RODGERS ON A ROLL
Packers by Position series starts at quarterback
First in a nine-part Packers by Position series.
GREEN BAY - Two years ago on a cool November night in Denver, quarterback Aaron Rodgers labored through a performance that ranks among the worst games of his career, a list that is rather short relative to many quarterbacks around the league.
The Green Bay Packers arrived at Sports Authority Field with a perfect 6-0 record and the refreshment of an early bye week. The Broncos were undefeated as well, and three months later they would be crowned Super Bowl champions thanks in large part to the brashness of their defense, a unit with four Pro Bowlers and two alternates.
Put simply, the Packers’ offense wilted on national television as Rodgers completed 14 of 22 passes for 77 yards, the lowest total of his career for a game that didn’t end in injury. From there the spool unraveled: a 16game malaise for Rodgers that bridged the second half of 2015 and the first half of last season. The Packers were 9-13 in their next 22 counting playoffs.
It’s difficult to reconcile that version of Rodgers with the one that finished 2016 on an unfathomable tear. From the moment he told reporters the Packers could run the table — a phrase that will be as synonymous with his career as R-E-L-A-X — Rodgers played magisterial football. He averaged 277.8 yards and 2.5 touchdowns per game in the sixgame winning streak to close the regular season. He completed 71% of his passes and posted an average passer rating of 121. He did not throw an interception.
All of those numbers are light years beyond his career averages, and Rodgers’ career averages are already among the best in history. He finished the regular season with a league-best 40 touchdown passes as Green Bay won its last six regular-season games and first two playoff games.
“We were 4-6 at one point and we weren’t playing very well and he had a heck of a stretch down the (end of the) season,”
quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt said during organized team activities in May. “So nothing is guaranteed, every year is different. But you would like to think (so), that we’d like to keep it rolling.”
Internally, there is nothing to suggest Rodgers is on the verge of slowing down. He returned to Green Bay in what he described as the best shape he’s been in for the annual off-season program, and changes in his diet have paid dividends in recent years. More empirically, quarterbacks around the league are having success on the verge of 40 years old — see: Brady, Tom; Brees, Drew; Palmer, Carson — and by that standard Rodgers is a relative youngster at 33. (He will be 34 in December.)
Around him, the Packers are primed for another explosive season offensively. Rodgers nearly had two 1,000-yard receivers last year in Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams — Adams fell 3 yards short — and general manager Ted Thompson ingratiated himself to fans by signing tight ends Martellus Bennett, the best unrestricted free agent available at that position, and street free agent Lance Kendricks, who played at Wisconsin.
Slot receiver Randall Cobb also returns for his seventh season after back-to-back disappointing years, and promising youngster Geronimo Allison will push for more playing time this fall. The Packers also drafted two wide receivers in DeAngelo Yancey of Purdue and Malachi Dupre of Louisiana State.
Put it together and there’s a good chance Rodgers will keep it rolling.