Aaron Rodgers injury Packers Brett Hundley aim to buck trend

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Aaron Rodgers injury: Packers, Brett Hundley aim to buck trend Published: Oct 21, 2017 at 01:31 AM NFL Network Insider We're six weeks and change into the NFL season, and the list of teams that have lost their best player to injury keeps getting longer. But it wasn't until ' in last weekend's that the man down for an extended period was an elite quarterback, twisting the ' season in ways other teams don't even want to think about. "Philosophically, that's one of the flaws of the National Football League," one longtime NFL scout opined to me this week. "It's so quarterback-driven. Quarterbacks are paid an extraordinary amount of money. If you have one, you're an immediate contender. If you don't have one, it's really hard to win. And if you find one, you set your team up around that guy, then he gets hurt, your season's almost lost." There are exceptions, of course -- namely the 2016 , who plugged in rookie fourth-round draft pick after Tony Romo's preseason back injury and roared to a 13-3 record. But Prescott was a relative anomaly and had a stud rookie running back, , behind to ease the burden. To contextualize the lo s of Rodgers, I asked NFL Media Research to pull a list of quarterbacks since 2000 who started six games or fewer because of injury the year after making the . There are only six: Kurt Warner (hurt in 2002), Michael Vick (2003), (2008), Romo (twice, in 2010 and '15), Peyton Manning (2011) and (2016). None of those teams made the playoffs, going a combined 35-56 in games without their starting QB. The ever-steady did go 10-5 without Brady; on the other end, the 2003 without Vick went 2-10, the 2011 without Manning 2-14 and the 2015 without Romo 1-11. In nine games without Rodgers over the past five seasons (including two games in which he was hurt in the first quarter), the are 2-6-1. During his last extended absence in 2013, the started three other QBs -- late-in-camp additions and Seneca Wallace, plus Matt Flynn -- before Rodgers returned to save them in Week 17. The speed with which they announced Rodgers might mi s the rest of the 2017 season doesn't leave much hope for similar heroics this time. The best way to overcome this type of history is to develop more NFL-caliber quarterbacks -- which is precisely what the have been trying to do with , a fifth-round pick in 2015 who will make his first-ever NFL start Sunday . As coach and respected QB developer Mike McCarthy said this week, he has invested three years in Hundley and two in new backup . Any thought of pursuing Colin Kaepernick or some other veteran is a distant Plan C or D right now, and wouldn't fit with the ' approach to personnel under McCarthy and GM Ted Thompson anyway. After conversations with coaches, scouts and executives from several teams that have played the this season, I get the sense they have a fighting chance to buck the Rick Martin Jersey trend and find a way to extend their eight-year playoff streak, even if it's hard to imagine Hundley playing near the level of Rodgers, a two-time NFL MVP who creates so much of their offense off-schedule. Accuracy has been among the questions about Hundley since he came out of UCLA. His footwork and overall mechanics haven't always been really detailed or precise. But Hundley showed command of the ' system in ; some NFL teams grade him as a functional starter. In relief of Rodgers last week -- on the road, behind a decimated offensive line, against an excellent defense, without many practice reps -- Hundley was 18-of-33 pa sing for 157 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. "He made Dominik Hasek Kids Jersey some really nice throws. He made some bad decisions under dure s," one high-ranking personnel executive who watched Hundley last week told me. "There was a lot going on. Obviously, didn't play great, but I did think he showed promise sometimes. If he gets a week of prep, he's big (6-foot-3, 226 pounds), he's athletic, he's got a pretty live arm. ... It's kind of the unknown." There are a lot of weapons to work with in the pa sing game: , , , . The backfield group isn't bad either, led by and rookie , though injury questions along the O-line cast doubt on how effectively they can count on running the ball. Rodgers covers up plenty in the protection phase, too. The ' defense is more talented than it was during their struggles four years ago, as well, even with ongoing injury i sues at cornerback. They're always a tough, well-coached team. One opposing coordinator who faced the this season predicted McCarthy will utilize more "big" packages with extra tight ends, leaning on a combination of the run with a quick pa sing game, plus bootlegs and other concepts to get Hundley out of the pocket. In turn, opponents figure to stack the box. "If that Hundley guy can't throw the ball outside, then it reduces them to throwing slants versus that single-high (safety) stuff," the coordinator said. "Then, it's going to come to the receivers' run after the catch, breaking tackles." Asked this week what he learned from the ' 2013 struggles without Rodgers, McCarthy said, "Don't try to do too much." He spoke repeatedly about mental errors and other mistakes that plainly frustrated him in the Minnesota game, deflecting the focus toward the reality that it's an 11-on-11 game. The certainly aren't the only team with a big injury. Everybody's fighting something right now. Their path to survival just seems a whole lot steeper than the rest because of the one they're mi sing. The Five W's for Week 7 WHO can explain 's struggles? One theory: NFL pa sing games are all about rhythm, timing and tempo, which is harder to build when you mi s most of camp with a back injury, as Flacco did this year. "Even on tape, you can see there's not much rhythm," said one NFL personnel man who has broken down the recently. "He's not playing fast. He's just kind of deliberate." Flacco can still throw it, but his pa sing yards per game (162.7), per attempt (5.4), TD-INT margin (4-8) and pa ser rating (66.1) would all be the worst of his career. It doesn't get any easier on the road Sunday against the . WHAT are the chances comes back as the ' QB of the future? ( ) The have three weeks to evaluate whether Bridgewater is even up to playing this season. His mobility may never be the same after such a catastrophic knee injury. (One opposing coach who wasn't a big Bridgewater fan once told me elusivene s was among his best traits.) But there are positive signs, according to people who have seen more of him than I have. Bridgewater looks bigger physically, especially in the upper body. (When I asked him Thursday how much he weighs, Bridgewater said 250 - clearly a joke, but it does appear he's put on weight.) His arm has wowed people during the rehab proce s. He's beloved by teammates and is still only 24. Now he needs to get back his base and continue testing himself in what coach Mike Zimmer calls "uncontrolled environments". gets another start Sunday against the . WHEN will an elite college kicker make a smooth transition to the NFL? was a particularly highest-profile flop with the Bucs, who cut him in camp this year. The already cut rookie , and fellow Lou Groza Award finalist of the mi sed three straight field-goal tries in Weeks 4 and 5. One veteran special teams coach theorized this week that consistency in college can actually work against some young kickers, because they're not prepared when adversity strikes in the NFL. Everybody's going to mi s kicks. When someone like Aguayo -- whose overconfidence, to the point of arrogance, turned off some coaches during the pre-draft proce s -- goes from mi sing nine kicks his entire college career to Jake Mccabe Jersey mi sing 11 as an NFL rookie (14 including preseason), he may not know how to stop the tailspin. Good sign for Gonzalez that he converted his only field-goal try from 41 yards last week at Houston. WHERE have off-the-field i sues impacted this season on the field? ( ) His production hasn't been the same (3.7-yard average on 105 carries and two touchdowns so far, down from 5.1 and 15 TDs a year ago). It's only natural the uncertainty would weigh to some degree on Elliott, whose six-game suspension for domestic violence has been i sued, upheld on appeal, stopped by the courts, reinstated by the courts and then stopped again over the past two-plus months. But everything I've heard from team sources about Elliott's approach has been positive -- running hard, good attitude, focused. He still has at least 80 yards in every game this season except his Week 2 stuffing at Denver. The strength of Sunday's opponent, the , is in the defensive front seven. They're allowing 3.4 yards a carry. WHY was running back suspended one game on top of his ejection Thursday night? That's pretty rare. But two i sues were pointed out to me that made this situation unique, as detailed in the disciplinary letter sent by NFL VP of football operations Jon Runyan: 1) Lynch made "deliberate physical contact" with a game official; and 2) Lynch wasn't even on the field before injecting himself into the confrontation. Itll be worth monitoring whether the suspension stands on appeal, as it sets a stiff punishment standard for not only putting hands on an official, but leaving the bench to join the fray, even if the goal is to play peacemaker. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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