Preseason Game 2 - Packers vs. 49ers - 8/16

[ReasonablySober]

Yup. We've been spoiled watching Brett and his pocket awareness. Rodgers just has to get rid of it quicker. He looks hesitant.

Last night certainly wasn't good, but it wasn't the end of the world either. If Driver and Lee make those grabs, Aaron's numbers are significantly better.

[Neusch23]

I really wish situations would have presented themselves so that he could have played more....but there is no reason for him to be out there vs 3rd stringers.

He needs game snaps, and he needs to get comfortable on the field. Personally, I have gotten the feeling since camp that he is more worried about everyone else on the field than himself. He still has to get the ball out, and he has to jump start the offense. Which basically is the opposite of what we had, where Brett only worried about where the other guys should have been, if you understand what I am saying.

We are going to really miss Brett this season, and these are the growing pains that we have to give Rodgers time to work through. He better figure it out sooner than later, since I cringe more at a Rodgers sack than any time Brett ever went down...

[Badgerlander]

Our offense looks pathetic against a bad defense.

Actually their defense was pretty good last year, but the statistics don't show it because SF offense was so bad that the D was on the field way too much.
I would expect Rodgers to have 2-3 games like this where he is confused enough by the coverages that he'll hold onto the ball too long. Teams are going to blitz him until he can prove that he can handle it. I was surprised at how little we ran the ball, but maybe its a factor of getting the QBs more throws in.
The biggest thing that I came away with is that we still don't have a safety that can play deep coverage well, which could really hurt if our DL is struggling to stop the run.

[MickeyDavis]

Rodgers and the first team will play about three quarters against Denver. Hopefully Jennings and Grant play as well. Some of good pocket awareness comes with experience, some is just instinct.

[TheGhostDog]

After so many years watching the Packers I am embarrassed to admit I have no idea what McCarthy is talking about when he defends Jarrett Bush's play against the Niners.

"Actually, he did some really good things on special teams and the coverage things," McCarthy said. "He was actually playing to his leverage. So I thought Jarrett's performance was fine."

Does anyone want to take a stab at what "playing to his leverage" means in this context?

Most of what went wrong against the 49ers I can attribute to the 4-day week, injuries, the team needing a wake up call, but to me Bush's play has been consistently attrocious for 2 years now. McCarthy saying Bush is "fine" means, to me, that we have already seen his best and can only expect him to be consistently one-step behind receivers and incapable of actually preventing a reception, which I find a little nauseating in our supposed 3rd best corner.

[TheGhostDog]

By the way, since we are discussing pocket awareness, I think Rodgers senses pressure just fine and usually you can see him moving his feet in the pocket to adjust. Rodgers problem isn't that he doesn't feel the rush coming, it's the mental block of not getting the ball out fast in response. If Favre's achilles heel was forcing the ball into heavy coverage under pressure, then Rodgers' problem, at this early juncture of his career, is that he tends to go into lockdown mode under heavy, consistent pressure. Hopefully with time and experience that will change.

To go off on a bit of a tangent, while Favre usually demonstrated uncanny pocket awareness, I think the quickest way to tell if Favre is going to have one of his patented no-show games is noticing that he is much slower than usual in sensing blitzes. For example, in the Cowboys and Bears games last season Favre didn't see some big hits coming that most days he would've sidestepped.

[randy84]

Actually, in both of those games Favre sensed the pressure but he was too locked in to try and make a big play. This was especially evident in the Cowboys game when he was launching the ball before he even seen where the WRs were going to be. This led to some horrible looking throws.

Rodgers problem is going to be that the game is 100 x faster then what he has been use to in practice and the pre season. He is going to be blitzed consistently by every team he sees this year until he proves that he can handle it. That doesn't mean just throwing the ball away, it also means that he is going to have to make some big plays to make teams pay for blitzing him.

My concern this year is that the O-Line is going to have to play a lot better than they did with Favre. Defenses are going to crowd the line of scrimmage to stop the run or blitz the QB. This means the O-Line are going to have to hold their blocks longer than they are use to. If I were MM, I would start having Rodgers run a little more to soften up the defense, although this is somewhat problematic with Rodgers injury history.

[Kerb Hohl]

Actually, in both of those games Favre sensed the pressure but he was too locked in to try and make a big play. This was especially evident in the Cowboys game when he was launching the ball before he even seen where the WRs were going to be. This led to some horrible looking throws.

Dude, I will agree that Rodgers has looked bad against the blitz probably 75% of the time so far, however you are rationalizing Favre's dumb mistakes and bad play far too much right now. If Rodgers plays all season against the blitz like he did last Saturday then you are right, I would probably rather have Brett chucking it deep on those blitzes because he is going to make a play a good deal of those times with a few boneheaded picks mixed in and you'll take the good with the bad if you're comparing it to Rodgers looking like a deer in headlights back there.

However, there were some games like the Dallas one where Brett looked just terrible trying to make plays. The scary thing is that he might have one of those stinkers where he makes a bunch of terrible mistakes when rushed out of maybe every 3 or 4 games against a good team. If that doesn't happen, he might still have a game-changing mistake sprinkled in there. Well, it is hard to make it through the playoffs with those odds.

The perfect QB is going to be someone who releases it quickly in the face of pressure but the majority of the time is able to just throw it away or in a safe spot when there is nothing open down field. He will also be able to make a Favre-esque good play out of a pressure situation from time-to-timea s well. Basically it is the happy medium between the conservative Rodgers and the aggressive Favre. Well, you can't teach an old dog new tricks and Brett is no longer here. I think Aaron has the talent and ability to learn the other half of what I speak of. If he learns to bail out a bit earlier than he has he can make some nice plays on the run because he is very mobile back there.

[randy84]

I didn't realize that I was rationalizing Favre's bad play. I was just stating the obvious, that he was looking for the big play way too much in those games.

I agree, Rodgers should and will learn a lot about being a QB now that he is starting. But I have tempered my expectations of where the Packers will end up this year. I think based on how much Rodgers still has to learn, an unsettled line, and the continuous drops that the WR have in pre-season, that if the Packers finish 8-8 I will be happy.

[El Duderino]

I think once the year starts, we might see more plays called that get Rodger outside the pocket via rollouts and misdirection.

[rilamann]

You never want to put a ton of stock in preseason games but if the Packers look as terrible this friday as they looked vs the 49ers I will start to worry a bit.

As for Rodgers he's young and like DB said Favre didnt have great pocket sense his first year as the starter in GB either (92).

Heres a quick refresher on Favre's development.

In favre's first year when he was under pressure he would panic and actually run/scramble into the blitz rather than away from it to avoid it.

Then in '93 Favre made the adjustment when he sensed the blitz to throw the ball up for grabs which resulted in a ton of INTs and many fans wanting him benched for Brunell.

It wasnt untill 1994 it started to realy come together for Favre and then in 1995 of course he won his first MVP.

I've never played QB but in Favre's case and is the case for a good QB everything naturally seems to comes together with time and experience.

Rodgers also has it better than Favre from the standpoint Rodgers has had 3 years to learn the game with Favre by his side and he has a much better core of WR than Favre had when he started out in 1992.Sure Favre had Sharpe but not much else.

On the flipside Rodgers is under a ton more pressure than Favre was obviously.

Favre replacing Majik doesnt quite compare.

Hell when Favre replaced Majik Packers fans where about ready to run Majik man out of town anyway.

[randy84]

Favre was actually a Pro-Bowl QB in 1992 and 1993. So it's hard to say that it didn't come together for him early.

[rilamann]

Favre was actually a Pro-Bowl QB in 1992 and 1993. So it's hard to say that it didn't come together for him early.

True,one thing Favre did have from day 1 was an ablity to make big plays and of course he showed some great flashes quite frequently.I think that was big reason he made the pro bowl early in his carrer along with the fact there wasnt a ton of great QBs in the NFC at the time.You basically had Young & Aikman and not much else.

Most of the pro bowl quality QBs at the time where in the AFC.

I think case in point was how Favre made the pro bowl in '92 & '93 yet didnt make it in '94 despite having his best all around season up to that point.Missing out basically because Warren Moon went from the AFC to the NFC that year and bumped Favre out.

But the bottomline and my whole point is that Favre wasnt a great all around QB from day 1,he needed some to develop into ''Brett Favre''.

And Rodgers is not going to be a great all around QB from day 1 either,its only fair to give the dude some time.I think most of you guys on this board are willing to do that,im kinda talking about Packer fans in general and the people who refuse to get over Brett Favre.

[randy84]

No doubt, Rodgers is going to need time to develop.

I just have a problem with people saying that they are willing to give him time to develop but still expect the Packers to go 12-4 or 11-5, I just don't think it will happen. Those type of expectations are entirely too high.

I will be happy with an 8-8 season. I will be estatic if somehow the Packers are able to get into the playoffs. Realistically, I am thinking 7-9.