Scouting the Packers: Cowboys facing an Aaron Rodgers who's lost his old MVP swagger
By Rick Gosselin , Staff Columnist
The Green Bay Packers have been all about the arm of Aaron Rodgers for the last nine seasons.
Since taking over for Brett Favre in 2008, Rodgers has been one of the NFL’s most productive quarterbacks. He’s delivered the Packers seven consecutive playoff berths over the last seven seasons with four NFC North titles. Rodgers has taken the Packers to two NFC title games and a Super Bowl championship. He’s a five-time Pro Bowler and a two-time NFL MVP who has won 65 percent of his career starts.
Rodgers set franchise records for yards (4,634) and touchdowns (45) in a season in 2011. Favre’s best efforts for the Packers were his 4,434 yards in 1995 and his 39 touchdowns in 1996. Rodgers also hold the franchise record for most 300-yard passing games in a season with eight. And he did it twice, in 2011 and 2014. Favre’s best effort was seven in 1995.
When Rodgers is on a roll, the Packers inevitably are on a roll.
But Rodgers has not been on a roll of late. The last time he threw for 300 yards in a game was Nov. 15, 2015, when he completed 35 of a career-high 61 passes for 333 yards against Detroit. He’s gone 13 consecutive games since then without passing for 300 -- the final seven games of the 2015 regular season, two playoff games, then the first four games of the 2016 season.
Why is that important? Because the Packers are 32-14 when Rodgers passes for 300 yards.
The longest 300-yard drought previously in his career was seven games in the second half of the 2012 season. In his career, Rodgers is completing 65 percent of his passes for an average of 296.5 yards per game. But during this 13-game stretch, Rodgers is completing only 58 percent of his passes for 220 yards. In his career, Rodgers has thrown almost four times as many touchdowns (266) as interceptions (68). But during this 13-game stretch, he has thrown 23 TD passes with nine interceptions.
The Aaron Rodgers the Cowboys face Sunday in Green Bay will not be the same Aaron Rodgers who scorched them for 316 yards and three touchdowns in a 2014 playoff game. That Aaron Rodgers had the swagger of an MVP. This Aaron Rodgers does not.
What’s puzzling about his slow start is that his favorite receiver, Jordy Nelson, is back after having missed the 2015 season with an August knee injury. Nelson has caught a TD pass in each of the first four games, but the two haven’t exactly been on the same page. Rodgers has thrown 40 passes at Nelson this season and he’s caught only 21 of them.
The blocking also has let Rodgers down at times. Rodgers has been sacked 34 times during this 13-game stretch. Arizona collected eight of those sacks in the playoff game and Rodgers also has been sacked five times in two other occasions, both times by Minnesota, once in 2015 and again in 2016. Rodgers has two first-year starters in front of him this season, guard Lane Taylor of Arlington Martin and center J.C. Tretter.
Maybe there’s a comfort level missing in the pocket. But this is not the same quarterback who lit Washington up for 480 yards in a 2013 game and Arizona for 400 yards in a 2009 playoff game. This Rodgers has been putting up Matt Cassel-type numbers -- 199 yards in the opener against Jacksonville, 180 against Minnesota, 205 against Detroit and then 259 yards last Sunday night against the Giants.
Rodgers is 4-1 in his career against the Cowboys with a four-game winning streak. Maybe the Cowboys are finally getting Rodgers at the right time.