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About that “roll” Aaron Rodgers is on…

February 05, 2011 by Palmer Sucks

About that �roll� Aaron Rodgers is on�

�Ben couldn�t do this without that great defense to hand him the ball back so much.�

--Steve Young

 

 

About that �roll� Aaron Rodgers is on�

Super Bowl Special

By PalmerSucks

Febraury 5, 2011

 

Since I�ve now heard about the, oh, 53rd �expert� pick Green Bay because �Aaron Rodgers is on a roll� I decided to take a closer look at this supposedly legendary playoff performance.

 

Taken as a whole, his numbers through 3 games do look pretty impressive:

 

Att./Comp. 66/93.....Pct. 70.96%.....Yds. 790.....YPA 8.49 .....6 TD.....2 INT.....109.16 Rtng.

 

Pretty sweet huh? Nice YPA and awesome completion percentage, I must say. Pick up the stat sheet, and you could really go to town bragging up this one.

 

Let�s break down each game, though, individually and see what we get.

 

Playoff Game #1: Green Bay 21, Philadelphia 16

 

Rodgers notches a superior 122.5 rating, no doubt from throwing 3 TDs and scoring a 66.7 completion percentage. Still, did his 180 passing yards on 27 attempts (and so-so 6.7 YPA) really decide the outcome? Especially when you consider his longest pass went for 20 yards. Or was this game more about James Starks carrying the ball for 123 yards and a whopping 5.3 YPC? A closer look shows that this one is more about the running game and defense. Rogers is highly efficient, to be sure, but this one has �game manager� written all over it. The Packers, by the way, are one shoestring tackle from blowing this one � and hearing how Rodgers can�t get it done in the playoffs.

 

Playoff Game #2: Green Bay 48, Atlanta 21

 

OK, Rogers is on fire here, going an out-of-your-mind 31 of 36 for 366 and racking up a big, fat 10.2 YPA. That�s a dream game, and Rogers deserves all the hype he can get for it. No further questions here.

 

Playoff Game #3: Green Bay 21, Chicago 14

 

17 of 30 for 244, no touchdowns and two picks for a 55.4 rating � somebody call Canton! As I mentioned in my pre-game report, Rodgers becomes a spectator after a hot first quarter � it�s B.J. Raji who provides the crunch-time scoring. Some guy named �Caleb Hanie� out-rates him at 65.2, as Rodgers watches the game decided by others. Rodgers�s big contribution to this one may in fact be his Ben-like ankle-tackle (although the turnover in question comes from his own hand). Again, I�d give the game ball to the Packer defense, certainly not the QB.

 

So there you have this great playoff run Rodgers supposedly is having: by my count, one pretty decent outing, one all-world performance, and one stinker. Remember this the next 10 times you hear that �Aaron Rodgers is on a roll� between now and kick off Sunday. I want to add also that Rodgers�s longest pass has gone for all of 34 yards. He�s been the driving force in exactly one of his three playoff outings. Seriously, do the TV hype heads ever bother to think before they shoot off their hype holes?

 

Again, just looking at stats is misleading: in both the Philly and Chicago games, Rodgers disappears from the score sheets in the 4th quarter. It�s the opposing QBs who are throwing the TDs in the second half. Meanwhile, Roethlisberger is doing his best work when it counts most, late � as I�ve said before, they ought to weight statistics more towards the end of games, when it matters most. Yet for whatever reason, Ben�s playoff performance is underplayed � he�s, you know, lucky to have such a great team around him -- while Rodgers gets all the love. I can understand downgrading Ben just based on numbers � but why not Rodgers, too?

 

Yeah, Aaron Rodgers is on a roll � let�s hope served with mayo, lettuce and tomato on Sunday.

 

 

 

 

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