Does Rodgers Have The Armstrength?

[Tarlam!]

He's a different style of QB than the last guy, that we know.

I read one of Nutz' posts where he says the Packers are attacking the middle less and that got me wondering. Does our new QB lack in zipping the ball between three defenders?

I haven't a clue, but from what I believe to have seen, I think Aaron Rodgers can make all the throws BF can. Maybe that's BS.

And please, Rats, I am not trying to start a pissing contest, but a normal discussion. This is not about who is the better QB and TT's decisions etc. This is an honest attempt to fact find.

Can A-Rod, with his arm strength, make the throws necessary to make plays? I say he can, but I am no barometer.

[cpk1994]

Rodgers has plenty of arm strength. Rodgers put that to bed game 1 with that 60 yd bomb to Jennings. Also remember that his shoulder was injured and he was still able to throw the ball 50 yards. Non issue.

[th87]

It's not arm strength. It's mental makeup at this time.

Rodgers has wanted to make the safe throws. If the safe throws aren't there, he'll throw it away. In time, as his confidence, and feel for the game increase, we'll see him take more shots and improvise more.

Just give him some time.

[Patler]

Favre threw more into the middle of the field than the coaches wanted him to, especially in slow-developing plays. Thats where interceptions often occur. Not throwing as much in the middle is not necessarily a bad thing.

[wist43]

Rodgers has more arm strength than I thought he had, and he's playing better than I ever thought he could - that still doesn't change my opinion that he'll never lead us to a championship though.

That said, the throw that requires the most arm strength is the 15-20 yard out... at least if there is reasonably tight coverage. You can overcome a lack of armstrength on this throw with precision timing and accuracy, but for the most part, for this throw, the ball has to get there in a hurry, and since it is to the outside, and hence, on an angle, it is a longer throw than 15-20 yards. Combine that with the fact that a weak throw could more easily result in 6 going the other way, and I think you can see where decent armstrength is needed on this throw.

Throws over the middle may be in traffic sometimes, but the QB will generally have his feet set better, and should have a better feel for if he can get the ball thru or not b/c everything is right in front of him. Besides, the QB should know his own armstrength better than anyone else... he should know whether he can pull the trigger or not, Rodgers is appearing to be smart enough to either throw it away (my biggest criticism of Favre) or eat it.

[Bretsky]

IMO Rodgers has plenty of arm strength; at times I don't think he goes through all of his options as well as Favre did....hence the lack of production from the TE position...who is often the #3 or #4 option

But he seems plenty smart enough in playing it safe rather than taking the chance and throwing a pick

[Patler]

IMO Rodgers has plenty of arm strength; at times I don't think he goes through all of his options as well as Favre did....hence the lack of production from the TE position...who is often the #3 or #4 option

I will quibble with this a bit. Completions to the TEs are down only about 1% this year compared to the first 8 games last year if you look at the total number of attempts and total number of completions this year compared to last year. Yes, Lee's receptions are down from 29 to 22, but Rodgers has thrown a lot fewer passes and therefore completed a lot fewer passes through the first 8 games this year than Favre did last year. Lees receptions are bound to be down.

The yardage/reception decline can have a lot of factors, not all of which can be attributed to Rodgers. Formations used, plays called and Lees performance all have a lot to do with it. Besides, Lee's career has been very inconsistent, good performance in 2005, non-existent in 2006, good performance in 2007.

[texaspackerbacker]

It's not arm strength. It's mental makeup at this time.

Rodgers has wanted to make the safe throws. If the safe throws aren't there, he'll throw it away. In time, as his confidence, and feel for the game increase, we'll see him take more shots and improvise more.

Just give him some time.

I agree with this, but I'm not so sure it's something to look forward to. I'd rather see him stay careful and not give up the picks favre did.

As for strength, Rodgers may not have the finger-breaking power that Favre had, but he certainly is decent. Also, one thing that always annoyed me about Favre was that painfully slow release. Rodgers gets rid of it with a flick instead of a wind-up.

[Freak Out]

He has plenty of arm strength to play in the NFL...I don't think he has the cannon like stuff Favre had but he can do everything that needs to be done.

[Fritz]

Compare Rodgers to 98% of NFL Qb's, and you'll say he's got plenty of arm strength. I think this only comes up because of the guy he's replacing, whose arm strength is of course legendary.

[Pacopete4]

Compare Rodgers to 98% of NFL Qb's, and you'll say he's got plenty of arm strength. I think this only comes up because of the guy he's replacing, whose arm strength is of course legendary.

you nailed it.. cant expect anyone to have the arm Brett did... they just dont come around that often

[jmbarnes101]

The one thing I noticed Favre doing a lot is the pump fake that drew DB's to an area he wasn't planning on throwing to. I haven't seen Rodgers do this but maybe I'm just not seeing it. When I watched the Jennings thing yesterday it's the one thing I noticed. It helps the WR's make the big plays. Am I correct in this or am I missing something?

[Pacopete4]

The one thing I noticed Favre doing a lot is the pump fake that drew DB's to an area he wasn't planning on throwing to. I haven't seen Rodgers do this but maybe I'm just not seeing it. When I watched the Jennings thing yesterday it's the one thing I noticed. It helps the WR's make the big plays. Am I correct in this or am I missing something?

no u nailed it too... Favre was a master of pumping and getting the saftey to commit somewhere and hitting the open man... he also was a master of not giving a shit if 3 guys were there and throwing it anyways haha

[Gunakor]

The one thing I noticed Favre doing a lot is the pump fake that drew DB's to an area he wasn't planning on throwing to. I haven't seen Rodgers do this but maybe I'm just not seeing it. When I watched the Jennings thing yesterday it's the one thing I noticed. It helps the WR's make the big plays. Am I correct in this or am I missing something?

no u nailed it too... Favre was a master of pumping and getting the saftey to commit somewhere and hitting the open man... he also was a master of not giving a shit if 3 guys were there and throwing it anyways haha

The results of which were more of a mixed bag... I'd rather my QB not throw it into triple coverage. Big plays can and have resulted from such throws, both good and bad. If you are playing percentages in that situation, odds are you are going to get burned throwing it.

[Pacopete4]

The one thing I noticed Favre doing a lot is the pump fake that drew DB's to an area he wasn't planning on throwing to. I haven't seen Rodgers do this but maybe I'm just not seeing it. When I watched the Jennings thing yesterday it's the one thing I noticed. It helps the WR's make the big plays. Am I correct in this or am I missing something?

no u nailed it too... Favre was a master of pumping and getting the saftey to commit somewhere and hitting the open man... he also was a master of not giving a shit if 3 guys were there and throwing it anyways haha

The results of which were more of a mixed bag... I'd rather my QB not throw it into triple coverage. Big plays can and have resulted from such throws, both good and bad. If you are playing percentages in that situation, odds are you are going to get burned throwing it.

well he won more than he lost.. so I'll take it any day of the week and twice on sunday