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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633195509 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 12/01/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 128 |
| File size: | 46 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Aaron Rodgers
Titletown MVP
By Rob Reischel
Triumph Books LLC
Copyright © 2015 Rob ReischelAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63319-550-9
CHAPTER 1
A Dream Come True
Aaron Rodgers ducked under center Scott Wells, took the final snap of the 2010 season, and touched his left knee to the ground. Rodgers put the ball in his left hand, took off his helmet, and was then embraced by teammates from every angle. As confetti fell from Cowboys Stadium like snow on a Wisconsin winter day, Rodgers made his way to a football-shaped podium in the center of the field. There, America's newest "Golden Boy" hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy and was given his signature title belt by teammate Clay Matthews.
The Green Bay Packers were NFL champions once again, following their thrilling 31–25 win over Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl XLV. And Rodgers — who was named the game's Most Valuable Player — was the biggest reason why Green Bay could be called Titletown once again.
"It is a dream come true," Rodgers said that night. "It's what I dreamt about as a little kid watching Joe Montana and Steve Young, and we just won the Super Bowl."
Rodgers had just finished a Super Bowl performance — and a playoff run — that rivaled any the NFL has ever seen. He carved up a Pittsburgh defense that was allowing an NFL-best 14.5 points per game by throwing three touchdown passes and completing 24-of-39 passes for 304 yards. He then joined Bart Starr as the only quarterbacks in Packers history to be named MVP of a Super Bowl. That capped a memorable postseason in which Rodgers threw for 1,094 yards and nine touchdown passes in four games. The only quarterback prior to Rodgers to throw for more than 1,000 yards and nine TDs in one postseason was Kurt Warner.
Rodgers led the Packers to three road wins and helped Green Bay become the first No. 6 seed from the NFC to ever reach a Super Bowl. Then, Packers head coach Mike McCarthy put the entire offense on Rodgers' shoulders in the title game, and he was the No. 1 reason Green Bay defeated the vaunted Steelers. Thanks to one magical postseason run, the names Brady, Manning, and Brees were no longer alone when discussing the NFL's top quarterback. Rodgers was now part of the discussion.
"I think it tells the world that Aaron is for real," Wells said afterward. "There were a lot of questions this postseason coming from the exterior, outside of our own locker room. We always had confidence in him and what he's been able to do. He's our guy, we love him, and I think this man has silenced some of the doubters out there."
Rodgers has faced doubters every step of his remarkable journey. And it could be argued that of the 31 quarterbacks that have won Super Bowls, Rodgers overcame the most obstacles and longest odds to reach football's pinnacle. Undersized in high school, Rodgers didn't receive a single NCAA Division I scholarship offer. He went the junior college route, before University of California coach Jeff Tedford discovered him.
Rodgers waited, waited, and waited some more during the 2005 NFL Draft before the Packers finally took him with the 24 overall pick. Then Rodgers played the waiting game for three years while he sat behind Packers icon Brett Favre.
"He has had a hard road for no reason," Packers wideout Jordy Nelson said. "He was behind Brett. Give him credit for learning and not just sitting there and waiting for Brett to be done. He went about and perfected his game. He stepped up, and you see where we are now."
It's unlikely the Packers would have been in this position had they caved in to the indecisive Favre during the wild, wacky summer of 2008. Favre had retired that March, then changed his mind and wanted to return. But the Packers believed they had something special with Rodgers and made the controversial move of trading Favre, a sure-fire, first-ballot Hall of Famer. Three years later, Rodgers made general manager Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy look like geniuses when he vanquished the ghost of Favre.
"I've never felt like there's been a monkey on my back," Rodgers said. "The organization stood behind me, believed in me. I told Ted back in 2005 he wouldn't be sorry with this pick. I told him in '08 that I was going to repay their trust and get us this opportunity."
As unlikely as Rodgers' story is, the tale of the 2010 Green Bay Packers was equally improbable.
Ravaged by injuries unlike any Green Bay team in more than three decades, the 2010 Packers were a constant work in progress. By the time the regular season ended, 15 players had gone to the injured reserve list, and eight of those started at least one game.
"We've had some adversity," Matthews said. "We've had to fight through it all season. We had some key contributors go down. The young guys stepped up. The playmakers on this team continued to take their game to a whole other level."
There were plenty of potholes, though. Green Bay lost consecutive overtime games in mid-October and found itself a disappointing 3–3. But a four-game winning streak — highlighted by a pair of victories over Favre and the Minnesota Vikings — got the season steered back in the right direction.
Just when it appeared Green Bay had battled through its injury woes, Rodgers suffered a concussion in the second quarter of a Week 14 game in Detroit. Rodgers missed the rest of that game and the following week in New England. The Packers lost both of those contests and were just 8–6 with two games remaining.
"Those last couple of games of the regular season, we had to win those games," cornerback Charles Woodson said. "It felt like a playoff game for us."
And Green Bay played that way, too. Rodgers had arguably the finest performance of his career during a 45–17 destruction of the visiting New York Giants. Then in the regular season finale, Rodgers and the Packers rallied past a Chicago team trying to knock Green Bay out of the postseason. The Packers were into the tournament, but they had to do something no NFC team had ever accomplished: reach the Super Bowl as a No. 6 seed.
"We always believe. We know who we are," said linebacker Desmond Bishop, Rodgers' teammate at Cal. "We know the talent we have on this team. And, we just had to figure out a way to put it all together. When we won our last two games, it all clicked. Relentless pursuit of perfection and we found greatness."
They sure did, and so did their 27-year-old quarterback.
A quarterback's reputation is built by what he does in the playoffs, and that's why Rodgers' stock was sky high following the 2010 postseason.
First, he led the Packers to three straight road wins to capture the NFC Championship. Then, Green Bay knocked off a Pittsburgh team that had won two of the last four Super Bowls. Suddenly, talk of Rodgers not being able to win a big game seemed laughable.
"One thing, that guy is a true leader," wideout Donald Driver said. "He goes out week in and week out and proves people wrong. He proved it once again, and he can now say that he is one of the best quarterbacks in this game."
There would be few arguments after what Rodgers did in the 2010 postseason.
First, he carved up a Philadelphia defense by throwing three TDs and outplaying Michael Vick during a Wild Card win over the Eagles. It was Green Bay's first playoff win ever in Philadelphia. Then it was on to Atlanta where Rodgers had a performance for the ages. Three TD passes. A ridiculous passer rating of 136.8. A completion percentage of 86.1 percent. And zero Packers punts. Green Bay trampled the NFC's top seed 48–21, and Rodgers was becoming one of football's hottest names.
"He was on fire," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said of Rodgers. "He likes playing in domes, and you can see why."
Rodgers and Green Bay's offense weren't as sharp during a 21–14 win over Chicago in the NFC Championship Game. But the Packers were good enough to beat their oldest rival in the 182nd — and most important — meeting in this remarkable series.
For the first time in 13 years, Green Bay had won the NFC and would play for an NFL championship.
"It's an unbelievable feeling," said rookie cornerback Sam Shields, who had two interceptions against the Bears, including one in the closing moments. "There are a lot of guys that waited a long, long time for this."
Rodgers' wait to reach football's grandest stage wasn't necessarily lengthy, but it was filled with far more questions than most Super Bowl quarterbacks are ever presented. Would a scholarship offer ever come around? Why did 21 teams — including Dallas and Minnesota twice — pass on Rodgers during the 2005 NFL Draft? Would Favre ever leave? And finally, could Rodgers adequately replace one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and win over a fan base?
"I think he's a very mature young man," Thompson said of Rodgers. "In some ways sitting for three years and then playing is helpful. That's the way it was back in the day. You always brought quarterbacks in, and you developed them for about two or three years before you actually played them. That's hard to do anymore. I think that was helpful. He was able to sit back, watch, listen, and learn. Like I said, he's a very good quarterback, and I think the best is yet to come."
Thompson was right. The best came in the 45 Super Bowl, where Rodgers had the weight of the offense on his shoulders and delivered with an unforgettable night.
"He is the reason they won," Steelers defensive lineman Brett Kiesel said of Rodgers.
Indeed. Never forget, this was football's best defense Rodgers was dissecting. The Steelers simply didn't allow teams to run the ball. And if you became one-dimensional, Pittsburgh pass rushers like James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley began licking their chops.
Rodgers never blinked, though. He made quick decisions, was remarkably accurate, and showed courage against the rush as Green Bay threw the ball on 39 of its 52 offensive plays (75 percent).
"He played a great game," Packers left tackle Chad Clifton said. "He made a lot of plays out there today from inside the pocket and outside the pocket. He is a phenomenal quarterback."
Afterward, the Packers were NFL champions for a league-high 13th time. And Rodgers was not only a Super Bowl champion, but an MVP as well. Every question had been answered. His wait was officially over.
"It's a special honor to be one of the leaders of this football team," Rodgers said. "I've said it once, and I'll say it again: no one person has ever won a game by themselves. This is a team effort and a great group of men. Special guys, and I'm just blessed to be one of the leaders on this team.
"Individually, it's the top of the mountain in my sport, my profession. It's what you dream about as a kid and think about in high school, junior college, D-I: getting this opportunity and what would you do? I'm fortunate and blessed to play for a team that believes in us. At the same time, I wanted to make sure I was the most prepared guy on the field to have this type of performance."
Rodgers most certainly was. In many ways, though, he had been preparing his whole life.
CHAPTER 2The Pride Of Chico, California
Football was always king to Aaron Rodgers. From his days at Whitford Middle School in Beaverton, Oregon, through a terrific career at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, California, Rodgers always dreamed about playing in the NFL. He lived and died with the home state San Francisco 49ers. He even wore a Joe Montana T-shirt under his uniform as he got older.
Just one problem: when Rodgers entered high school, he was a scrawny 5920, 130 pounds.
"He was little," said Ron Souza, Rodgers' quarterbacks coach at Pleasant Valley. "But he was very gifted for a little guy. He had excellent mechanics and always had a great understanding of football. Watching film, his readiness to learn, the whole mental part he was terrific at. And then he started growing."
Rodgers, the middle of three boys, was a late bloomer. By the time his senior season started, though, he was 69, 180 pounds and still growing.
Rodgers lit it up his last two years at Pleasant Valley, throwing for more than 4,400 total yards during his junior and senior seasons combined. He also set school records for touchdown passes in a game (six), all-purpose yards (440), and twice was an all-section choice.
But Rodgers was far from a household name. And Chico, located 90 miles north of Sacramento, is hidden away in the Northern Sacramento Valley. So when Rodgers' senior season ended, not a single Division I school offered him a scholarship.
"We just don't get a lot of exposure up there because maybe a lot of the coaches and players don't understand how to get the most exposure for your players," Rodgers said. "For me, I didn't go to any Nike camps, didn't get my name out there.
"We're north of Sacramento, and we just don't produce a lot of top athletes. You look at my high school team, and we had three guys who went on to play football ... so it's not like we've got a hot-bed of Division I athletes over there. So a lot of times when one does come along they get overlooked."
Rodgers, a terrific student, thought long and hard about giving up football — and going to college as strictly a student.
"There was a time I thought about that, for sure," Rodgers said. "I had finished my senior year of football, I wasn't playing basketball. It was January, and I was working out and stuff and meeting with a couple of coaches. The reality was sinking in that, 'Hey, you're not going to get a scholarship.' So now I had some choices to make."
But Craig Rigsbee, the head coach at nearby Butte College back then and its athletics director today, threw Rodgers a lifeline. And today, all of Packer Nation should be grateful.
Rigsbee had watched Rodgers in a passing league the previous summer and liked what he saw. Butte, a junior college of 5,600 full-time students, was located just 15 miles outside of Chico. Rigsbee had turned the Roadrunners into a national power and thought Rodgers could be his next great quarterback.
There was just one problem: Darla Rodgers.
"I lived one cul-de-sac away from his family, so in January [of Rodgers' senior year] I walked over there one night," Rigsbee said. "Right away his mom, Darla, said, 'No kid of mine is going to a J.C.'"
You can see why Darla Rodgers felt that way. Aaron Rodgers had a 3.5 grade-point average, extremely high test scores, and could certainly qualify at many high-level academic institutions.
But as Rigsbee continued talking, the Rodgers family became believers.
"Initially, my Mom didn't want me there," Rodgers said of Butte College. "My Dad had gone to a few Butte games, and it was a wild bunch. So she didn't think that was a good spot for me. But Coach Rigsbee is like a big brother still. He's one of the greatest guys I know. He's done so much for so many guys at Butte College. Once he came over, he's a heck of a recruiter. It was a no-brainer. That's where I wanted to go.
"I remember one question that kind of sealed it for me. I said, 'Coach, if I have one good year, would you be willing to allow me to leave? And he said, 'For sure. I don't want to get in the way of you fulfilling your dreams. But you've got to win the starting job first.' So I went out there and won the job."
Butte had a returning quarterback named Brian Botts who was in his third year with the program. Botts had paid his dues, and most figured he would play in front of Rodgers. Rigsbee was extremely impressed with both players during practices that summer. But Rigsbee kept coming back to one play, more than any other.
"By the time [Aaron] got to us, he had grown another inch and was maybe 195," Rigsbee said. "And on about the second day of practice, he threw a 50-yard dart back to the left. I turned to my assistants and said, 'Did you guys just see that?'"
Still, not everyone was convinced. At the end of camp, Rigsbee solicited the opinions of his assistant coaches on what to do at quarterback.
"Every guy on the staff said they'd go with [Botts]," Rigsbee said. "Finally I said, 'This is why I'm the head coach. We're going with Aaron.' The kid had been here two weeks, and he was already better than the kid that was here three years. And I said after a game or two, he's going to be 100 times better."
Botts left the program after two games. Rodgers led the Roadrunners to a 10–1 record, a No. 2 national ranking, and a NorCal Conference championship. Rodgers threw for more than 2,400 yards, 28 TDs, and just four interceptions. Perhaps most importantly, though, Rodgers learned how to lead.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Aaron Rodgers by Rob Reischel. Copyright © 2015 Rob Reischel. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Preface,1. A Dream Come True,
2. The Pride Of Chico, California,
3. Combine Highs, Draft-Day Lows,
4. The Understudy Years,
5. A Messy Transition,
6. A New Starter In Green Bay,
7. 2009: Moving Toward The Top,
8. 2010: Regular Season Roller-Coaster,
9. Return To The Playoffs,
10. Champions Of The Football World,
11. 2011: History And Heartbreak,
12. 2012: Falling Short Of The Goal,
13. 2013: A Memorable Comeback,
14. 2014: One Step Closer,