Aaron back, but Pack ‘D’ steals show
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Aaron Rodgers was back under center, and the Packers got back to winning — a welcome return to normal after a tumultuous couple of weeks.
Rodgers, the NFL’s reigning most valuable player, can thank the Packers’ defense for doing much of the heavy lifting.
A.J. Dillon rushed for two short touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and the Packers blanked the Seahawks 17-0 on Sunday as Rodgers returned after missing a game with COVID-19. The Seahawks were shut out for the first time in a decade.
A week after his positive test caused him to sit out a 13-7 road loss to the Chiefs, Rodgers went 23-for-37 for 292 yards and threw an interception in the end zone in the third quarter as the Packers won for the eighth time in their last nine games.
‘‘Good to be back with the guys, good to be back at home, good to be on the field, really,’’ Rodgers said during a postgame news conference held via Zoom, allowing him to be unmasked without violating league protocols. ‘‘The most emotions from the whole night was probably walking off the field after the game. It definitely got me a little misty.’’
Rodgers didn’t practice at all last week and was cleared to play Saturday under the NFL’s protocols for unvaccinated players.
Rodgers said before the season that he was ‘‘immunized.’’ After his positive test, he detailed in an incendiary radio interview his reasons for seeking alternatives to vaccination and his skepticism about the shots’ effectiveness. He later apologized for the misleading statement about his vaccination status.
‘‘There’s always going to be criticism in this world,’’ Rodgers said in his first comments to reporters since the controversy emerged. ‘‘I don’t define myself by the criticism, but I understand it’s a part of this because this issue is definitely polarizing.’’
Although Rodgers was hardly at his best, his return made this much clear: With him, the Packers (8-2) are among the best teams in the NFC and a Super Bowl contender.
‘‘I felt pretty good, for the most part,’’ he said. ‘‘I feel like I played fairly solid. Obviously, I had the one bad decision in the red zone and probably missed a couple of throws.’’
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson struggled in his return after missing three games with an injury to the middle finger on his throwing hand that required surgery. He went 20-for-40 for 161 yards with two interceptions.
The Seahawks (3-6) wasted two scoring chances when Kevin King and Adrian Amos picked off passes by Wilson in the end zone.
‘‘It’s a big opportunity that we missed out on,’’ Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. ‘‘Just disappointing because this was a real shot. We could feel it, and we knew it.’’
The Packers notched their first shutout since a 22-0 victory against the Bills on Sept. 30, 2018. The Seahawks, meanwhile, hadn’t been shut out since falling 24-0 to the Steelers on Sept. 18, 2011, the year before Wilson’s arrival.
‘‘First and foremost, it’s hard to shut out anybody,’’ Amos said. ‘‘But then when you’ve got a guy who can extend [plays], who has the pedigree — everything that he has done, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and everything — that’s a tough task.’’
The Packers’ 3-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter matched the second-lowest score through three quarters of any NFL game since 2008. The Cowboys and Eagles were scoreless through the third quarter of a game in 2017 that the Cowboys eventually won 6-0.
With starter Aaron Jones sidelined by a knee injury in the second half, Dillon carried the Packers’ rushing attack down the stretch to put the game out of reach. Coach Matt LaFleur had no further details about Jones’ injury after the game.
‘‘Yeah, when [Jones] first exited the game, he looked at me and said: ‘Get the job done. Finish it off !’ ’’ Dillon said. ‘‘That’s like my big brother on this team. I love him to death. So for him to believe in me, that trust, was great.’’