Aaron Rodgers: This Is the Deepest Team I’ve Been on in My Five Years in Green Bay
September 16, 2009 – 11:10 am by Jimmy Shapiro
SRI continues to work in new writers. This post is courtesy of Chris Fedor of WKNR in Cleveland. Brett Favre who? Ok, so maybe Aaron Rodgers won’t make too many people in Green Bay forget about Favre, but his career is certainly off to a promising start. Rodgers finished last season fourth in the NFL in passing yards with just over 4,000 and he also finished fourth in the NFL in touchdown passes with 28. Not bad for a guy who spent the first three years of his career sitting behind Brett Favre.
With the NFC seemingly wide-open, an improved defense under new defensive coordinator Dom Capers and the only offense from a year ago that had a 4,000 yard passer, a 1,200 yard rusher and two 1,000 yards receivers, the Packers are thinking Super Bowl. Even though they looked shaky at times offensively on Sunday night, Green Bay started their season with a home win against divisional rival Chicago thanks to a fourth-quarter comeback led by Aaron Rodgers. He may not be Brett Favre, but he is the unquestioned leader of the Packers offense and Green Bay’s playoff hopes hang on the right arm of the fifth-year quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers joined The Dan Patrick Show to talk about starting off the season at 1-0, the late touchdown pass to Greg Jennings and the goals of the team this season.
On when he knew the pass to Greg Jennings would be a touchdown:
“That ball seemed like it was in slow-motion when it was in the air. I had missed (Donald) Driver earlier in the game on a deep throw overthrowing him. Right as I threw it, I felt good about it, but I was just hoping I hadn’t overthrown him because I had seen (Nathan) Vasher trip right as the ball was being released and knew it was going to be a big play as long as it was far enough. He made the catch and I kind of got hit and it was pandemonium after that.”
On what he listens for when he is on the ground after a play:
“The crowd. If you’re at home and they cheer than you know it was a good play. If you’re on the road and they cheer, you know that you better get up and look to make a tackle. (Host: Or if it’s silence on the road you know you did something well?) That’s a very good feeling there, yeah. I like that silence.”
On Playing the Bengals this weekend after their loss:
“I was watching the end of that game on Sunday in disbelief. I could not believe what happened there on that last play. It was very unlucky. For them to struggle on offense the way they did, but to have Carson (Palmer) take them down on one last drive, than they pin them deep, than they have no time left. On the first down, the guy intercepts it and barley steps out of bounds with the second step and then on second down it’s a similar situation and you have the unlucky tip. But once we get on the field Sunday, us and the Bengals, it’s going to be us trying to out-execute them. It doesn’t matter if they’re coming off a win or a loss. Obviously they’re gonna be more hungry I guess because they had a very disappointing loss, but I think it can also work on the flip side.”
On whether he expects the Packers to be in the Super Bowl:
“That’s the goal of our season obviously is to get to Miami. That’s the goal of every team when they start the year.” (Host: C’mon Aaron. Do you hope to be there or expect to be there?) Let me just say this…this is the best defense we have had in my five years in Green Bay and the deepest team that I’ve been on in my five years here. We have a lot of confidence, we have a swagger on defense that we haven’t had here in my time in Green Bay. The offense needs to get going, but if we play like we feel we are capable of playing, we feel like this is a team that can make a good run.”
Listen to Aaron Rodgers on the Dan Patrick Show
Tags: Aaron Rodgers, football interviews, Green Bay Packers, NFC North, Packers beat Bears on SNF opener
