Aaron Rodgers Birthday Gift to Cowboys Coach Mike McCarthy? 'Happy Tears & 'Appreciation'
In his final scene on TV's "The Office," Ed Helms' Andy Bernard wistfully declares “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers perhaps silently channeled his brief Scranton-based co-star this week as he prepares to do battle with former head coach Mike McCarthy, who now wears the Dallas Cowboys' primary headset, on Sunday (3:25 p.m. CT, Fox).
While Rodgers and McCarthy were perhaps infamous for their weekly wars of attrition in Titletown, some would claim that the outspoken passer yearns for the recent pass. While the duo faced criticism for securing only one Super Bowl ring in a dozen-plus seasons of collaboration, Rodgers and the Packers have failed to get back to the Big Game since McCarthy's departure. The bottom appears to have officially fallen out on the Packers (3-6), who failed to muster a mere victory over their usual divisional victims from Detroit last Sunday. Rodgers threw three interceptions in the Packers' fifth consecutive defeat, which has placed them four games behind Minnesota for the NFC North lead.
Conversely, McCarthy has appeared to have found career clarity with the Cowboys (6-2): he helped guide the team to a division title last season and has Dallas on pace for its first string of consecutive playoff berths since 2006-07.
With McCarthy having already addressed Sunday's homecoming and on Thursday celebrating his 59th birthday on the path to his first visit to Lambeau Field since he was ousted in the final act of the 2018 season ... Rodgers revealed that he not only keeps in touch with his former boss but has come to appreciate the lessons he bestowed more and more as the years separate them.
"I think as time goes by, the gratitude for that time as you look back on the journey of your career goes up a little bit," Rodgers declared this week. "I appreciate the little things a little bit more because really this game and life is about the journey. I'll always be tied with him because of the connection that we had and the years we spent together. Obviously (he's) my longest-tenured coach, my longest-tenured play-caller.
"I'm thankful for those years and thankful maybe a little bit more now as the years go by."
McCarthy came to the Packers in 2006, Rodgers' second professional season, and oversaw the final years of the Brett Favre era before making the move on to the touted heir two years later. The long list of accolades Rodgers earned under McCarthy's watch includes a 7-2 record as a starter against the Cowboys, headlined by two playoff victories in the Divisional round.
Despite all they accomplished, however, Rodgers and McCarthy's collaboration will perhaps always be best known for their weekly battles, even if the quarterback's verbal skirmishes with Packer management have not quelled since McCarthy moved on. Rodgers dismissed the idea that any damage was permanent.
"I think it's normal to be able to think about the things you really loved about that relationship," he said. "(Look back on) that style or that program and just contemplate on how special some of those moments were, how the journey is really the most important thing, and the ups and downs. I'm thankful for the incredible moments, the highs we had, and there were many of them, and even for the low moments too because it gives you perspective on life.
"Life is not all about the beautiful ups. It's the downs that you learn the most lessons in."
Rodgers further expounded on his reverence for McCarthy during his weekly appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," where he expressed hope that Packer fans ... who famously booed Favre upon his return to Lambeau as a Minnesota Viking ... would warmly welcome the former top man when he's introduced on Sunday.
"There were definitely some tears over the years, both in team settings and also in one-on-one settings," Rodgers said. "(He) and I definitely shed some tears over the years together in conversations, usually happy tears I would say. But yeah, Mike's a big-hearted guy, and I like to see him let the emotions come out."
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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