The Green Bay Packers fell to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game after a collapse of Biblical proportions, but that did not stop people from marveling at what Aaron Rodgers can do on the field.
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Rodgers entered the game with a calf injury that had been lingering for weeks, and it was unknown how effective he would be during the game. All he did was have a stellar performance despite his pedestrian statistics, putting the Packers in position to win were it not for some terrible game management by head coach Mike McCarthy.
Some Seahawks players had questioned the injury leading up to the game, but star safety Earl Thomas changed his tune afterward, according to SportsGrid.
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Thomas took to his blog to praise Rodgers, and here is what he wrote:
"Right from the start, the Packers did a great job of keeping us off rhythm, especially Aaron Rodgers. I have to give Rodgers a lot of credit. Going into the game, after watching the tape of their game against Dallas, I honestly didn't think he was that injured. I was preparing for the real Aaron Rodgers, not the hurt Aaron Rodgers."
He continued: "But that guy was really hurt out there. Going against him in the game, I could tell immediately that he was really in pain. And it sounds funny, but that actually caught me off-guard. Now that I'm dealing with an injury of my own, I have even more respect for him and what he did. A tremendous amount of respect."
Thomas continued to praise Rodgers' performance on his blog.
"He used a lot of quick-strike plays against us, and he attacked certain spots on the football field," he wrote. "It played to his advantage that they were playing an aggressive team like us. We were flying all around, but he was moving so slow and smooth. His focus was on point. I think that gave him an edge in the game."
He added: "He also used his cadence to disrupt our rhythm. He was double counting, triple counting and the ball wasn't getting snapped until two seconds were left on the play clock. They did a great job of controlling the game in that aspect. When you talk about a football game, the game is always won up front. We have a great secondary, but our front allows us to have a lot of leeway, and all of us were just off rhythm early on."
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