Out of Favre's shadow, Packers’ Aaron Rodgers shows lots of promise
The Green Bay Packers are a rich and storied franchise. They are the third-oldest franchise in the NFL, had a legendary coach in Vince Lombardi, had Hall of Fame players such as Bart Starr, Jim Taylor and Reggie White– just to name a few— and won three Super Bowls 1967 (Super Bowl I), 1968 and 1996.
And one last interesting tidbit worth noting: the Packers have always had great quarterbacks who suited up for the green and gold, and the tradition is alive and well with Aaron Rodgers under centre at Lambeau Field.
Rodgers has shown significant improvement in each of his season as the starter steeping in for Favre in 2008. Rodgers has shown the ability to deliver accurate passes in between defenders and on throwing the deep ball to his speedy wide receivers.
"He's really earned its fans and teammate’s respect," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "I think what really helped him was guys saw how poised he was during all the Favre stuff and their respect for him grew tenfold. Then when he got on the field he played his butt off. That didn't hurt."
The evolution of Rodgers from a shy and quiet backup into the confident leader he is now remains one of the least discussed stories in the NFL, but is an important one because of his early accomplishments.
Last year, Rodgers became the first quarterback in league history to throw for more than 4000 yards in each of his first two seasons as a starter. After watching him torch a few defences in the pre-season, there's a good chance he'll put up similar numbers in 2010.
Now, surrounded by an abundance of offensive weapons, a better offensive line that has improved from last season’s, the Packers and Rodgers are poised for success. Rodgers will once again enjoy handing the ball off to running backs Ryan Grant and Brandon Jackson. His two primary receivers are back in the line-up as Donald Driver and Greg Jennings make a very good duo.
Rodgers came a long way and has worked hard on becoming the best player and team-mate that he can be, and described his role and performance two seasons ago as such: "Leadership isn't forced and when I became the quarterback in 2008 I felt like I wasn't one of the leaders of this team yet. I kept quiet in meetings. I didn't really speak to the team much, even though I was the quarterback. I wasn't going to force it."
Even though he didn't want to force himself into a leadership role, according to Rodgers, he segued into the position naturally.
"In 2009 things changed. I proved myself, so I became more of an influence in the locker room. Coaches started asking me for my opinion and so did players. I started speaking up more. I'm a leader on the team now but it took two solid years."
Now that Favre has returned to his new team, the Minnesota Vikings, the comparisons between the two are back. Rodgers is not concerned with the past, but continues to answers questions to the best of his ability.
When Packers fans questioned if Rodgers was ready once Favre was gone, Rodgers didn't take offence. He went about his business on the practice field and on game day and rarely screwed up. That is the message that some of Minnesota’s quarterbacks should take out of Rodgers’ experience.
Rodgers was in the same situation as Vikings’ backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson just a few seasons ago, and can sympathize with having to deal with Favre unretiring with just a few weeks before the regular season.
"It was a tough time, I'll say that," "I wasn't going to bash Brett publicly because that's not me, but I wasn't happy with some of the things going on. That's all I'll say on that."
Like football fans around the world, Rodgers wasn't thrilled with Favre's antics though.
"I wasn't going to change who I was. I didn't want to step out of character no matter how frustrated or angry I got. I just stuck to football and by doing that it allowed me to keep my composure. But I'm not saying it was easy."
Spoken like a true leader.
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