Enlightening Ignorance

At the end of the Brett Favre drama that took complete media control of this off-season; many sports fans and critics alike, were considering Aaron Rodgers to be the biggest victim of it all. I really don’t see it that way. In my opinion, there has been no casualties in all this; everyone got what they wanted. Favreis playing (without having to compete for the starting spot), Green Bay is able to move forward with their new franchise QB, Rodgers is finally the top man in Green Bay, and the fans can’t be victims until we see what Rodgers can do week after week.

Now I’m not trivializing the fact that he has extremely big shoes to fill, but his role for the past three years should put him in position for success . Rodgers should know the Green Bay offense in his sleep by now, not to mention the fact that he has been mentored by Favre for the last three years. Now managing the offense, reading defenses, pocket presence, QB to WR chemistry, and a host of other details can only come with in-game experience; which he has a shortage of. Nevertheless, Green Bay drafted him with their first pick in the 2005 draft (24th overall, second QB selected behind #1 overall Alex Smith) for a reason. Rodgers has the potential to be a top tier QB in this league with time.

I heard on ESPN today that he’s getting a little frustrated by the comments that some of the fans have been making (some foul mouth kids in particular) lately. I’ve even heard ESPN analysts  say things like “his biggest task may be getting the Green Bay fans behind him,” which I also think is ridiculous. Rodgers biggest task is going to be running the Green Bay offense and winning football games. Sports fans are simple creatures by nature (and I say this as an avid sports fan myself) who are predisposed to front running. If he wins games, Green Bay fans will bum rush his band wagon. All he should be focus on his his game. Personally I won’t even mind if he struggles a bit in his first few games; that’s to be expected of a first time starter (unless their name is Roethlisberger or Brady), but ultimately I think he will have a decent season this year. They have one of the toughest schedules this year but I believe he can win anywhere from 8 to 11 games. With 8 gamese being acceptable for a first time starter but a failure to the Green bay fan still faithful to Favre. 10 or 11 games would be a stretch depending on his development, while less than 8 games would be a failure by even my standards; and I’m giving him a larger margin of error than most. More than likely the Vikings will top them in the division though. Basically, I think people need to give this dude a break until about week 5.