Reviewing Aaron Rodgers' Season

Hello, fellow Green Bay Packers fans! I have been a Packer fan since birth (twenty-six years now), and just wanted to share my personal review of Aaron Rodgers' first season as starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers chose to pull the trigger and make an earth-shattering move in trading Brett Favre and naming Aaron Rodgers the new starting quarterback. This generated extensive controversy, and now that the NFL regular season has ended, just how did Aaron Rodgers perform?

Rodgers started off hot, and so did the Green Bay defense, in winning the season opener against a solid opponent in the Minnesota Vikings. The Green Bay defense began the season returning several turnovers for touchdowns, and the beginning of the season culminated in the domination of the Indianapolis Colts 34-13. Things started off brightly for Rodgers as well, as he was one of the higher-rated quarterbacks in the NFL. The toughest game for Rodgers was against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who forced Rodgers to throw 3 interceptions in a Green Bay loss.

The Packers entered the bye week hurting from some injuries, which seemed as though they would be healed, with a 4-3 record, which seemed to be about on par with expectations.

However, coming off from the bye week, the Packers began their downhill slide. Several games in a row, the Packers were trailing by less than a touchdown in the fourth quarter, and Rodgers seemed to find a way to throw an interception or turn the ball over, resulting in several close losses for the Packers. The Packers finished the season 6-10, finishing well below fan expectations.

But, Rodgers had a successful season, and here is why: he threw 28 touchdown passes compared to just 13 interceptions, ran for three more, and committed just three fumbles. The total ration was 31 touchdowns to 16 turnovers, a nearly 2:1 ratio, which is excellent by NFL standards. Favre was again near the league lead in interceptions, with 22, and many of his teammates and fans believe that he is almost single-handedly responsible for the Jets' failure to make the playoffs. Rodgers also finished the season with more than 4,000 yards passing.

While Rodgers did play a hand in losing some of the games, he is a first-year started, and had an excellent first year judged by anyone's standards. Combine this with the fact that the Packers played one of the NFL's tougher schedules and that they were hit by the injury bug, and it becomes clear that Rodgers had a very solid first campaign.

The bottom line is that Rodgers made some mistakes, which are to be expected of all first-year players. However, he has showed that he is more than capable of becoming a legitimate NFL starting quarterback, which is what the Packers were looking for. Overall, he gets a grade of B+ in my book.