In recent years, there has been a growing sentiment that Aaron Rodgers is on the decline. Not only that, but that he isn’t anywhere close to the player he was in 2014, when he won NFL MVP.
Packers linebacker Ty Summers disagrees.
“Heck no, that dude’s made me look dumb in practice so many times, looking one way, throwing the other,” Summers said on The Zach Gelb Show. “He’ll do it and look at me and he’s like, ‘Got you, Ty.’ So I’m used to it. If people ever say that he’s declining, clearly these first three games are definitely statements.”
Rodgers has completed 67.0 percent of his passes for 887 yards, nine touchdowns and zero interceptions, leading Green Bay to a 3-0 start. The Packers traded up to select Jordan Love in the first round of the NFL Draft in April, but the rookie doesn’t figure to see the field any time soon.
“I think it kind of lit a fire under him,” Summers said, referring to the offseason doom-and-gloom surrounding Rodgers and the offense. “It kind of gave them – Rodgers, all the receivers we have – they kind of sat back, like, ‘Okay, if people are saying all this stuff, let’s prove them wrong.’ I think that’s the kind of mentality that the offense and our whole team took. I feel like people didn’t think we should have been where we were [last year], that we maybe got lucky with some of the games.
“But at the end of the day, we’re all good players and we’re all coming out here to compete and we all want to win,” Summers continued. “We work together, and we have a very good team chemistry going on here. But when it comes to the offensive side of the ball, I think those guys, like I said, had a fire lit underneath them, like, ‘Okay, we’re going to go prove them [wrong].”
The Packers are averaging a league-high 40.7 points per game. The defense, meanwhile, is allowing 28.3 points per game, which ranks 21st.
“I think we’ve definitely shown glimpses of what our potential is: forcing three-and-outs, making tackles for loss, forcing turnovers,” Summers said. “So I think that we’ve shown those glimpses, but we just need to get the consistency of actually stopping people. . . . [I’m] just making sure I focus on my job and don’t try to do too much. If I do my one-eleventh and I do it perfectly, and everyone else focuses on their one-eleventh, we’re going to be the best dang defense in the NFL. So I think it’s all about doing that, just doing our job.”
The Packers host the Falcons (0-3) on Monday Night Football on Oct. 5. Kickoff is at 8:15 p.m. ET.