What A Year For a Young Quarterback

The off season last year was filled with news stories on the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, Brett Farve. He retired, or so we all thought, and Aaron Rodgers, a 3rd year player was going to be filling those huge foot prints left behind by the great Brett Farve, how was he ever going to do it.

Lets look at the stats for Aaron. He ranks 8th in the NFL, 4 standings above the great Brett Farve. He has a 91.8 passer rating, Farve, 86.5. Aaron has shown that he can fill those shoes. Will he ever be the legend that Brett was, probably not. Only because there seems to only one that ever comes out during a generation that really rocks the house and Farve has taken that slot. However, to say that the Packers are doomed because Rodgers took over is nonsense.

Packers fans were leary as to what this year would bring and I think that when you look at the offense, you can see that the young quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, gave a good shot at making this a playoff team. Unfortunately, the other team has to have the ball at times that dismal play of the defense did not do much for Rodgers and the offense.

The offense ranked 5th in points. That is impressive unless the defense is allowing the opponent to run down the field and match them point for point. Our defense ranked 26 in the rush defense. In many a game, you could see the running backs going through holes so big that you could drive a semi through them. They allowed 344.5 yards, ranking 24th in the league. Our offense would make a great run, the series would end in points only to watch the defense allow the opponent to march down the field and take the lead back or tie the game. Aaron had his work cut out for him and he rose to the challenge.

So where does that leave this fairly young team for now and going into the next year? They need to win the last two. Not that they are going to go to the playoffs, but it will be a momentum builder for next year. It will help them to get that sense of pride back after losing 4 straight games. The defense needs to show up, now and next year or the office needs to start looking to replace a few players. Atari Bigby would the first that I would look at. He was darn near non-existent this year. Special teams needs to step up to the plate and make things happen. This was such a lackluster year and the returns were pitiful.

So, it was a fun year, exciting and disappointing year. I am looking forward to seeing the last two games and anxiously await the draft and next year.