The Green Bay Packers are going through a rough patch right now. They’ve dropped three consecutive games and could make it four when they face Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills for Sunday Night Football.
But more than that, Aaron Rodgers hasn’t held back when talking about his teammates. He’s blamed nearly everybody on the team for their shortcomings, even stating that some of them should be benched.
So, when asked about it, the reigning NFL MVP went on for nearly 15 minutes about how he’ll continue to hold everybody accountable. Per the Packers star, it’s not like he’s saying anything he hasn’t told them in private.
NFL News: Aaron Rodgers Explains Why He Rips His Teammates In Public
(via ProFootballTalk)
“I did do it privately,” Rodgers said. “I’m not saying anything [publicly] that I’m not saying to those guys. So, maybe that’s talking about a conversation that’s behind closed doors in public, but the level of accountability is the standard here. Again, I don’t think it should be a problem to any of those guys to hear criticism. We all hear criticism in our own ways, and we’ve all got to be OK with it and take it in and process it. And if it doesn’t fit, then it doesn’t fit. But if it fits, we’ve got to wear it and improve on those certain things.
“I’m not going to be a robot up here. I don’t understand why people have a problem with things that are truthful. You know, I’m calling things the way I see it. If people don’t think I need to air that stuff out, that’s their opinion. But I’m doing what I think is in the best interests of our guys, and I’ve tried a lot of different things from a leadership standpoint this year. And I was relating my personal feelings on the situation. I didn’t call anybody out by name.
“I think we all need to be on the details. And that includes me. If I need to have, you know, one-on-one extra conversations with those guys during the week, then I’m gonna do that. And we have done that to an extent. But, you know, I’m not just putting one or two guys on blast. I’m alerting everybody that this hasn’t been good enough, and we’ve all got to do a little better job. You know, if one of those guys has a problem with it, I’m right here. I’d love to have a conversation. I enjoy those conversations. You know? I enjoy any type of conflict like that, because I know the resolution on the other side’s gonna make us a better unit, better friendship, better cohesion on the field. But nobody’s come to me and said, ‘I’ve got a problem with what you said.’ I think everybody knows, Matt [LaFleur] includes, that everything’s got to take a little uptick, get a little better.”
Well,Rodgers has certainly earned his stripes in this league. But then again, that may not be the best way to lead a team over the hump, especially if they seemingly lack the personnel to turn things around.
