1) Introduction: Be honest: Most of you skip straight to the grades portion of these player reviews and don’t bother reading the rest of it. I used to write for a video game review website so I know how you people operate. You skip straight to the final score/grade, then head to the comments section and argue with the author about why he was a half-grade off in his final evaluation. Many of you probably scrolled down and saw that I gave Aaron Rodgers an “A” instead of an “A+” for an overall grade and you’re mad. You’re thinking: Who is the clown that writes this stuff? Does he not realize that Rodgers may have turned into the best player in the league this season? What does i
t take to get an “A+” around here? It takes near perfection for an entire season to earn an “A+.” Rodgers was near perfect in the final six games. He earned his “A+” in that category. But he had moments in the season’s first half that prevented him from getting an “A+” overall. In the end, who really cares? A straight-up “A” means he was still better than just about everybody else anyway.
2) Profile:
Aaron Charles Rodgers
Position: QB
Height: 6-2 Weight: 223 lbs.
Born: December 2, 1983 in Chico, CA
College: California (school history) (Rodgers college stats)
Drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 1st round (24th overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft.
3) Expectations coming into the season for that player: Superstar. Rodgers played well all season, but he had moments early where he wasn’t quite living up to the superstar expectation level. He threw nine interceptions in the first seven games and only finished with a QB rating over 100 twice. Rodgers was learning to play without TE Jermichael Finley and RB Ryan Grant. It seemed like he was trying to carry the offense by taking more risks than he did in the past. During the season’s second half — with the exception of the Detroit game — those risks started paying off and Rodgers’ superstar status became official.
4) Player’s highlights/lowlights: All of Rodgers’ standout plays down the stretch should be fresh in everyone’s mind, so lets review some highlights from earlier in the season. Rodgers’ four TD performance against the Vikings in week 10 will always stand out. So will the 32-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings late in the third quarter against the Eagles. Finally, even though the Packers came up short, Rodgers’ late bullet to Jordy Nelson that tied the Falcons game demonstrated that Rodgers is more than capable of leading a late scoring drive. Lowlights included two bad interceptions in the first Vikings game, a terrible red-zone pick in the NFC Championship, and forgetting to slide against the Lions. Honorable mention goes to the entire Redskins game.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Team leader. The game-plan revolved around Rodgers almost every game down the stretch and he delivered each time. When you have a player that performs at a high level even when the other team game plans almost exclusively to stop him…well, there’s not much else to say is there?
6) Player’s contributions during the 6-win end-of-season run: Rodgers played the best football of his career after returning from his second concussion. He fired lasers to receivers all over the field. He scrambled away from pressure and bought himself time to make more plays. He made the easy throws, the tough throws and the throws he had no business making. He won his first playoff game and his first Super Bowl. He made the title belt celebration famous. I’d say that’s a pretty good six-game stretch, wouldn’t you?
Season Report Card:
(A) Level of expectations met during the season
(A) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(A+) Contributions to team’s success during the playoff run (last 6 games)
Overall Grade for the year: A
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Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .
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I will never give a player an A+ period.
Perfection should never be achieved in the mind of the player or the fan,as that is the only thing that prevents a faster downward spiral.
Adam sez: “Honorable mention goes to the entire Redskins game.”
I attended that game, and it was brutal to watch.
Could not have said any better-perfectly stated review.
I would say a B+. No question he had a heck of a year – but there is plenty of room to improve. We were 10-6 in the regular season and some of those losses were the result of poorly timed throws and mis-communication with receivers. You don’t go 10-6 and get an A when your the QB.
Your logic is spot on and I would agree 99.9 percent of the time. But Rodgers was so good down the stretch that I had to give him an A overall.
OK, I’ll agree, the strecth was pretty special. I’d only go to an A- though. Still too much room for improvement to earn an A.
Yea, the Redskins game was on my birthday… Almost cried when Finley got injured followed by Lee then to lose after CMIII left the game allowing McNabb to have time to find receivers…
So, Adam, you are the mfer who reviewed FFXII as a 9+ because of it’s “innovative battle mechanics”? IhateyouIhateyouIhateyoubringbackturnbasedrpgs!!!!!!!!!!!!
You all forget that he just carried the whole team on his back with out a running game and 15 others on ir he gets an a+ in my opinion