Aaron Rodgers was officially labeled questionable after two limited practices to end the week with a fracture in his wrist suffered last Sunday. If the decision were entirely up to him, he’d be playing. But one insider suggests there may be other voices in the building trying to protect him from himself.
“The simplest of putting it is, if it’s up to Aaron Rodgers, he’s 100 percent starting on Sunday against the Bears,” Tom Pelissero said via The Rich Eisen Show. “But there are other voices including the doctors who are well aware of the risks, and that’s why he was held out of the game last Sunday. We’ll probably find out in the next 24 hours or so here whether or not they are going to allow Rodgers to play.”
It wasn’t long after last week’s game that reports surfaced of Rodgers wanting to return, but being told no by the team. Curiously, the Steelers labeled him questionable at halftime, but never fully ruled him out as they normally would. Pelissero provided more details of what was going on behind the scenes.
“My understanding is part of the reason the Steelers did not simply rule him out, which they usually do, was because Aaron Rodgers was in the locker room telling the doctors, ‘I’m going back into this game.’ And they’re saying ‘No, you’re not,'” Pelissero said. “And he’s going, ‘No, I’m going back on the field.’ It was a lot of back and forth. That’s now continuing into the practice week here.”
For what it’s worth, Pelissero reported earlier this morning that Rodgers had a really good practice on Thursday. Mike Tomlin was a little more coy about the specifics, but he said Rodgers had a solid day of work on Friday before announcing he was questionable for Sunday’s game.
The risk is that a small fracture in his wrist − which does not require surgery − could sustain further damage if he lands on it the wrong way. Then an injury that can heal on its own would require surgery, and potentially hold Rodgers out for the stretch run of this season.
I commend Rodgers, who is turning 42 next month, for the toughness required to have zero doubts about risking further injury. But nobody wants to see him end his storied career on injured reserve. That’s exactly what is at risk if he does play.
If Rodgers is pushing hard behind the scenes, I have a hard time imagining Tomlin saying no. But that all depends on how much say the doctors have in the matter. The Steelers played things very cautiously with Russell Wilson’s calf injury last year, for example.
At least it sounds like we should have clarity sometime on Saturday instead of needing to wait until 90 minutes before kickoff for the gameday inactive list to surprise us all.
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