'pressure of Brett Favre' thing. I would normally scoff at such things, but Favre was so huge and created more than a bit of a legend coming back late in games (the Monday night Bronco game in 2007 being the latest and most dramatic) that I have no doubt that Rodgers feels, if even subconsciously, the pressure to keep that magic alive.
He should do no such thing. All he needs to do is play within himself and the system and live to fight another play. The wins will come. He needs to let the game come to him and stop trying to be something he's not.
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Comments (8)
April 13, 2009 at 03:16 pm
The thing that veteran QBs always say about the 2 and 4 minute drills is that getting that next first down is always the key. It keeps the offense balanced and the QB's eyes from floating downfield when they shouldn't be.
What I saw with Rodgers last year was that first downs be damned, he wanted the big bomb right off the bat, and that doesn't fly in the NFL (well it does against Detroit in week 17, but pretty much everything flew against the Lions last year). He just needs to work on racking up some first downs. Once you start moving the chains, defenses take chances and that's when you can burn them....or at least that's what teams did to the Packers in the final minutes of games last year.
April 13, 2009 at 03:18 pm
VERY fair assesment. it's akin to knowing when to go all in witha dwindling stack in poker. why press the issue with a marginal hand( deep reciever who is covered well) when you have 3-4 "free" hands before the blind makes it's way around to you( throws out of bounds, short dump offs, etc...). i think rodgrs will be improve this. hopefully our defense can lend a hand lait in games. i think the pressure of feeling like you have to win the game yourself is amplifie when you lead the team down for a go-ahead score only to have the defense give it right back.
April 13, 2009 at 04:38 pm
Any BS with the "pressure of Brett Favre" has got to be gone this year for Aaron Rodgers. You do get the feeling he went into 2008 with a chip the size of Sheboygan on his shoulder...out to be the ultimate team guy, the ultimate humble warrior, the ultimate guy-who-can-stay-as-healthy-as-Favre, the list goes on.
He needs to focus on being the best Aaron Rodgers he can be. Period. He's a good player and has the potential to be a great player. And, it is up to Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy to put the right talent behind him and in front of him and make it work (sly jab at the disappearing run game and the ZBS).
Alex Tallitsch
April 13, 2009 at 06:30 pm
Classic passive aggressive bash-age. Nice work.
April 14, 2009 at 07:59 am
Alot of the games, I recall thinking they scored with too much time left and McCarthy got outcoached in game management.
April 14, 2009 at 08:44 am
Never bought into that "scored too early" school of thought. You score when you can score, too many things can go wrong if you play it conservative.
April 14, 2009 at 10:53 am
No amount of film study can improve my two-minute drill. Pundits blame poor chemistry with my receivers.
April 15, 2009 at 05:11 pm
Actually, there is a little to that "scoring too early" attitude. Of course, no one knew at the time, that Rodgers would be as lucky as he was getting MAC's play calls to succeed like he did. There is that part of it, to consider at all times. You cannot discount it. Sometimes the very same game plan just wouldn't work, for whatever reason - Wideouts can't make position, Colledge bungles yet another protection assignment... you get the drill.
If it needs to keep being said - a handful of games were lost and Rodgers had no way of doing anything about it. This broad brush stroke of (from now on it has to be the QB's fault, period) just has to stop. As much as WE ALL liked watching the Gunslinger out there. Quite a bit of what the Announcers were spewing WAS hype. Every Cheesehead out there has to finally own up and admit that. They gave the guy free pass after free pass and all other Team fans were very very quick to point that out all the time, packerfans. Their QB's would never get such forgiveness. The four-letter was all the time doing so, as opposed to saying: "Hey, those Packers really played a great game, eh?!!! They have an all 'round good group of players, don't they?!!!" No, ESPN would NEVER give Green Bay any kind of cudos to that flavor. It was always complimentary as long as Favre's name was a part of the coverage, people. Again, not to denigrate the guy. He was "almost" bullet-proof. Yet, in the end, even the four-letter sold out of coverin' for him.
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Now, over on FoxSports, you heard a little different chatter, especially about how well Rodgers was doing "for a first-year-starting-QB, essentially a Rookie out there. We have to give the guy his due. He played maybe two/three games in any regular season up to the time (?) - then steps in and has a Pro Bowl season, while injuring his throwing arm and no-way was the O-Line like it was in 1995, when Favre "finally" threw for over 4,000 yards. Aaron Rodgers did it in his first starting year despite being handicapped with a not-so-great Offensive Line AND a somewhat timid Marty Schottenheimer [Prevent football] Head Coach micro-managing every little move as if he was runnin' fer Congress.
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Harsh critique's for Aaron Rodgers are certainly waaaay too soon as far as myself, and a whole host of other cheeseheads are concerned. That much I do know. IT WAS HIS ROOKIE YEAR - claiming he should already know what it's like out there as if he's been around for 17 years is over the top, guys. Contradict me all ya like. I have yet to see anyone boohoo Favre's first THREE seasons, or even show the moxey to compare first "starting" season against "starting" season between the two, from a lot of Bloggers, to date. How many INT's did Favre throw in his FIRST THREE YEARS?
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While I do enjoy reading this website and many are quite knowledgeable - finding fault like this with a Rookie QB is seemly at best. I AGREE, his 2nd season had better be more polished and even more Jay Cutler yardage (?) successful. I would also like to see his INT level drop to a serious new low. From MY vantage point, Rodgers has a lot more Starr in him than he does Gunslinger. Although "never missing a start, despite banging up his throwing shoulder" was a pretty good feat in of itself.
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I also agree, this Draft is TT's last at stalling when it comes to bringing in good personnel. To date, he's worlds above Mike Sherman's non-success. And, what's more, he compares quite favorably against Ron Wolf. The only difference? No Reggie White. That's it.
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Personally? Bootlegger handled the Favre Soap Opera pretty well and the Team certainly stands behind him - let's not discount that, either.
JMHO