On Friday, Packers coach Mike McCarthy repeatedly said called Sunday’s unavailability of quarterback Aaron Rodgers an “organizational decision.”
McCarthy could have used a couple of more forceful terms: “Extraordinary risk.”
According to Chris Mortensen and Rob Demovsky of ESPN, a recent scan of Rodgers’ fractured collarbone showed “extraordinary risk” to the quarterback, if he were to play. (It’s still unclear what the worst-case scenario would be, if Rodgers were to suffer another injury to the collarbone.)
So why did McCarthy say “organizational decision” nine times? Per the report, Rodgers specifically wanted it to be explained that way, so that his perceived toughness wouldn’t suffer in comparison to legendary iron man Brett Favre.
It’s not clear how “organizational decision” versus “extraordinary risk” makes Rodgers seem less tough, unless he fears that the inability of his collarbone to heal six weeks and six days after it first broke somehow is a sign of congenital weakness.
It is clear that the report meshes with Rodgers’ reputation for being sensitive -- so sensitive that he’s sensitive about being called sensitive. And he’s likely sufficiently sensitive to be sensitive about a report regarding his sensitivity regarding why he’s not playing nearly seven weeks after suffering the injury.
Which means that Rodgers may now want to try to find out who privately called him out for being sensitive about being perceived as not tough.