Cobb Proves Rodgers Right While Turning Back Clock
GREEN BAY, Wis. – When Aaron Rodgers returned to the Green Bay Packers for the start of training camp, his listing of grievances included his belief that his opinion on personnel decisions wasn’t valued by the team.
So, with Rodgers back for his 14th season as the team’s quarterback, general manager Brian Gutekunst traded for Cobb at Rodgers’ urging. On Sunday, Rodgers looked not just like one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history but a shrewd personnel evaluator.
On a day when the Packers’ high-octane passing attack lacked its usual efficiency, Cobb made one key play after another to spark a 27-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It’s kind of like riding a bike,” Cobb said of his connection with Rodgers.
Cobb caught 5-of-6 targets for 69 yards and two touchdowns. Four of those receptions turned third downs into first downs. The highlight-reel play was the 23-yard touchdown reception that put the Packers up for good, 14-7, with about 11 minutes left in the first half. He caught the ball at the 11, accelerated like a 21-year-old rather than the 31-year-old he is, and won a goal-line collision with All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Cobb then celebrated his first Lambeau Field touchdown since Dec. 9, 2018, against Atlanta with a Lambeau Leap.
“It’s been a while. It’s been a while,” Cobb said. “It was a lot of fun just to be out there with the fans again. The atmosphere was unbelievable tonight. I had a lot of fun just being on this team. We have a lot of great players, and just seeing us put it together every week is special.”
Cobb was great for years – and he was great again on Sunday. With Davante Adams catching only 6-of-11 targets for 64 yards, Marquez Valdes-Scantling on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, Aaron Jones limited to 3.2 yards per carry and a fumble, and the tight ends combining to catch 3-of-9 targets for 15 yards, it was Cobb to the rescue.
Trailing 7-0 late in the first quarter, his juggling third-and-6 reception for 8 yards jump-started the offense. Moments later, he had a 12-yard catch on third-and-4. One play later, Rodgers scrambled for the tying touchdown.
On the next possession, the Packers faced a third-and-10 when Cobb turned on the jets for his 23-yard touchdown.
On the opening possession of the third quarter, Cobb went over the middle on third-and-7 and caught one of Rodgers’ best balls of the night, a seam shot for a gain of 25 against tight coverage. That set up a field goal that build the margin to 20-10.
At that point, the Packers had converted seven third downs. Four of those were by Cobb.
Cobb’s other catch came on first-and-goal at the 1, a scramble drill in which Cobb got open late for his second score of the day and a 27-10 lead. It capped a stretch of five consecutive scores, with Cobb making key grabs on four.
In the first three games, Cobb caught 4-of-5 passes for 58 yards. Most of that was a 32-yard catch in garbage time at the end of the opening loss to New Orleans. He was targeted only once, an incompletion, last week vs. San Francisco.
But when Rodgers needed Cobb, Cobb delivered.
“I felt like the first couple weeks, we could tell that he was getting himself where he needed to be to have a bigger role in the offense,” Rodgers said. “But the things that he does that you can’t really teach is that feel [such as] the third-and-10 where he had inside leverage and made kind of an out move, and I put a good ball down the seam to him. His angle on the touchdown on that route, just a feel. Having guys who can do it like that, and we have a lot of guys like that. Davante is as good as it gets with his feel. Both Allen (Lazard) and Bobby (Tonyan) have a good feel. But Cobby’s been doing it for a long time at a high level, and tonight was really fun.”
After spending 2019 with Dallas and 2020 with Houston, Cobb is back in his element with his longtime friend and teammate.
“You’ve been around each other for so long and you understand, he understands how I move, so whenever I’m getting ready to break on my route, he knows. It’s muscle memory,” Cobb said. “It’s been a couple of years, but it’s kind of like when you get back around your friends and you remember things that you hadn’t even thought about in so long. It’s kind of that connection that we have. When you see it so many times, it doesn’t matter how long of a gap it is between.”
