Is Aaron Rodgers clutch?

[El Duderino]

The only reason I brought this to light here is that it seems that since the SB he has struggled to put together drives late in close games. Am I just forgetting some?

You probably aren't forgetting any, but I'll check.

There haven't been a whole lot of opportunities since then. We lost 2 games the next year, one of them was by a lot, one of them we were down 2 scores with 4 minutes to go and we scored with 2 minutes to go.

Last year, game 1, we couldn't get the 2nd score and turned it over on downs. Seahawks: we know what happened there, we did score a 4th Q TD, but obviously couldn't ice it. Colts: go ahead TD pass with 4:30 left, Luck throws a TD with :35 left. Giants: lost by 28. Vikings: go ahead TD with 2:57 left, GW FG with :03 left.

I don't know, man. It's hard to look at that and say not clutch. We had late game TD drives in every close game.

And in the Indy game, Rodgers got Crosby into reasonable FG position, but he shanked that 51 yard FG by about 30-40 feet.

[emunney]

That's right, totally forgot about that.

[JimmyTheKid]

In summary, he's clutch. And the best QB on the planet.

[El Duderino]

In the end, whether right or wrong, Rodgers legacy will be defined most by winning at least one more Super Bowl, not out of context stats like this.

I think he's a lock to eventually be in the HOF, but given his incredible regular season stats, Aaron just needs to finish with 2-3 rings for most of the media types to consider him among the all-time greats.

[Newz]

In the end, whether right or wrong, Rodgers legacy will be defined most by winning at least one more Super Bowl, not out of context stats like this.

I think he's a lock to eventually be in the HOF, but given his incredible regular season stats, Aaron just needs to finish with 2-3 rings for most of the media types to consider him among the all-time greats.

I personally don't feel like it's fair to judge QBs based on the amount of Super Bowls they have won.

Marino has none. Favre and Manning only have one. Those three guys are all legit top 5-10 QB ever candidates. Rodgers should be right up there with those guys regardless of if he wins another one or not.

[whatthe_buck!?]

In the end, whether right or wrong, Rodgers legacy will be defined most by winning at least one more Super Bowl, not out of context stats like this.

I think he's a lock to eventually be in the HOF, but given his incredible regular season stats, Aaron just needs to finish with 2-3 rings for most of the media types to consider him among the all-time greats.

+1
Multiple championships will shut up all of his -strangely many- detractors. See James, Lebron. Here's hoping our boy pulls it off...

[TroyD92]

Statistics have their place, but there's also actually watching the game - the eyeball test.

This all goes back to 2009, and Cowherd starting making it his calling to point out how the Packers kept losing games late, and came to the conclusion that Rodgers wasn't clutch. He's starting to do it again now, after last Sunday's loss to the 49er's. Anybody who watched those games in 2009, or the playoff loss to Arizona, or last week, knows damn well that it was the defense spewing up the lead after Rodgers had put them ahead fairly late in the 4th quarter. The only year in Rodger's tenure that we've had a 'legit' defense ( IMHO ) was 2010, and Rodgers won a Super Bowl.

This is the type of garbage that 'Vegas guys' and ****'s do to sound insightful and knowledgeable, but, at least in my opinion, is just lazy shock tactics to draw in readers/listeners/viewers.

Collin Cowherd and Skip Bayless are total tools. They say the dumbest thing they can so they can rile people up. Also Cowherd seems to hate the state of Wisconsin for some reason.

[JayMKE]

I have 100% confidence in Rodgers abilities in the clutch, the rest of this team not so much. Give Rodgers a defense, an OLine, and a semi-competent running game and I don't think we'd lose a game. In my opinion Rodgers is the best QB in the NFL. The only thing Rodgers does that annoys me is holding on to the ball too long sometimes.

[whatthe_buck!?]

Collin Cowherd and Skip Bayless are total tools. They say the dumbest thing they can so they can rile people up. Also Cowherd seems to hate the state of Wisconsin for some reason.

This one isn't too hard to figure out actually. It's a well known fact that cowturd has a tiny Shlong and that native born Wisconsinites (and packers fans generally) have abnormally large cooch missiles, I'm chalking this one up to a simple case of penis envy u guys, case closed. Knowing cowturd I'm sure he blames others instead of accepting his own shortcomings, I have no doubt he berates his wife/gf for the "unclutchness" of her vag (with its undoubtably still-intact hymen) nightly...

[El Duderino]

In the end, whether right or wrong, Rodgers legacy will be defined most by winning at least one more Super Bowl, not out of context stats like this.

I think he's a lock to eventually be in the HOF, but given his incredible regular season stats, Aaron just needs to finish with 2-3 rings for most of the media types to consider him among the all-time greats.

I personally don't feel like it's fair to judge QBs based on the amount of Super Bowls they have won.

Marino has none. Favre and Manning only have one. Those three guys are all legit top 5-10 QB ever candidates. Rodgers should be right up there with those guys regardless of if he wins another one or not.

It may be unfair, but it is what it is.

It's certainly held against Marino. Favre only having one ring is held against him and also Manning to a lesser degree. I've heard multiple commentators refer to Peyton has the best regular season QB ever and that's as much of a diss as it is a compliment.

Then take say Brady and Montana. It's been their playoff success more than regular season success which has many considering them as arguably the best two ever. Elway winning those two rings late in his career were huge for his legacy, regardless that it was the Denver running game at that point in his career which more carried their offense.

The same happens to NBA superstars, regardless of how fair it is. Look at say Garnett. Had he not been traded to Boston and instead went to a lesser team where he never won a ring, he simply wouldn't be looked at as fondly by many NBA fans and commentators.

[xTitan]

The only reason I brought this to light here is that it seems that since the SB he has struggled to put together drives late in close games. Am I just forgetting some?

He was completely awful in that 15-1 season.

[Wooderson]

I did a quick recap of games that qualify from last year. The facts support what we already know. AROD is awesome, regardless of what the clock shows.

He threw a critical INT against San Fran the 1st game last year, but other than that he was awesome.
@Seattle: Leads a long TD drive to take lead. Get ball back but unable to run out clock. Bogus ending
@Colts: Throws TD that gives Packers the lead. Defense then gives up long drive/TD. Made some great plays to give team a chance to tie game and Crosby misses FG.
@ Minny Leads long TD drive to tie game. Defense gives up 61 yards and easy FG.


2012:

Game 1: San Fran
Down 23-15
8:59 left Rodgers throws an INT at GB 23. Gore has a 23 yd TD on the very next play.
6:05 left, Rodgers throws a 10 yd TD to Jones; Rodgers 4-4 for 82 yrd on drive spanning 2:38.
Defense forces punt, Pack get ball at 16 yard-line
3:37 left, Rodgers goes 3-6 for 22 yd. Also has 9 yard run for 1st down. Packers stopped on 4th down at SF 45

Game 3: @ Seattle
Down 6-7
8:44 left, Benson 1 yd TD run: 82 yard drive spanning 6:02 Rodgers
Seattle drives 68 yards in 6:50 to the Packers 7 yard line where the Packers D stops them on 4th and 3
With 1:54 on clock, Packers run the ball 3 times for -3 yards and punt
Something something not cool

Game 5: @ Indy
Down 21-22
4:30 Rodgers 8 yard pass to Jones gives Pack 5 point lead; Cobb returned punt to Indy 8 yd line. Packers fail to convert 2 ptc)
27-22
0:35 Luck throws 4 yard TD to Wayne; 81 yd drive spanning 3:55
Crosby misses 51 yd FG with 3 seconds left after Rodgers went 3-3 for 47 yards in 32 seconds

Game 16: @ Minny
Down 27-34
2:57 Rodgers ties games with 2 yard TD to Nelson, 78 yard drive spanning 5 minutes
Vikings go 61 yards and kick GW 29 yd FG as time expires

[El Duderino]

In the end, whether right or wrong, Rodgers legacy will be defined most by winning at least one more Super Bowl, not out of context stats like this.

I think he's a lock to eventually be in the HOF, but given his incredible regular season stats, Aaron just needs to finish with 2-3 rings for most of the media types to consider him among the all-time greats.

+1
Multiple championships will shut up all of his -strangely many- detractors. See James, Lebron. Here's hoping our boy pulls it off...

While titles are just what our sports culture expects/values most by far from top tier quarterbacks in the NFL and stars in the NBA, it can be unfair to a degree given great QB's and NBA superstars often need a mix of breaks and help from teammates to win those rings.

You bring up LeBron and he's a great example. For as fabulous as he was last year, most people have already forgotten that in Game 6 vs the Spurs he had two bad turnovers and bricked a wide open three in the last minute as the Spurs took a 5 point lead late. It took two offensive rebounds by teammates and a dagger three by Ray in the waning seconds to force a game 7 where James was outstanding. As people end up evaluating James legacy, his poor play late in Game 6 will be completely forgotten, but not his great Game 7 performance. He got the 2nd ring in the end and only that's what will be remembered.

For as great as say Eli Manning has generally performed in the playoffs compared to his typical regular seasons, he needed a miracle catch by Tyree to get his first ring and take one from Brady. Flacco doesn't have a ring if the Denver safety doesn't absolutely brainfart on the last bomb. There are many more examples.

So while i do think titles should be a decent sized part of the discussion when evaluating the legacy of top tier quarterbacks and NBA stars, some can go overboard in emphasizing titles given random things out of those stars control can often decide winning or not winning a title in any given season.

[Profound23]

If the NFL was a sport where you could win games entirely on your own, I'd say there might be something behind whether or not a guy is 'clutch'.

But LOL no, that's hilarious because it isn't remotely close to reality.

Don Barclay misses a block at it leads to a batted ball = Rodgers is not clutch. Okay, right, gotcha.

I remember being at a Rams/Packers game in 2006, watching their offense tear apart our defense. Favre didn't play a great game but he was actually managing it well and refusing to chuck the ball. In the closing seconds we were driving for the game winning TD or possibly a game tying FG while at the 11. Favre took a snap, three steps back, and Tauscher missed a block that lead to a sack/fumble.

Everyone was bitching and whining about Favre saying he wasn't clutch and how he always blew games in the final seconds. This is even worse than that. Rodgers and the WRs with crap blocking have had so many game tying or winning drives only for the offensive line, special teams or defense to completely let the team down.

[CousinOfDeath]

I hate that wins and losses are attributed to quarterbacks as if there aren't 30 other players who contribute. I hate it so much.

Also clutch doesn't exist. Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback in the game no matter how much time is on the clock, that's all there is to it.

[th87]

Probably none of these losses are even Rodgers' fault. I remember time and again watching him come back, but then Crosby clanks a FG, or the defense gives up a quick score. But this does present a statistical oddity - you would think they'd pull out more close games just out of luck.

Kinda makes me wonder if there isn't something else at play - such as poor defensive strategy in these situations, or the over-reliance on playing for a long FG, maybe.

[whatthe_buck!?]

Probably none of these losses are even Rodgers' fault. I remember time and again watching him come back, but then Crosby clanks a FG, or the defense gives up a quick score. But this does present a statistical oddity - you would think they'd pull out more close games just out of luck.

Kinda makes me wonder if there isn't something else at play - such as poor defensive strategy in these situations, or the over-reliance on playing for a long FG, maybe.

or terrible clock management by the bumbling head coach at the end of games

[Sky High]

In summary, he's clutch. And the best QB on the planet.