In posting his highest single game passer rating Sunday, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed one of the better years statistically that a first-year starter has had in the National Football League in recent years. On paper, it was a great year.
The numbers that really count are wins and losses and in that department Rodgers is off to a pretty lousy start. If he goes on a winning streak to start next season, it will take him until the end of September to raise his record to .500.
Any way you slice it, it was a 6-10 season.
By no means were the Packers' failures this season all Rodgers' fault. When you pass for 4,038 yards, complete 63.6% of your passes, throw for 28 touchdowns with just 13 interceptions and post a passer rating of 93.8, you've had a productive year.
But quarterbacks are generally judged on wins and losses, and Rodgers' inability to will the Packers to victories in the final five minutes of seven games will be something that will go on his permanent record.
What also will be stamped there will be the fact he survived the Brett Favre soap opera this summer, overcame a shoulder injury that forced him to skip practice for the better part of a month and won over a good portion of the Packers fans. The latter might actually be the most important of the three given the events of the past seven months.
As he stood alone doing an interview on the field with network commentators following the game, he received a huge ovation, and as he ran into the tunnel, fans cheered him and chanted his name. It's a long way from the times this summer when kids would cuss him out as he made his way into the players' parking lot.
Asked if he felt as if he's emerged from Favre's shadow, Rodgers said flatly, "No."
Rodgers finishes strong in finale - JSOnline
12-29-2008, 05:47 PM
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