Wednesday Mar 10

Aaron Rodgers Can Bring it Home for Green Bay

Attention: open in a new window. PDFPrintE-mail

Last Updated on Thursday, 04 February 2010 23:52 Written by GreenBay Packer Nation Friday, 29 January 2010 19:00

Before the kickoff of the 2009 season one of the questions bandied about was whether Aaron Rodgers could go from being a very good to being an elite quarterback in the league. Asked by ESPN and NFL Network analysts as well as Packer fans and reporters this question seemed to be everywhere. Could A-Rod be more than just really good? Could he be one of the greats? This question, of course was totally unfounded if one looks at the fact that Aaron Rodgers was the sixth best passer in the league in his first year as a starter in 2008. But people wanted to know if A-Rod could crack the top five and the question came about more because of the Packers final record in the 2008 season than because of Rodgers's final passing stats. People wanted to know if Aaron Rodgers could lead the Packers into the playoffs and ultimately to the promised land.

Let's take a quick glance at A-Rod's last passing stats from 2008:

 

 

  • 16 games started
  • completed 341 of 536 passes - 63.6%, 4,038 yards, 7.5 yard ave.
  • 28 touchdowns to 13 interceptions
  • 34 sacks
  • 93.8 passer rating
  • 56 rushing attempts for 207 yards and 3.7 yd. ave and 4 TD's
  • 10 fumbles with 3 lost

 

For me, the more pertinent question was whether Rodgers could improve upon an already impressive first season as a starter. There are fine points of the quarterback position that would make the difference between double digit losses and double digit wins and assuming the defense had a better season, 2009 looked full of promise for the Green Bay Packers. During training camp I predicted a 10-6 record for the Packers. This turned out to be not too far off but the best thing about this season, for me, was how Aaron Rodgers fine tuned his game in 2009 in the following areas;

 

  • Throwing receivers open (better anticipation and accuracy), especially when receivers find the soft spot in zone coverage
  • stepping into the long ball and leading receivers into the end zone (he showed that 70 yds in the air is not outside his range)
  • Becoming the best back shoulder passer in the NFL (maybe second to Kurt Warner)
  • Improved "feel" for pressure from the Defense in the last half of the season compared to the first four to eight games
These (and, I'm sure other) subtle improvements on already great play took A-Rod to number four in the league overall and before I break down those stats, let me mention one negative stat that will bring all the positive ones into sharp relief. Last year, Aaron was sacked 34 times, this year he was sacked 50 times. That is an average of one more sack per game than last season and here is what Rodgers was able to do:
  • 16 games started
  • Completed 350 of 541 passes - 64.7%, 4,434, 8.2 yard ave.
  • 30 touchdowns to 7 interceptions
  • 50 sacks (one extra per game on ave.) 3.125 sacks per game
  • 103.2 passer rating
  • 58 rushing attempts for 316 yards and 5 TD's, 5.4 yd. ave.
  • 10 fumbles with 4 lost
In spite of the sacks, Aaron improved in every category except fumbles lost and he did a few other things on top of that:
  • Earned a spot in the Pro Bowl in just his second year as a starter
  • Defeated the man who was chosen over him (Alex Smith) by the 49'ers as the first pick in the draft
  • Brought his team to within one pass of winning their Wildcard game against the Arizona Cardinals
There is no longer any question that Aaron Rodgers in an elite quarterback in the NFL. The only question now is, will the Packers be able to protect their most valuable (yes, more than Charles Woodson) long term asset? If they can do that, there are only two more questions we have about Aaron Rodgers: a) When will he bring home his first Lombardi trophy and b) how many will he get before he retires.
Written by :
GreenBay Packer Nation
 
Comments (5)

My GPN