A Little Pissed at Rodgers

[Fritz]

Yes, he did. And I was yelling at him to slide on that one.

It's a game that hinges on one or two plays. Quarless doesn't fumble, Jennings hangs on, Rodgers slides, Flynn doesn't throw an interception, Flynn throws that last pass a yard and a half shorter, and we're all chatting happily about this week's game being one that the team can afford to lose...

[Tony Oday]

Well knowing the NFL AR slides...gets hit helmet to helmet and the same thing happens just no call

[Scott Campbell]

This hasn't been discussed much on this board, but am I the only one who's a little pissed at A-Rod for not sliding in Detroit?

I put 60% of the blame on Rodgers, and 40% on McCarthy. Aaron has done that before and gotten away with it. McCarthy needs to bench him for a series when he does it. That'll cure him.

It was a ridiculously stupid risk for him to take - especially since he was just injured during the Washington game.

[denverYooper]

Agree with this. After Jennings dropped the TD turned interception and with the offense doing little, you could just sense ARod looking to make a play. In fact, I believe he had a run before this one that he didn't slide on either.

+2.

[denverYooper]

I put 60% of the blame on Rodgers, and 40% on McCarthy. Aaron has done that before and gotten away with it. McCarthy needs to bench him for a series when he does it. That'll cure him.

It was a ridiculously stupid risk for him to take - especially since he was just injured during the Washington game.

I sure hope to hell that missing a game and a half makes him slide from now on.

[RashanGary]

I swear, QB's get hurt more becuase they're trying to avoid contact. When you can, fine, I agree they should slide.

But when you can't slide, nothing good comes from making your body long and stretching to avoid contact. Get tight, like any normal person would bracing for impact, make yourself a little slippery in the sense that don't absorb pure contact and then take the contact the best way you can. You rarely see frail WR's get hurt becuase they don't put themselves in such awful positions just trying to avoid contact. QB's are taught something that works when they can slide, but their passive mentality is dangerous once they get in a spot where they can't slide.

[th87]

He lost his cool. You could tell he went for max yards out of frustration.

Why no running? Jackson can't hit a hole fast enough. Why not Starks? He's not yet in the passing game, and the way their d line was manhandling ours, if they knew it was a run, we'd have no chance.

It all goes back to the line. Fix that, Super Bowl.

[Patler]

Frankly, Rodgers may not have gotten the first down had he slid. If you notice, he only got it by one, maybe 2 yards. The slide at least knocks a yard off of it. Earlier this year, a few times, he did do the slide, thought he had the first, but was marked short and they had to punt. I think that is always in te back of his mind so he wanted to ensure he had the first. On top of trying to ensure he has the first...

He had the first down by 13 yards! It was second and five. He ran for 18 yards.

2-5-GB 25 (3:22) A.Rodgers scrambles up the middle to GB 43 for 18 yards (A.Spievey). R2
Timeout #1 by GB at 02:43.

[sharpe1027]

He should have slid. The only defense I can offer is that he may have briefly thought he could get clear of the defenders as neither were directly in front of him. Poor judgment either way.

[mraynrand]

We don't yell at RB's to slide, so why yell at the QB?

You didn't really ask this, did you? RBs are dime a dozen compared to decent starting QBs, and Rodgers is one of the best playing today AND he already has a concussion this season. Why do you think the NFL protects the QBs more than running backs? Answer: because the NFL knows nothing makes football worse than shitty QB play - just look at the Vikings loss to the Giants or the Carolina/Bears matchup this year. QBs who get hit less, play longer. Isn't that obvious? As the kids say: Duh!

[HarveyWallbangers]

He should have slid. The only defense I can offer is that he may have briefly thought he could get clear of the defenders as neither were directly in front of him. Poor judgment either way.

I agree with this. Hindsight is 20-20. He's turned a couple of runs where it looked like he should slide into big gains. I think he thought he could squeak through and maybe go all the way. And I think he thought the team needed a spark. I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it.

This guy didn't slide either.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d81cbece0/Suh-s-illegal-hit-on-Cutler

How many yards does Rodgers lose on this run if he had decided to slide?

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-fantasy/09000d5d81bf382b/QB-Rodgers-27-yd-run

And this one

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-fantasy/09000d5d81ae5d30/QB-Rodgers-17-yd-run

I just think it's a bit crazy to criticize him too much. Player was trying to make a play. He misjudged what he could get out of it. It happens. It will happen again.

[Pugger]

That wasn't the first time Rodgers got dinged because he didn't slide. I'm not saying it's all his fault - I'm saying that amidst all the talk about the shitty offensive line play (well deserved), the coaching (deserved) and the running back play (Honestly, BJack is a good...third down back), Rodgers's not-sliding didn't get much mention, and I think it deserves mention.

I believe that if he hadn't slid the Packers would've won that game despite the shitty play of the o-line. And now instead of gnashing our teeth over the impact of that loss, we'd be merrily writing off the NE game and looking ahead to the Giants game.

So yeah, I'm a little pissed at A-Rod.

Why should he slide? He's been getting hit after sliding all season so Rodgers might have figured "f-it" and tried to get what he could. Unfortunately he hit his head on the turf and saw stars.

[Fritz]

Why should he slide? So he doesn't get hurt.

[Pugger]

Why should he slide? So he doesn't get hurt.

Yes, but you are missing my point. For some damn reason Rodgers has been getting hammered by defenders but not a flag is in sight. If Brady, Manning - and don't come back with "Rodgers hasn't done anything so he won't get that call" cuz even if Culter is hit like Rodgers has the last couple of years the field would be raining yellow hankies. :-[

[Joemailman]

Aaron's not dumb, but he does have a stubborn streak. Now that he's put his own health in jeopardy (2 concussions in 2 months is serious business), and probably harmed his team's playoff chances, I'm pretty confident he'll finally get the message.