It wasn’t a perfect game for Aaron Rodgers with a few throws he probably wants back, but it’s hard to nitpick a four-touchdown performance with a 73.3 completion percentage after sitting out the entirety of the preseason. There were signs of rust, but that makes his performance even more encouraging with the idea that he can get even better as the season progresses.
Dan Orlovsky saw shades of the Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers, including his last MVP season in 2021.
“Early on, you were just like, ‘Wait, is this 2021 again?’ Rodgers on the move. [He] was absolutely fantastic, and I loved the way that he navigated their offense,” Orlovsky said Monday via ESPN’s Get Up. “I thought it was the best game he’s played since he was a Green Bay Packer.”
That statement didn’t get an argument from the rest of the Get Up panelists. In fact, they all emphatically agreed. The bar for play in the post-Packers era hasn’t been high, but Orlovsky took it a step further and invoked Rodgers’ last MVP performance as a comparison. They call it overreaction Monday for a reason around the NFL.
You can break Rodgers’ abilities down into three categories—arm talent, mobility, and mental processing. The arm talent was as clear as can be with a number of pretty throws and his signature quick release on full display. Above the neck, he mostly made sharp decisions. He caught the Jets with too many men on the field, and checked out of plays at the line of scrimmage with success. Mobility was the weakest of the three, but he was far from a statue like he was at times last season.
His fourth TD pass of the day came after a bootleg to Calvin Austin III, which he delivered with perfect accuracy on the run. It showed off his mobility and arm talent very well.
“Until last night, I thought he was the best quarterback playing football yesterday in the NFL,” Orlovsky said. “I mean, he was ridiculous.”
Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen one-upped Rodgers in the evening game, but there’s a strong argument that Rodgers was the third-best quarterback yesterday. That’s exactly why the Steelers waited months for him to commit to them, and why they went all-in trying to build a competitive roster for one last good Rodgers season.
For the advanced metrics crowd, Rodgers had an impressive 8.76 adjusted net yards per passing attempt (ANY/A) in Week 1. That was all while shaking off the rust and dealing with a leaky offensive line. I got the impression that there is plenty of room to improve, and that should open a lot of eyes around the NFL.
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