After 10 days of being away from football (but still somehow showing up with a toe injury), Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be back on the field today, one day after making his return.
The Seahawks, who haven’t won at Lambeau Field since 1999, should give him a proper welcome. As Peter King suggested on Friday’s PFT Live, Seattle should take a page from Miami’s Thursday night playbook and blitz Rodgers repeatedly.
Seattle has the right guy for the job in Jamal Adams. And even though, under normal circumstances, Rodgers would respond to such tactics with a flick of the wrist into the hands of his hot read, Rodgers may be feeling the effects of his COVID diagnosis and his week-and-a-half away from the game.
It’s a risky proposition, to be sure. If Rodgers has the lungs and the legs to escape the pressure, someone will be open -- and Rodgers will find him. But if Rodgers, who is just a couple of weeks away from his 38th birthday, has any reduced capacity due to his recent experiences, it could be the best way to keep Rodgers from wrecking the game for Seattle.
That same mindset applies to the Seahawks. Russell Wilson is back after five weeks away. Will he instantly be in game shape? Or will he be vulnerable to the heat that could come from safeties who blitz repeatedly, wearing down as the game goes on if he’s constantly forced to run away from pressure?
It all makes one of the most compelling games of the day even more intriguing. And then it will get even better, when reporters get their first crack at posing questions to the quarterback who misled them (or, less tactfully, lied) about his vaccination status and then repeatedly violated protocol in order to conceal the truth.