Packers Game Ball Of The Week: Aaron Rodgers

In our post-game poll, Aaron Rodgers ran away with the game ball of the week for the Green Bay Packers. Earlier today, I pointed out a post from Football Outsiders that was not very impressed with his game against the 49ers. Their stats frowned on his lackluster first quarter, which included a weak intentional grounding penalty. They also dinged him for four sacks. 

But they did give him credit for four big plays that went for over 200 yards. All four either were touchdowns (to WR Greg Jennings and WR Donald Driver) or set up a touchdown. While he did drop back 30 other times that totaled less then 100 yards, he should get more credit for a big play that puts points on the board. 

I watched much of the Bears at Lions and saw Lions 3rd QB Drew Stanton, who was surprisingly ranked one spot ahead of Rodgers by Football Outsiders for last week's game. He threw a lot of short stuff that became big plays by his receivers, most notably WR Calvin Johnson's 46 yard touchdown late in the first half on a short slant route. The Bears defense is designed to give up that short stuff (they do expect better tackling so it doesn't become a big play), and that's what they gave him. I would have never come away from watching those two games thinking Stanton was better than Rodgers. We will get to see this epic quarterback battle live next week, as Rodgers looks to outplay Stanton next week in Detroit.