Aaron Rodgers is at the point in his career where he needs to put more effort into making sure his body is ready on game day, and he does not feel the NFL is putting him in the best position to do that.
After the Green Bay Packers defeated Washington on Sunday, Rodgers credited two members of his team’s medical staff for tending to his achy back.
“I do have to give a big shout-out to (athletic trainer) Nate Weir and (chiropractor) Mike Zoelle; I woke up this morning and my back was killing me,” Rodgers said, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “It was all locked up and I came in here early, and I’m thankful for those guys taking care of me in order to go out and play today.”
Rodgers said his back was a little stiff over the weekend. He blamed the NFL’s policy that requires players to sleep in a hotel even before home games.
“My back was a little stiff Saturday, and maybe you guys know this or don’t know this, but there’s an antiquated procedural thing in our league where the most important night of sleep, we stay at a hotel, and I don’t want to blame it on the hotel — it’s a nice hotel — but my bed at the house that I’m sleeping in every other night of my time here in Green Bay would probably be a little bit of a better option, I think, and that’s just my opinion,” he said.
Rodgers completed 27 of 35 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns in Green Bay’s 24-10 win over Washington. The training staff must have really worked some magic.
Prior to last season, NFL teams were not required to have players sleep in hotels the night before games, but many of them did. That was to prevent players from getting into trouble and, in theory, keep them more focused. The league then made it a rule due to COVID-19 protocols.
For now, Rodgers will have to deal with it. He’ll just have to keep the Packers’ training staff on speed dial. Either that, or he might want to starting bringing his own mattress to the hotel.
