| Larry Labelle. 15th August, 2008 - 4:47 pm
 For the first time in nearly sixteen years, a quarterback other than Brett Favre trotted out on to historic Lambeau field to start a football game recently.
Clipboard veteran Aaron Rodgers officially took over the reigns as the Green Bay Packers’ starting quarterback after seeing the famed Favre shipped out of town.
Even though it’s just the preseason, the outcome of the game may become a familiar one for residents of Wisconsin.
Packers’ management seems to still be patting themselves on the back for their ‘best case scenario’ trade, sending Brett not only out of the NFC North, but out the NFC all together. The only way the two teams will meet would be in the Super Bowl, something of utmost importance to Green Bay.
A preseason loss by three shouldn’t be a big deal, right? Well, it's not, but it might be a sign of things to come.
While the Packers are one of the youngest teams in the league, it was their veterans that were the true difference-makers last year in what seemed to be a magical 13-3 season.
Not including Favre, last year’s runner-up in the MVP voting, the team received key contributions from the likes of Donald Driver, Aaron Kampman, Charles Woodson, and Al Harris.
This team was built to win now. Now it’s built to win later, which could turn into much later if Rodgers doesn’t perform well.
Favre’s departure won’t just affect the quarterback position; it will affect the entire squad.
Driver leads an impressive receiver corps featuring young up-and-comers Greg Jennings and James Jones, with all three enjoying success last year.
But, how much of that success was thanks to Favre?
Let’s relate this to basketball. We really might have a Jason Kidd/Steve Nash situation going on in Green Bay. With these guys on the floor, everyone else is better.
Ask Kenyon Martin how he’s doing in Denver since leaving Kidd in New Jersey, or Vince Carter why he had his lowest scoring average as a Net after Kidd was shipped to Dallas.
Ask Shawn Marion how fun it was having Chris Quinn throwing him the rock instead of Nash, a two-time MVP. In case you were wondering, Marion had his lowest scoring total since his rookie season with the Heat.
The Packers’ receivers were good last year, sometimes even great. But how are they going to look with #12 throwing them the ball as opposed to #4? My guess is – not as good.
Unfortunately, the question marks don’t end there.
Green Bay is now paper-thin at quarterback. Not one of their three signal-callers has even started a regular season game in the NFL. If Rodgers suffers any injury that will cause him to miss games – and his injurious past isn’t exactly squeaky clean – the Packers will fall into emergency mode. Brian Brohm may have been one of the steals in the draft, but he can’t be expected to become a major contributor in his rookie season.
The running game has its own question marks, as well.
Training camp holdout Ryan Grant has reportedly injured his hamstring, and while the team says it’s minor, they can’t feel too good about a nagging injury like that after he already missed time because of his contract dispute. What kind of shape will Grant be in come September?
Regardless of whom their running back was, Green Bay backs that enjoyed their time here during the Favre era had the luxury of facing defenses that were focused on Favre’s cannon right arm, not stopping the run.
The Packers should see defenses lining up with eight defenders in the box more than they ever have – and until Rodgers proves himself – it’s going to be a long year for the rushing attack.
Shifting to the other side of the ball, head coach Mike McCarthy has said that he wants to focus on defense more this year to help win games.
The Packers traded one of their better defensive-line performers in Corey Williams to the Browns, and they also drafted injury-machine Justin Harrell.
Pro Bowler Aaron Kampman and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila are 28 and 30, respectively, and starting to get a little old for trench warfare. Kampman still has a few good years left in him, but that’s the problem. It’s going to take this team at least a of couple years to get back to Super Bowl status.
It doesn’t matter if Rodgers spent three years or thirteen years behind Favre. You can watch all the film and practice all you want, but there is no replacement for being out there on the NFL gridiron. As highly touted as Rodgers has been, he’s going to need a few seasons under his belt before this team can be serious about making a serious playoff run, and that will be too late for some of this team’s savvy veterans.
Charles Woodson and Al Harris are widely considered one of the top corner tandems in the league, but at the age of 31 and 33 respectively, they won’t be a top tandem for much longer.
When Rodgers is truly ready to lead this team, he will probably be without a lot of these key veterans, and the ones he has are going to be past their primes.
With Favre, the window for this team to win a Super Bowl was wide open.
With Rodgers, it’s been slammed shut. |
