Reports: Packers asking other experts to evaluate Aaron Rodgers...
Reports: Packers asking other experts to evaluate Aaron Rodgers, others weighing risk/reward of his return
NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport is reporting that the team and the QB are “at a crossroads” with the decision looming.
Rodgers could be activated this week, by NFL rule, but head coach Mike McCarthy didn’t exactly give an emphatic “YES!” when asked about a possible return.
According to the Rapoport report, there are “loud and protective voices who wonder if it’s worth putting him on the field to potentially injure himself again for a small chance at a great reward.”
Apparently the Packers team doctor sent those test results to mulitple experts for consultation, which is a common practice in Green Bay, according to the Associated Press. Here’s more from the AP report:
McKenzie will gather those recommendations, share them with Rodgers and the team’s football braintrust — coach Mike McCarthy, general manager Ted Thompson and vice president of football administration Russ Ball — and then they’ll determine how to proceed.Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr delivered the blow that broke Rodger’s collarbone, during the Oct. 15 Vikings-Packers game. The QB had surgery four days later, and has teased football fans with on-field warm-up throws, which seemed to indicate that playing this season remained a possibility.
Whether that means Rodgers plays against the Panthers, or the Packers must continue their unlikely playoff push with backup quarterback Brett Hundley at the helm, hangs in the balance.
“It is now in the evaluation stage,” McCarthy said Monday afternoon during his usual day-after-the-game briefing — a news conference that was anything but typical given the subject matter. “Dr. McKenzie is reviewing it. There’s a number of medical opinions that will be involved in the decision, so at this time I do not have a clean decision for you — or an update. That’s where it stands.”
Stay tuned. The Packers — and the NFL and Rodgers and every party involved — will likely want an answer sooner than later.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
@"Nichelle" said: He's been cleared to play.
Packers' Aaron Rodgers says he's medically cleared to returnGREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers has been medically cleared.The Green Bay Packers quarterback made it official on Tuesday night, on the eve of the first practice in advance of Sunday's game at Carolina. Rodgers made the announcement in an Instagram post after a long day of discussion with medical personnel led by team physician Dr. Pat McKenzie.
One day earlier, Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Rodgers underwent tests to determine how much his surgically repaired right collarbone had healed.
"It is now in the evaluation stage," McCarthy said late Monday afternoon. "Dr. McKenzie is reviewing it. There's a number of medical opinions that will be involved in a decision, so at this time, I do not have a clean decision for you or an update. That's where it stands."
The matchup with the Panthers is the first game for which Rodgers is eligible to return, according to injured reserve rules, since he broke his right collarbone against the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 15, when Anthony Barr hit him and landed on him following a pass.
It had been an on-schedule recovery for Rodgers following his Oct. 19 surgery in California, where he had screws and plates inserted into his right clavicle. Rodgers was placed on injured reserve the next day, ensuring he would have to sit out at least eight games. He returned to practice on Dec. 2, the day he turned 34.
From the first time he was seen doing some drills off to the side a month ago to his first public throwing session before the Nov. 26 game in Pittsburgh to running the scout team in practice last week, Rodgers has impressed his coaches and teammates along the way. Clay Matthews even joked that Rodgers looked so good during the rehab process that the Packers shouldn't have put him on injured reserve.
Rodgers was off to one of his best starts before his injury at Minnesota. Through five weeks, he led the NFL in touchdown passes (13) and had thrown just three interceptions. He engineered a comeback victory in overtime to beat the Bengals at home in Week 3 and did it again with a last-minute touchdown pass to Davante Adams at Dallas two weeks later to lead the Packers to a 4-1 start.
The Packers lost at Minnesota when Brett Hundley took over following Rodgers' injury, but Hundley won three of the next seven games to keep the Packers alive in the playoff race at 7-6.
"My No. 1 thought going into it was keep our hopes alive to make the playoffs and we're still in it," Hundley said.
Rodgers missed seven games when he broke his left collarbone in 2013, and the Packers went 2-4-1 in his absence. He did not undergo surgery that time and returned for the regular-season finale at Chicago, a game the Packers had to win to make the playoffs. Rodgers threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Randall Cobb in the final minute to win the NFC North at 8-7-1.
"We've got a chance," Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari said. "We know what the magic number is. We still have everything in front of us, so when he comes back, we're in playoff football. We've already talked about that, and these games matter. It's go time."
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21752815/green-bay-packers-quarterback-aaron-rodgers-says-medically-cleared-return-injured-reserve
Lets start the parade for the packers! I won't be listening to any national football media for the rest of this season.
I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and in my expert opinion he should be euthanized...
I've seen national sports reporters tweeting that 'this is a great day for professional football'. Not kidding. PFT.com says that if Rodgers comes back, that the Packers could get to the Superbowl. The love is unreal.
Would love to see the Panthers shut down this shit show on Sunday and we can all have a great Christmas.
You all know it's going to happen now right ... the league will do everything in its power to see the puke playing in USB in February.
I am already dreading the calls we are going to see in lameblow in 2 weeks.
and Rodgers returns to the defenses of Carolina and Minnesota.....
fuck aaron rodgers. hope he looks forward to another cart ride off the field for another injury that doesnt require a cart.
paul pierce of the nfl, pussy.
@"Canthony" said: and Rodgers returns to the defenses of Carolina and Minnesota.....And @ Detroit for the finale'. If they did somehow pull a playoff spot out of their asz? Well, all the more power to em.
A spot in the SB? F that.
I'll celebrate when the Rogers era is over and GB goes back to being just a small, fly-over town that young people want to leave to have a future.
@"Kentis" said: Bring him on...! B)King O'' The North!
This is priceless...Worthy of a poster lol!
Only change I'd make is a less shaven, groomed Zimmer. Little more gruff and salty - kinda like his last presser!
NBC sure isn't going to complain about having MN @ GB in prime time now. The media will get all excited, its their job. But ultimately the Packers are still a playoff long shot. If they run the table and get a spot at the table, I would want nothing to do with them.
Carolina just needs to do their job and stick a fork in GB this weekend. Then all will be right with the world (my world anyway)...
It's not so much that I'd "fear" the Packers, I'd fear the officiating and the calls that would swing the game to GB's favor in a big way...
Just keep GB out of the playoffs and let the rest of the teams duke it out (the teams that don't get all the help from the Zebras).
@"Vanguard83" said: My evaluation?dont care
Was gonna ask if you were the expert they called?
Of course it's going to be touted as the drama of the season. Of course the media and bandwagon folks want to see it happen. Question is will the NFL make it happen?? Anymore I feel like I'm watching professional wrestling. The NFL was so worried about creating parity but in the end they still make sure that their cash cows get in the playoffs. Why watch??
@"Geoff Nichols" said: NBC sure isn't going to complain about having MN @ GB in prime time now. The media will get all excited, its their job. But ultimately the Packers are still a playoff long shot. If they run the table and get a spot at the table, I would want nothing to do with them.There's no denying that NFL ratings are better when Green Bay and Dallas are playing well. It IS good for the league to have Rodgers returning....but its sickening to listen to.
So the ultimate dagger for long suffering Minnesota fans is to lose at home to Green Bay in the playoffs....it would be very Viking. Let's pray it doesn't come to that.
@"Geoff Nichols" said: NBC sure isn't going to complain about having MN @ GB in prime time now. The media will get all excited, its their job. But ultimately the Packers are still a playoff long shot. If they run the table and get a spot at the table, I would want nothing to do with them.
That was why I wanted them to lose one more so badly. I want nothing to do with them in the playoffs and have been worried about that.
Curious as to the "other experts". Perhaps Goodell? Head of officiating? Where they checking to see if the NFL and the refs were still looking to promote the Rodgers to the Rescue theme?
" And if there is one person who could overcome a life threatening injury and come back, it's Rodgers. In uncertain times like this, America always looks to a man to rise above and single handedly will his team to a Super Bowl victory. The planets have alligned, and everything wrong with the NFL is right again"
- Joe Buck this Sunday
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