NFL Spin Zone
Fansided

Green Bay Packers: Aaron Rodgers grades out…negative?!

By Keegan Matheson

facebooktwitterreddit

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers enjoyed one of the strongest statistical performances of his career on Monday Night Football, putting up 333 yards and five touchdowns on the Kansas City Chiefs. Not everybody is on board, though, with Pro Football Focus handing Rodgers an overall grade of -0.8. Seriously.

Trending now on Spin Zone: The Week 3 NFL Power Rankings

To put that into context, Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was handed an equal grade for his performance on Sunday. Bridgewater went 13-for-24, throwing for 121 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception.

More from Green Bay Packers

In an explanation (err…defense) of the grade given to Rodgers, Pro Football Focus works to highlight the mistakes Rodgers made en route to collecting those gaudy statistics which  “inflate the perception of a solid performance.” While Rodgers received positive grades for his touchdown passes to Ty Montgomery and James Jones, and rightfully so, he received zero grades for his three touchdown passes to Randall Cobb.

“They were expected throws with the credit going to Cobb for fighting through contact or defeating the coverage with speed to the edge,” the article explains. It then focuses on two plays “you aren’t likely to see mentioned anywhere else today” (oh, swoon) in which Rodgers graded out negatively.

Those two plays came on a fumble midway through the second quarter which was negated on a penalty flag, although that latter detail obviously shouldn’t factor in. A negative play by all means, as despite his elite pocket awareness, Rodgers has displayed a penchant for holding on to the football for a long time. The second negative came early in the third quarter, where Rodgers was nearly intercepted by Josh Mauga. Again, completely legitimate.

Rodgers’ inability to make up for these shortcomings with positive plays is due to the opinion that he allowed Cobb to do much of the work for him on easy throws, while all the while not factoring in the value of four penalties caused by Rodgers’ pre-snap work at the line. “Rodgers did his job last night, but his job was executing simple throws, putting the ball quickly in the hands of receivers like Randall Cobb in favorable matchups on short throws, and allowing others to do the heavy lifting.”

The Green Bay Packers offensive line, especially the edge protection from Don Barclay and David Bakhtiari, has been scary. Rodgers has covered these flaws well, largely due to his ability to read blitzes, put receivers into advantageous matchups and release the football quickly. Unfortunately, those abilities don’t factor in to this grade, as it does not qualify  “intangibles, or what comes pre-snap.” Which leaves me to wonder: why should we care about quarterback grades at all?

Much like advanced statistics in baseball, it’s important to remain cognizant of the fact that there’s a line which numbers cannot cross. In the great quest to measure every facet of sports, largely led by the popularity of fantasy football, we too often leave the eyeballs and brain on the outside of the conversation looking in.

Grading a quarterback without being able to factor in their pre-snap work and mental decisions is like grading a singer for reading their lyrics correctly. Bridgewater and Rodgers both read their lyrics at the same level on Sunday, but Bridgewater sang like me, and Rodgers sang like Whitney Houston.

Next: Week 3 Awards feature a negatively-graded MVP!

More from NFL Spin Zone

Home/Green Bay Packers