Every Tuesday, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers conducts a lengthy and comprehensive interview with ESPN Milwaukee.
Though this week’s session was lengthy, it wasn’t entirely comprehensive, since it omitted any reaction to tight end Jermichael Finley’s recent “chemistry” remarks. But Rodgers did address one of last week’s other controversies, arising from his comments about the Green Bay scout team.
“Absolutely ridiculous,” Rodgers said about the situation. “Anybody who knows anything about football knows that that story was ridiculous. I can’t even pick a better attitude, it was ridiculous -- everything about it. All I did was regurgitate what Mike [McCarthy] said in the meeting. I’ve worked on the scout team, so I know what it means to give a good look and how difficult that can be at times, and you’re reading cards and different things. There is a great dialogue between myself and the coaches and the scout team. We need to pick up the practice tempo. Mike said that, I said that, other players have said that. That’s true. It’s offense, defense, scout team. It’s scout team offense and scout team defense. We all need to give a better look. Absolutely nothing wrong with those comments, no excuses. And it’s ridiculous that a comment would be written about that and that those guys would have to answer questions about that and that I would have to talk to them and make sure that everything is fine. Those guys think it’s as ridiculous as I did.”
We’re not quite sure what’s so ridiculous about it, however. Here’s what Rodgers originally said, during last week’s radio session, from the transcript that was sent out to the media by ESPN Milwaukee: “For whatever reason the rookies have not picked up what the practice tempo looks like, or the importance of the scout team looks as well as maybe it’s been in the past. I don’t know if [coach] Mike [McCarthy] said that in his press conference but he definitely mentioned that in our team meeting. And we’ve talked about that a number of times, and I know my role in practice is that I have to bring energy and life to that practice and I have to be moving around well. It’s tough on some days when you’re tired and you’ve been preparing until late at night and you’re up early. But there are really no excuses when it comes to the quarterback position and making sure that you do every role that you’re called on to the best of your abilities. That being said, there needs to be a level of professionalism that is current through the entire team from the veterans to the rookies that they kind of understand how each part of the day adds to the preparation. And I think that it can definitely be improved on their standpoint from an assignment and a tempo side of practice.”
Unless he was misquoted, that quote from a weekly interview for which he undoubtedly is well compensated provides obvious fodder for followup with the folks who are on and responsible for the scout team.
Again, we’re not quite sure what’s so ridiculous about that. Rodgers said what he said. And he’s good enough with his words to know that some of his words will result in the subject of those words being questioned about those words.
Nothing about that is ridiculous, absolutely or otherwise. It’s the way the media world works, especially when one of the highest-profile players in the league is generating every week a lengthy collection of quotes that the radio station on which he utters those quotes types up and sends out to the media for scrutiny, analysis, and possible followup.