Rodgers Ups Ante on Common Theme of Mental Errors

While Aaron Rodgers apparently got his highest grade of the season, a litany of problems doomed the offense at Washington. Desperate times might call for desperate measures.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Oct 26, 2022 9:32 AM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers understands that Green Bay Packers fans are “pissed.” So, during his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, he gave them more reason to be upset.

“This was my highest-graded game by Tom,” Rodgers said of the weekly position grades handed out by quarterbacks coach Tom Clements. Considering Rodgers was just happy to get a fist-bump from Clements during the first practice of training camp, the comment was perhaps indicative that the Packers’ offensive problems might include some inaccurate throws and missed reads by the quarterback but the overall issues run deeper.

For weeks, Rodgers and coach Matt LaFleur have been talking about those issues. On Monday, for instance, LaFleur started answering a question about having to turn to Zach Tom at left tackle, then pivoted to “the little details” that are setting back the offense. Asked about needing someone on offense to step up alongside Aaron Jones, LaFleur said, “The detail of how we’re doing some of the things we’re doing is just not to the level of winning football in the National Football League.”

Rodgers added detail to McAfee.

“We had so many mental errors and mistakes,” Rodgers said after the team’s third consecutive loss, a 23-21 defeat at the Commanders in which he failed to convert a single third down and didn’t reach 100 passing yards until the end of the third quarter.

“It’s not the kind of football we’re used to playing over the years. There have definitely been games with four or five, but seasons where we averaged four, five, six, maybe seven at the most mental errors or missed assignments per week. Some weeks, you’ll have four. (Or) two sometimes. This season, it’s a lot more than that. It’s double-digits every single week.”

Since Day 1 of training camp, there’s been an acknowledgement by LaFleur and Rodgers that this post-Davante Adams offense would be a “work in progress” and that there would be “growing pains.” However, training camp started about three months ago. The team is seven games into the schedule. The progress and growth have been, well, painful.

On Aug. 16, following the first day of joint practices against the Saints, Rodgers said, “You keep dropping the ball, you’re not going to be out there.” That was the headline sentence from the day, but it was more than that. He said there were “a lot of mental errors,” which had “been the theme” of training camp. He lamented the “repeat mistakes,” “bad route decisions” and “wrong” routes.

A day later, LaFleur followed up on Rodgers’ comments. “I appreciate this about Aaron: It’s the urgency to get some of this stuff corrected. You can’t make the same mistake twice, not in this league. We don’t have time for it. That’s just enough time to get you beat.”

Mistakes, physical and mental, are getting the Packers beat. Last week, when Green Bay went 0-for-6 on third down, the average distance was an NFL-long 10.8 yards. The Packers gained, on average, 2.7 yards on those plays. Missed blocks, dropped passes, penalties and, yes, wayward throws conspired to a miserable offensive performance.

While 10 games remain in the season, time is running short to play a winning caliber of football. The Packers, one of six teams that are 3-4 in the mediocre middle of the NFC, are in ninth place in the playoff race. They’re a couple wins from being in a good spot; they’re a couple losses from being in an impossible hole.

Rodgers’ patience is wearing thin. Whatever’s being said in the closed doors of the meeting rooms hasn’t worked. For better or worse, he upped the ante on Tuesday. The prep from Monday through Saturday – something mentioned by safety Dallin Leavitt during what Rodgers termed an “impassioned” postgame speech – needs to improve before the performance on Sunday can improve.

“If we have 50 plays and we have 10 missed assignments or mental errors, that’s 20 percent of the time. So, that’s way too high,” Rodgers said. “In the past, we’re looking more at less than 10 percent, so it gives us a really good chance to be successful. Twenty percent, that’s way too high. That’s one play a series where you’re really making it tough on yourself.

“So, we’ve got to fix that and whatever that is. I think guys who are making too many mistakes shouldn’t be playing. You know? We’ve got to start cutting some reps. And maybe guys who aren’t playing, give them a chance.”

On Monday, LaFleur saw the silver lining in that “a lot of this stuff is correctible” so long as “our players are urgent” in taking the proper steps.

Rodgers was optimistic, too, but for a different reason.

“If it had been a quiet locker room and we just kind of moseyed on over to the buses and moseyed on over to the airport, you might think that guys don’t give a shit, but it definitely wasn’t that,” Rodgers told McAfee. “It definitely wasn’t that feeling at all. It was disappointment, frustration. Guys care, because they put in the time, emotion, and that’s what you want to see. Now, we’ve just got to find a way to get one win and then start stacking from there.”