Aaron Rodgers has heard the concerns that the Packers offense is looking sloppy. The biggest criticism came from coach Mike McCarthy Monday night, likely in an effort to send a message to his troops.
Rodgers’ response was to invoke Allen Iverson’s classic rant.
“Practice? We talking about practice?” the quarterback joked at Tuesday’s media session via Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “We’re not talking about a game. We’re talking about practice . . . Practice? I’m not overly concerned. It was a tough environment inside. We just have to clean things up a little bit. Too many mental mistakes.”
I’d love to see video of Rodgers’ impersonation before awarding a grade here, but this was well played by the Super Bowl MVP. Rodgers insists that the lack of player-only workouts hasn’t slowed the Packers down. But he hinted that not everyone arrived in the best shape.
“In order to be successful, you have to be willing to put the time in on your own. And part of that is coming into camp in shape,” Rodgers said via ESPNMilwaukee.com. “I think you saw last night, we got tired last night and there was a lot of mental mistakes. So we’ve got to pick up the urgency, I think.”
I’m inclined to give the Packers the benefit of the doubt because it’s early August and they have only seen Dom Capers’ unit.
“He brings blitzes all day,” Rodgers said. “We’re trying to run a screen period, and he’s throwing corner blitzes out there. It’s making it tough for us, but it’s good for us. If we can figure out ways to be successful against a defense like Dom has you would think it would be a little easier against a less diverse defense.”
Rodgers and company can quiet any concern by looking smooth in the preseason, starting Saturday against the Browns.