Aaron Rodgers Admits To Injury: ‘It’s Not An Excuse’
Aaron Rodgers was seemingly unstoppable at the beginning of the 2015-2016 season. He led the Green Bay Packers to an undefeated first six games, but things started to go downhill right after their bye week when they played the Denver Broncos on November 1. The 10-29 loss brought a lot of fans, and probably team members as well, back to reality as they lost to the also-undefeated Broncos and their winning streak came to a halt.
According to ESPN, Rodgers was sacked 11 times in the three games that have occurred since their bye week. That’s the same number of times total that he was sacked in all six of Green Bay’s first games of the season. Twice as many sacks is certainly troubling and many people have been skeptical of Aaron’s condition, but the issue that landed him on the injury report was actually a little unexpected.
Last Sunday, Rodgers hurt his knee in Green Bay’s 16-18 loss against the Detroit Lions. He was hit hard by a member of the Lion’s defense and was seen limping after the play. This was a huge upset considering the Lions went into the game with a 1-7 season record, compared to the Packers’ 6-2 record. ESPN reports, however, that it is not his knee that is reportedly injured, it is his throwing shoulder.
A quarterback’s throwing shoulder is one of the most, if not the most, important body parts that he has to work with, but the team still seems confident that they will continue to move forward with Rodgers leading the way. ESPN goes on to say that Aaron Rodgers’s participation in this past Wednesday’s practice was indeed limited, but that he will still play this upcoming Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. Coach Mike McCarthy simply said that Rodgers was a little “banged up,” a statement that Aaron himself confirmed.
This is the first time Rodgers has admitted to being injured since his calf injury of 2014. ESPN recalls that Rodgers was out for all of December, 2014, with the calf strain. It seems as though this right shoulder injury has been bothering him for more than just the last few days of this week, though. According to NBC Sports, Rodgers has had just a 56.5 percent completion rate in the past three games the Packers have played, but he didn’t want anyone to know he was injured because he didn’t want to sound like he was making excuses. Rodgers explained his position.
“Some people don’t like going in the training room and getting treatment. We want to be out there with our guys…There’s a lot of pride in lacing it up every Sunday and knowing that it doesn’t matter what you’re dealing with.”
It is hard to say how long this shoulder injury has been bothering Rodgers, because he didn’t say. He also didn’t say that there was anything wrong with his knee, just that he plans on getting back out there this weekend. ESPN reports that he seemed to only be making short throws in practice on Wednesday.
The Green Bay coaches seem to have full confidence that Rodgers will play this Sunday, as does the quarterback himself. Rodgers told ESPN that he feels the team has the best chance of winning if he is out there playing with them. McCarthy’s further comment on Thursday was that Aaron Rodgers looked good so far and, “we’ll see what he does.”
Rodgers is not the only Packer on the injury report this week; he’s joined by 13 of his teammates, which will certainly impact the gameplay this weekend. Do you think Green Bay will pull off a win against the Vikings and get their season back on the right track?
[Feature image courtesy of Joe Robbins/Getty Images]
