There are many of those within the world of football, as well as many fans of the NFL itself, that would consider Aaron Rodgers to be something of a big mouth. Even many of his fans would probably agree with this. It’s part of why many like him. The Green Bay Packers quarterback is certainly not afraid to speak his mind, that’s for sure, but even if you don’t like him shooting off his mouth, it’s impossible to deny that there is one big positive in his favor, it is the fact that the veteran star often delivers the goods where it matters most: on the field.
Rodgers has picked up the NFL MVP award in back-to-back seasons and is the main reason that the Packers are among the favorites to win the Super Bowl this season. He is, in fact, one of the big odds-on favorites to bring the Packers to victory and may well take VIP player of the whole thing. If you are a knowledgeable fan of the game, you may well want to back your instincts with a wager, and that may well even stretch to college football, in which case you’ll want to make the most of the best college football betting sites such as
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Now, despite his current star power as one of the best players in football, Rodgers, well, the outspoken Packers man didn’t have a great start to 2024, putting in a lackluster display as his team’s surprise opening week loss to the Minnesota Vikings. It was a bad surprise to his many fans but sometimes even the best players foul up, even in the middle of a serious hot streak.
The Vikings ran out 23-7 winners, which was as decisive a win as you could hope to find, but but things could actually have been completely different for both teams had receiver Christian Watson held on to the 75-yard pass Rodgers had thrown him early in the first half. Sadly, he didn’t and the team could never quite recover. As always, Rodgers didn’t hide his feelings when asked to comment on the loss, but he would never stoop so low as to throw his teammate under the rug. He was unabashed in his comments, but classy;
“Obviously, it’d be great to have a 75-yard touchdown to start the game,”
“But drops are going to happen. It’s part of the game. It’s the mental stuff that we just can’t have because we’re hurting ourselves. Whether we’re going the wrong way on a block or missing a protection something or missing a hot [route] or not running the right route [at] the right depth, there was just too many mental mistakes.”
Rodgers was being very gracious to his current team mate but all things considered, the quarterback may well have been missing his former team mate and someone with whom he had a particularly excellent repetoire, Davante Adams, who left the Packers for the Raiders in the off-season. Certainly, Adams really didn’t disappoint in his debut for the Las Vegas side, as he went on to catch ten passes and even ended up picking up a touchdown.
Watson, for his part, was actually no less candid in his own review of his lackluster performance as he opened up on his early-game mistake, which he followed up with just two catches for a total of 34 yards;
“That’s just a play I know I gotta make,”
“Most of the time, it’s a play I know I’m capable of making. Just gotta put that in the past and move on.”
With this sadly unimpressive start to the game, Rodgers still went on to complete 22 of 34 passes for 195 yards, but that was really some way below his usual performance and his usual impressive numbers. Shockingly, after that early stumble, the fan favorite quarterback went on to score precisely zero touchdowns for the rest of the game. Despite all of this and despite his fame for getting in his fair share of trouble for running his mouth, but he was mature enough to protect his team-mates when questioned about their apparent failures.
“Look, we’ve got to have patience with those guys,”
“They’re young. They haven’t been in the fire. The patience will be thinner as the season goes on, but the expectation will be high. We’ll keep them accountable, but it’s going to happen. There are going to be drops. Hate to see it on the first play, but it’s part of it — there’s going to be drops throughout the season.”
Next up for the Packers come the Chicago Bears, who travel to Lambeau Field in week two. Will his performance be back in line with what he’s famous for after this major stumble in the opening match? The Bears are a serious team that can double down on the Vikings’ early victory, but the impressiveness of the Bears’ usual track record will make the Packers and by extension, Aaron Rodgers comeback, all the more impressive.
What are the odds, though, of this actually happening? We will obviously have to wait and see how it all plays out in just a few short days but there’s one thing that’s really for certain: it’s going to be an incredible game with two heavyweight teams coming in and going head to head with one another in an early game that will probably set the pace for everything that will be coming for the rest of the season as the Super Bowl looms. Rodgers isn’t the Packers and he can’t carry the entire team on his shoulders, but his performance will no doubt highly influence what will happen with the game.
Still, these are very early days and as the man himself admits, stumbles and accidents will happen but it’s way, way too early to count Rodgers or his legendary team out for the count.
