The Green Bay Packers are 4-3, yet seem as if they should be on the top of their division for years to come.
Brett Favre may be playing like he is 60 years younger and no longer on life support, but the Packers should be thankful they don’t have the league leader in AARP benefits on their team.
In the short term, Favre looks swell. He is helping the Minnesota Vikings because they don’t need to rely on his arm. They have running back Adrian Peterson to help get them over the edge.
In the long run, the Vikings will be without a viable quarterback as soon as next year. The Packers? Well … they have Aaron Rodgers.
Some Packers fans have not warmed up to Rodgers yet, which is puzzling. Rodgers may not have won a ton of games so far in his young career, but statistically he has been a phenomenon. In short, he is a much more worthy successor to Brett Favre than Brian Griese was to John Elway.
Rodgers leads the league in quarterback rating at 110.4. Rodgers is beating everyone. This includes league mainstays such as Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and even Favre.
All of this comes with an offensive line that could charitably be called horrendous. Rodgers has been sacked a league worst 31 times on the season. Usually when someone gets sacked so many times they reserve a spot in the disabled list suite alongside Mark Prior and David Carr.
Instead, Rodgers puts up incredible numbers, numbers that most other teams would be glad to have. Favre and the Vikings may be winning right now, but do you honestly think the Vikings would choose Favre over Rodgers? Given how successful Rodgers’s career in Green Bay could be, it seems doubtful.
The No. 1 gripe against Rodgers seems to be his inability to win. Rodgers is 10-13 so far as Green Bay’s starter.
What people need to realize though is that a quarterback cannot single-handedly win games. Quarterbacks can make game-winning plays, but at the end of the day, it is not the quarterback who hoists his team on his shoulders and says, “We are going to win this thing.” It is a team effort.
As a sporting culture, we tend to believe in this kind of heroism. We want to believe that one person can alter fate with their presence. While one person can make a difference and contribute positively towards a team’s win, that person cannot do it all.
Ever since Alex Rodriguez has been a Yankee, people have been pointing the finger of blame at him for not winning in the postseason. While his numbers have not been overwhelming as a Yankee in the playoffs, it’s not like he was the only one underperforming. Now that Rodriguez is doing well, a lot of people see it as a solo effort because the Yankees have a lot of firepower in their offense.
Rodgers is much the same way. While he gets credited with losing games for Green Bay, the real suspect for the Packers would have to be their defense. You can look at statistics all you want and tell me how they are second in yards per game, but look at their schedule.
Against division leading teams, the Packers have given up 30 points or more three times. The only time the Packers have allowed fewer than 10 points all season have been against some of the weakest teams the NFL has to offer. Green Bay shut out Detroit and held Cleveland to three points.
Green Bay’s other defensive performances included a game against St. Louis where they gave up 17 and Jay Cutler’s first game as a Bear, where the Bears scored 15.
So basically, against good teams with non-high school offenses, Green Bay has had one good performance. Sorry, Rodgers detractors, the man can’t do everything. Until Green Bay puts up a respectable defense, Rodgers will continue to put up spectacular numbers with little-to-no meaning.
It’s fun to imagine how amazing he would be if he played for an NFL-caliber offensive line. Packer fans, you are lucky.
Derek Robbins can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 269
