You done messed up A-A-Ron

Wow, this is a pretty brutal takedown of both Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy. It seems most of Rodger's former teammates can't stand him, especially the receivers. There are lots of comparisons to TB12, which makes Rodgers look even worse.

"Where Jermichael Finley, a Packers tight end from 2008 to 2013, sees a self-entitled quarterback and bad leader, Grant thinks it's idiotic for anyone to complain about such a transcendent talent. Where Greg Jennings, a Packers receiver from 2006 to 2012, sees Rodgers as an ultrasensitive source of toxicity, others lambast McCarthy for wasting a gift from the football gods.

One ex-Packers scout puts it on both. He describes Rodgers as an arrogant quarterback quick to blame everyone but himself—one who's "not as smart as he thinks he is"—yet kindly points out that McCarthy basically quit on his team....

When the Lambeau Field mystique evaporates, when the Packers offense inches closer and closer to collapse, it erodes to this: McCarthy sends play in. Rodgers does not approve. Rodgers calls own play in the huddle and/or tells a receiver to change his route. Exasperated sighs and snarls are exchanged all around. Nobody in their right mind is thinking, "They can't stop us."

What Happened in Green Bay

Stuff like this has been circulating for years and yet Pack fans go to the craziest extents to discredit the same players they were rooting for a few years prior.

It's crazy that they can't just accept the situation at face value. They have a HOF QB who's:

a) Not the GOAT
b) Kind of a jerk
c) Not particularly concerned with winning

That's still more to feel good about than most fanbases.

One former teammate says he thinks Rodgers should have won a minimum of six Super Bowl rings under McCarthy and that the 2011 team should be remembered like the '72 Dolphins.

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Quotes like this are really interesting because they show the extent to which people don't understand yet how historic the Patriots are. Nbody "should have" won 6 Super Bowls. It's an absolutely insane historical anomaly; you can argue that the Patriots themselves probably "shouldn't have" won all of the ones they did, and it's damn sure nobody else "should have".

We're awfully lucky that Brady's crazy is confined to drinking enough concussion water to summon the old god Pliatoccus.

For all of his success and marrying the world's richest woman (or whatever she is) he should have lost his goddamn mind by now and been living a life that would make Howard Hughes seem grounded.

I am just happy that all of the "investigative" reporters are now concentrating on the Steelers and Packers. It was our turn last year. Most of this stuff is made up drama for "clicks" and "likes" - who cares. It is not a coincidence that these stories surface at this time of the year - football off-season.

Louis Riddick made what I thought was a very insightful observation about Rodgers when asked about McCarthy's interview today.

He pointed out that after looking at a lot of tape on Rodgers he acknowledges that he could be a very frustrating QB to deal with in this manner. Too often he'd ignore the easy throw that was there, and THEN use his great athletic ability to extend the play and thus make an easy play hard.

Hard to ignore Rodger's amazing skills as a QB, as well as his successes. But I think Riddick's comments point out a key difference between Brady and Rodgers. Brady doesn't believe that it's all about him. He will ALWAYS take the first open read when it there. In doing that he takes a lot of the pressure off the rest of his teammates who don't have to block forever, or break off routes, etc.

Brady has had the self confidence and belief in his system so that he's perfectly willing to take what the defense gives him because he feels comfortable in his team's ability to complete 10-15 play drives, even though conventional wisdom tells us that on long drives like that, eventually the offense will make a mistake/penalty, etc, that will kill the drive. Brady has consistently bucked that trend.

BTW- Everytime I hear Louis Riddick speak I become more and more impressed with his insight and football knowledge. He really belongs in some team's football operations staff. He was with Bill during his playing days.....

That article made everyone look bad, from the coach to the QB to the insider sources to the ex players to the ex coaches to the fans to the author.

It's rare that you can find such a juxtaposition. I don't know whether to break it all down or just say "Clown show. Thank God for Brady not being Rodgers" and move on.

So there was Jennings, a Viking himself in 2013. He could tell Packers receivers were scared just to say hello with Rodgers likely hyperanalyzing their every move from afar. To him, that's sad. It shouldn't be like this. He sees the relationship Brady has cultivated with Julian Edelman, with all of his receivers, and says, "Everyone wants that." Those two spend time together off the field, and it carries into what matters on the field. Brady builds bonds for life, and that can be the difference between division titles and Super Bowls.

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There are bad dudes in the NFL, he assures, and Rodgers is not one of them. But he's different, he says. Not in the way Brady is, not ultraconsumed with winning. Just..."different."

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Adds Finley, "A-Rod wants his. He wants to eat. He cares about his yards, his completions. He's going to have a hard time. ... That's like an addict. You tell an addict to change his ways when he's been stuck in his ways so long. I think it's going to be very tough. I thought he'd be able to grow out of it, but, s--t, you give a guy more money, there's more attitude, more diva-ness..."

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If LaFleur does strike that tricky balance and revitalizes Rodgers, Jennings thinks his old QB can enter the GOAT/Brady stratosphere. He's just not sure how willing Rodgers is when the quarterback's first public commentsabout the hire, at the NFL Honors, started off with the words, "A lot of change, in life in general, it's tough at first." That's all he needed to hear. To Jennings, that quote practically guaranteed how this will go down.

"I know how Aaron operates," Jennings says. "For him to make that statement, it already lets me know he's going to make it hard on a young Matt LaFleur."

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God Bless Tom Brady.

Luckily for us Brady's pouting is very minimal and on a much smaller scale (chucking the ball deep to no one against Detroit this year, the beard for Mankins, the wanting to feel appreciated) and no where near Rodgers level of diva. I will admit that Rodgers is one of my least favorite players in the league but according to the story a lot of it stemmed from a lack of respect for MM. Who knows how things would have gone if Rodgers won 3 Super Bowls in 4 years early in his career. Would he still have been a prima-madonna? Maybe, but maybe he would've had more respect for MM because clearly his system worked.

In the end of the day I still feel like Brady has had far more of a right to get pissy with his coach (who is the GM) than Rodgers. Brady carried that crappy '06 team to the AFCCG, routinely lost his go-to option in the passing game (Deion Branch, Wes Welker, Randy Moss) due to trades/letting them walk. One could argue Rodgers has had a better number one receiver than Brady has for almost all of the careers outside of the Randy Moss era.

He and Danica are perfect for each other. Both are unlikeable and as easy to deal with as a cactus.

BradyFTW! said:

Quotes like this are really interesting because they show the extent to which people don't understand yet how historic the Patriots are. Nbody "should have" won 6 Super Bowls. It's an absolutely insane historical anomaly; you can argue that the Patriots themselves probably "shouldn't have" won all of the ones they did, and it's damn sure nobody else "should have".

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Seriously. It's like saying, "With all his talent, Sidney Crosby should score 900 goals in his career." No, he shouldn't, because NO ONE has done that. The standard should never be something no one's ever done before.

BradyFTW! said:

Quotes like this are really interesting because they show the extent to which people don't understand yet how historic the Patriots are. Nbody "should have" won 6 Super Bowls. It's an absolutely insane historical anomaly; you can argue that the Patriots themselves probably "shouldn't have" won all of the ones they did, and it's damn sure nobody else "should have".

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That article seemed to take a lot of things that were pretty obviously either exaggerations or outliers as if they were intended as gospel and normal. It also has a built in problem of being written from the basic starting position that Aaron Rodgers is 500 miles better than any QB that's ever played the game, rather than taking a more realistic position along the lines of "as one of the top 5 or so QBs of his era...".

McCarthy, then the 49ers offensive coordinator, chose Alex Smith No. 1 overall.

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Uh, what now? an offensive coordinator made the choice for the #1 overall pick? Come on bleacher report, you just lost all credibility, as if you had any to begin with. But I'll keep reading this opinionated entertainment piece because **** Aaron "We beat ourselves" Rodgers.

I find the most striking part of this to be the quotes from guys like Jennings and Finley. Guys who spent substantial time with AR, won with AR, saw it all.

Compare that to quotes from former teammates of Brady (anyone ever heard a bad word uttered by ex-teammates?) and the difference is glaring.

Some guys get the big picture, other guys think they are the big picture.

Brandon_Cox said:

McCarthy sends play in. Rodgers does not approve. Rodgers calls own play in the huddle and/or tells a receiver to change his route.

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Who did Rodgers understudy? What was his style?

turkeyneck said:

Who did Rodgers understudy? What was his style?

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For as frosty as their relationship was Rodgers have turned into Favre at this point.

One-If-By-Sea said:

I am just happy that all of the "investigative" reporters are now concentrating on the Steelers and Packers..............

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......and Bob’s knob

I enjoyed that entertainment piece. Who knows how much truth there is to it. But I enjoy a good Rodgers trashing. I still believe Josh McDaniels got really lucky being passed over for the Packers HC job. Rodgers would have spelled the end of Josh McDaniels head coaching career. Matt Lafleur will have another chance after Rodgers gets him fired.

borg said:

......and Bob’s knob

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Hmmm... perhaps Kraft was doing the team a solid and preemptively bringing the next patriots scandal on to himself rather than some made-up bs which would be inevitable anyway. Chess while checkers !

Link
What Happened in Green Bay

Unreal.

This is why when people say Rodgers could win 10 rings with Belichick... no chance, no way, no how.