Packers head coach Mike McCarthy thinks it's ridiculous when people scrutinize quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He said as much last month.
As it turns out, Aaron Rodgers thinks it's ridiculous when people scrutinize Mike McCarthy, too.
"I think it's ridiculous," Rodgers said Wednesday, via PackersNews.com. "I think people don't understand how difficult it is to win in this league and win consistently. The success that we've had here, it's tough to do. We've set the standard pretty high. But I wouldn't listen to some of those people out there. I mean they're not in this locker room, they're not in the meeting rooms, they're not in the practice environments. They don't know what's going on, they don't know the type of work ethic that we have here and that Mike has here."
Not that Rodgers cares at this point, but the whole you're not here/you don't play so you don't know defense is wearing pretty thin. This is especially true when the quarterback himself comes out with some veiled comments about the head coach after big losses, then walks them back before the eyes of an increasingly skeptical public.
Those of us who don't play or coach, however, are probably unaware of the heightened level of annoyance the scrutiny takes on when a team is losing like the Packers currently are. Football teams lose games for hundreds of reasons every week and sometimes, in the middle of a dominant stretch of football, a good team just doesn't play up to their standards. Green Bay has made the playoffs every year since 2007 save for the 6-10 season back in 2008.
Green Bay was hoping that track record bought the team some equity as it tries to limp through a season without a real starting running back and without the services of their best defensive player, Clay Matthews, for an extended period. Those betting against Rodgers momentarily silencing critics with an emphatic performance this weekend against the Redskins (5-3-1) are foolish. Even under these circumstances, he's still one of the most gifted quarterbacks in football -- good enough to dictate who is being ridiculous and who isn't.