<\/p>\n
The NFL\u2019s best defensive player is on the Vikings, and it\u2019s not Jared Allen.\u00a0 <\/span>No, the NFL\u2019s true leader in sacks blows away The Mullet\u2019s measly 10.\u00a0 <\/span>The NFL\u2019s best sack artist?\u00a0 <\/span>Brett Favre. His 43 takedowns are even more impressive because all of them are mental.\u00a0 <\/span>Aaron Rodgers has been sacked more times than anyone else this year.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s not even close.\u00a0 <\/span>He\u2019s been taken down 25% more than any other quarterback in the league.\u00a0 <\/span>And it\u2019s all Brett Farve\u2019s fault.<\/span><\/p>\n Ok maybe it\u2019s not all <\/em><\/span>Brett Favre\u2019s fault.\u00a0 <\/span>The Packer offensive line deserves some of the blame, and yes Aaron too deserves his fair share.\u00a0 <\/span>So it\u2019s only 1\/3 Brett Favre\u2019s fault, but with 14.3 sacks each they are now the co-leaders in the sack department. Have you ever dated a girl too soon after she had been dumped?\u00a0 <\/span>She\u2019s not really over the guy, and it\u2019s even worse if they\u2019re still coworkers.\u00a0 <\/span>She sees him everyday–he\u2019s doing really well now–and while she\u2019s probably better off without him, she can\u2019t really see that; or at least you don\u2019t feel like she sees that.\u00a0 <\/span>In fact, you really like her and want to make this work, you were going to be sure to not make the same mistakes, so you do everything you can to not be him.\u00a0 <\/span>He was loud, so you speak softly.\u00a0 <\/span>He was a risk-taker, so you are cautious.\u00a0 <\/span>But you\u2019re already naturally cautious, and the more you think about not being him, the worse it actually makes you.\u00a0 <\/span>He\u2019s in your head without ever trying to be.\u00a0 <\/span> Aaron Rodgers is getting Green Bay\u2019s sloppy seconds and it\u2019s in his head.\u00a0 <\/span>He is fighting so hard not to be Brett Favre that he\u2019s become the bizarro-Favre, I half-expect him to show up wearing number negative four next week.\u00a0 <\/span>He\u2019s already got a few things in his favor in the anti-Favre competition, namely he\u2019s from Berkeley which is about as far away from Mississippi as possible.\u00a0 <\/span>But not all of them are good things, like that cautious nature.\u00a0 <\/span>Rodgers sat behind Favre during an interesting time in the legend\u2019s career, it was when Favre was supposed to be the tail-end of his career (in the way that Look Who\u2019s Talking<\/em><\/span> was supposed to be the tail-end of John Travolta\u2019s career) and all Rodgers heard while sitting on the bench was: \u201cFavre takes too many chances\u2026\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>We all remember those years–we know the reason that #4 is in the record books for interceptions thrown.\u00a0 <\/span>And Aaron clearly internalized that- I\u2019m not going to make the same mistakes he did<\/em><\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>So now that it\u2019s his turn in the pocket, Rodgers is making sure not to make that risky throw and instead he\u2019s holding onto it too long and suddenly he\u2019s sacked. Just watch Rodgers when he drops back.\u00a0 <\/span>Watch him look at the coverage, bounce a little bit, rev up\u2026and not throw it.\u00a0 <\/span>He\u2019s not looking for how he can squeeze it in there, because that\u2019s what Brett would have done.\u00a0 <\/span>This dilemma is not new.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s what Griese dealt with in Denver, post-Elway.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s what every quarterback in Miami has dealt with since Marino.\u00a0 <\/span>In fact Montana\u2019s pocket presence is probably part of what what motivated Steve Young\u2019s scrambles.\u00a0 <\/span>Lord help the guy that has to follow Peyton Manning in Indy, what\u2019s going to do to be the anti-Manning?\u00a0 <\/span>Not think very well?\u00a0 <\/span>Maybe that\u2019s what Eli\u2019s trying.\u00a0 <\/span> But following a Hall of Famer is not the only way to screw up a QB mentally, throwing a first rounder out there too early can also hurt.\u00a0 <\/span>Vince Young needed to bottom out before he came back and just started being himself.\u00a0 <\/span>Which is something that never happened for Tim Couch, or David Carr, or the dozens of quarterbacks who became damaged goods after starting too soon.\u00a0 <\/span>Hopefully Jamarcus Russell can spend some time on the sidelines and come back better for it, maybe Mark Sanchez might need that time too.\u00a0 <\/span>Because as much as you learn from the field, you might learn more from the sidelines.\u00a0 <\/span>Of course, you can rot on the sidelines too.\u00a0 <\/span>You can pick up bad habits, especially if you\u2019re sitting behind the wrong guy.\u00a0 <\/span>But things are even more complicated in Green Bay.\u00a0 <\/span>Rodgers sat behind Favre, then had to replace him, all the while trying to figure out what kind of QB he wants to be.\u00a0 <\/span>And now, with Favre gone, but still casting a long shadow, Rodgers is just as confused.\u00a0 <\/span>And it\u2019s that confusion that\u2019s making him hold on to the ball because he doesn\u2019t want to make the same mistakes as the guy before him- which leads him to make all new mistakes.\u00a0 <\/span> Simply striving to not<\/em><\/span> be the last guy actually can sometimes be good enough.\u00a0 <\/span>Heck sometimes it can win you the Nobel Peace Prize.\u00a0 <\/span>But eventually, to really succeed, you need to not worry about the guy that came before and instead just worry about yourself.\u00a0 <\/span>Will Aaron Rodgers be able to find himself while starting in a stadium that still has a lot of #4 jerseys?\u00a0 <\/span>Is he going to know who he is when he faces his girlfriend\u2019s ex twice a year?\u00a0 <\/span>These are questions that only Aaron himself can answer, and maybe knowing (hoping?) that he\u2019ll never face Favre again makes it easier.\u00a0 <\/span>In fact he has shown improvement since that last game against the Vikings.\u00a0 <\/span>But Aaron Rodgers needs to understand that even with Favre out of Green Bay, even when he\u2019s out of the NFL entirely (assuming, you know, he ever does actually leave), that Brett will still be casting a shadow over Green Bay\u2019s QB position.\u00a0 <\/span>And hopefully that thought–that he\u2019ll never really go away–will free Aaron up, will make him realize there\u2019s nothing he can do about it.\u00a0 <\/span>And we\u2019ll know that he\u2019s learned that lesson when he can finally step forward, out of that shadow in the backfield, and just let it fly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bear with him here\u2014Leaky Pipes has a point, and you may end up agreeing with 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