Aaron Rodgers‘ performance on Thursday night was far from his best. In the context of last night’s situation for the Green Bay Packers, with the team’s top three wide receivers out and one of the NFL’s best defenses lined up across the way, it was a pretty gutsy one for the 2020 MVP.
The Packers won 24-21, with the oft-maligned defense doing an impressive job against Kyler Murray and company. Rodgers was 22-for-37 for 184 yards and two touchdowns, both to veteran Randall Cobb, who was forced into a much bigger role last night than he’s accustomed to at this point in his career.
On their last drive, the Packers attempted to add to that fragile three point lead and put the game away. On third-and-goal from the Cardinals’ five, Rodgers took it himself, attempting to fight through four Arizona defenders to get to the end zone. He came inches short, and on the next play, threw an incomplete pass to Cobb for a turnover on downs inside the Cardinals one-yard line.
Rodgers may not have gotten the score, but he clearly sold out on the play, and took on numerous defenders to try and seal the win. Because of his personality and well-documented outside interests (as well as the threats of retirement during the offseason), his love for the game has sometimes been called into question. Responding to Packers blogger Aaron Nagler’s tweet about the play (which contains some salty language), ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky sent a very tongue-in-cheek “Guy doesn’t care about football,” a knock at that ludicrous idea.
Guy doesn’t care about football https://t.co/lCdqvgjM10
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) October 29, 2021
Most realize that Aaron Rodgers loves football as much as any NFL legend. A quarterback who doesn’t really care isn’t going head first into four hungry defenders, fighting for that last inch the way he did on that play.
After that play, Rodgers’ counterpart Kyler Murray nearly pulled out an incredible win on the other side, going 94 yards in 12 plays. Of course, it was Packers’ journeyman defensive back Rasul Douglas who proved to be the hero, intercepting Murray in the end zone on a throw to A.J. Green to seal the win.
As the Packers get closer to full health, and return stars like Davante Adams and David Bakhtiari, they’re going to be an extremely hard out. Rodgers may get to his second Super Bowl with Green Bay yet.
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