Aaron Rodgers’ Hamstring Injury: ‘So far, so good’

Aaron Rodgers caused the Green Bay Packers faithful to hold their collective breath on Sunday night against the New Orleans Saints, as he appeared to favour his left hamstring following a scramble to the right sideline.  Rodgers finished the game, but did not look like the same Quarterback the rest of the way.  Initial reports are encouraging, however, and suggest that Aaron Rodgers is not in danger of missing any time.

In the Packers’ 44-23 loss, Drew Brees was able to pick apart Green Bay’s pass defence, but Aaron Rodgers’ red zone offence failed to capitalize on numerous opportunities.

Prior to the injury, Rodgers was well on his way to another near-perfect passer rating and extending his streak of consecutive passes without an interception.  The Packers QB had completed 14/19 passes for 298 yards and 2TD to begin the game.

After coming up limp on the scramble, Rodgers would struggle, going 14/20 for 120 yards and 2INT’s.  These interceptions were off the hands of receivers, just as his first interception in Week 1 against Seattle, but they came at devastating times for the Packers.

Rodgers refused to blame the injury for his performance following the game, and seemed to downplay it’s severity.  “I’m not going to miss any time,” Rodgers insisted.  “If I felt it, then I had to back off a little bit.  We had to do a little more in the shotgun but it wasn’t a big deal, ultimately”.

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Jason Wilde of ESPN Wisconsin also reports that the apparent injury to Aaron Rodgers did have an impact on the way that Head Coach Mike McCarthy called the plays for the remainder of the game.  “I think it was obvious just the way we played from that point on.  We kept him in the ‘gun, and really our whole play-action and QB-movement package was gone,” McCarthy said following the loss.

The Green Bay Packers have historically been cautious when dealing with injuries, so don’t expect to see Aaron Rodgers too far outside the pocket until this issue is completely behind him.  Mike McCarthy will be, and should be, thinking long-term.  It will be worth keeping an eye on Rodgers’ listed status on next week’s injury report, but at this point, that status is not at all in doubt going forward.

The real issue will be if Rodgers’ limited mobility causes the Packers to shrink their playbook for one or more games, which will eliminate one of their offence’s most unique features and allow opposing defenders to give a greater focus to the pass.  This became noticeable late in the game against the Saints, as their secondary was able to put a cap on Jordy Nelson and the deep passing game that Green Bay so heavily relies on.

Thankfully for Green Bay, they are entering their bye week.  Aaron Rodgers will not take the field again until November 6th, when the Chicago Bears travel to Lambeau Field for Sunday Night Football.  The Packers have several key players battling injuries who could benefit from the time off, including G T.J. Lang and CB Sam Shields.  Assuming it just is a small hamstring tweak, this time off should give Aaron Rodgers exactly what he needs:

R-E-S-T.  Rest.