Despite leading his team to the Super Bowl in 2010, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers sure has been the subject of a lot of criticism recently from his former teammates, but now knows that at least one ex-Packer has his back.
Charles Woodson, now a defensive back for the Oakland Raiders, spoke up in defense of Rodgers, who was recently criticized by former Packers wide receivers Greg Jennings and Donald Driver, though Driver noted that his words were taken out of context.
Woodson was surprised to hear of the verbal jabs surrounding the Packers quarterback.
"I would say this: There's been times throughout my career there when defensively we put a piss-poor product on the field, and we've been in games and won ballgames solely on the arm of Aaron Rodgers and the legs of Aaron Rodgers and what he's been able to do throwing a ball to a Greg, a Donald, a Jermichael," Woodson said per ESPNWisconsin.com. "A couple years ago, we were 15-1, and if we have any other quarterback other than Aaron Rodgers, we're 7-9."
While Woodson was quick to jump to the defense of Rodgers, he's been the suspect of much criticism this offseason, despite leading the Packers to a Super Bowl championship in 2010, a 15-1 record in 2011 and leading the team to an 11-5 record last season and a second-straight division title as well as a playoff win.
Jennings, who signed a $47.5 million contract with $18 million guaranteed with the Packers NFC North rival Minnesota Vikings this past offseason, was very critical about his ex-signal caller in an interview last month.
"Don't get me wrong, '12' is a great person. But when you hear all positives, all positives, all positives all the time, it's hard for you to sit down when one of your teammates says, 'Man, come on, you've got to hold yourself accountable for this.' It's hard for someone to see that now because all they've heard is I'm doing it the right way. I'm perfect. In actuality, we all have flaws," Jennings told the Minneapolis Star Tribune last month about Rodgers.
Following that controversy, Driver, who retired in January after a 14-year career all spent with the Packers, appeared on ESPN radio and was asked to talk about the feud between Jennings and Rodgers, which Driver said wasn't an obvious rivalry when all three were teammates.
Driver appeared to question the leadership of Rodgers during the interview.
"We've always said that the quarterback is the one that needs to take the pressure off everyone else. If a guy runs the wrong route, it's easy for the quarterback to say, 'Hey, I told him to run that route' than for the guy to be like, 'Well, I ran the wrong route,'" Driver said according to ESPN. "Sometimes you ask Aaron to take the pressure off the guys so we won't look bad, but he didn't want to do that. He felt like if you did something bad, you do it. But I think that's the difference. You want that leadership, and I think sometimes you may not feel like you got it. You have to earn that respect at the end of the day, and I think that's what Greg was probably referring to."
The interview wasn't all bad, as Driver also said that Rodgers was a "nice guy" and that he "respected" that about him. Driver also insisted that the words, which seem to question Rodgers leadership, were taken out of context.
Still, Woodson ponders where the questioning of Rodger's leadership is coming from.
"I didn't understand that part, either," Woodson said about Rodger's leadership coming into question, according to ESPNWisconsin.com. "There's no question in my mind that A-Rod's the leader of that team and he does a great job. Maybe he thought he had some friends where he doesn't have some friends. Now that those guys are gone, they're voicing this. I don't know how that's fair."
In 16 games last year, Rodgers went 371-for-552 for 4,295 yards with 39 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Rodgers, who hasn't thrown a touchdown pass yet through two preseason games, currently has a 35-game regular-season streak of throwing at least one touchdown stretching from 2008-12, which is the second-longest streak in NFL history.
Still, even with a Super Bowl ring, even with the second longest touchdown streak, Rodgers remains criticized by his former teammates.
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