It takes a lot to get Aaron Rodgers excited about a throw these days, but one he made Sunday in Baltimore was worth beaming about afterward.
The Green Bay Packers quarterback said he actually was proud of a few throws from the game, but a perfect pass into a tight window to receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling provided a reminder for the 38-year-old of a younger version of himself.
“There were a couple of throws I was proud of. There’s not many games when you make a throw and you’re really smiling on the inside because it makes you feel good,” Rodgers said. “But I threw a ball to Marquez on the first play in the two-minute, and it was kind of harkening back to a feeling I had years ago, as far as my timing and footwork and ball placement. Those are the fun ones. The ones you feel really really good about.”
Rodgers made the pinpoint throw up the seam to Valdes-Scantling, who was well-covered and bracketed by three different Ravens players. The margin for error was ridiculously small, but Rodgers fit the ball into traffic and created a big play for his receiver. It was the perfect definition of “throwing a receiver open” by a quarterback.
Here’s the throw:
Just ridiculous precision from Aaron Rodgers. #GoPackGo
📺: #GBvsBAL on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/BjHdyBMseE— NFL (@NFL) December 19, 2021
Of course, the throw is somewhat similar to the one he completed to Greg Jennings late in Super Bowl XLV. Like that throw, Rodgers had no margin for error and needed to fit the ball into an impossible window with a defender in the receiver’s hip pocket.
The important thing here is the is timing, footwork and accuracy, as Rodgers mentioned. He got into his drop, planted his back foot, and fired on time, trusting his arm to make the throw and trusting the receiver to make the play. And the end result was a play only a handful of quarterbacks in the game can make.
Rodgers finished the game with 23 completions for 268 yards, three touchdown passes and zero interceptions. He also tied Brett Favre’s team record for career touchdown passes in the process. The two legendary quarterbacks both have thrown 442 while with the Packers.
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