Watch: Aaron Rodgers Gets Game Ball From Matt LaFleur
Who else got the game ball from coach Matt LaFleur on Sunday than quarterback Aaron Rodgers?
The two-time MVP quarterback turned in a virtuoso performance in the Green Bay Packers' 42-24 rout of Oakland. He completed 25-of-31 passes for 429 yards and five touchdowns, good for a max passer rating of 158.3. For a franchise filled with legendary quarterbacks, Rodgers was the first to obtain that passer rating.
“And the old man ran for one!” LaFleur exclaimed in the video posted by CBS, which aired the game nationally.
Rodgers final touchdown pass of the day gave him 350 for his career. He reached that milestone in his 165th career start. The previous record for most touchdowns in 165 starts was Dan Marino with 316.
In his postgame press conference, Rodgers deflected the credit.
“I think this was the most complete that I’ve played,” he said. “I felt good about the timing; there are a lot of balls thrown on time. Obviously, the line played fantastic. We’ve had seven sacks in the last six games. It’s pretty remarkable for those guys the way they’re playing. Bryan (Bulaga) and Dave (Bakhtiari) have been rocks, but the inner three have really been playing well (and) gave me a lot of clean pockets where I could just throw. And then a few times, I had to hang in there or move slightly, we were able to complete those, and then guys made plays. That’s the way we want it to look.”
With a beat-up receiver corps – Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Geronimo Allison had part-time roles after not practicing this week due to injuries – it stood to reason that LaFleur would come out with a run-first game plan. Instead, LaFleur went on the attack.
“We knew we had to be aggressive,” LaFleur said. “I thought when we watched the Raiders defense, I thought they have a really stout run defense. They tend to load the box up on you and play physical, they play downhill, and I just thought that going through the air might be the best way to attack ‘em.”
He was right. Rodgers had three touchdowns in the first half. He hadn’t thrown three touchdowns in an entire game through the first six weeks.
Here’s one more LaFleur-Rodgers video.
