Greg Jennings helped Aaron Rodgers become one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL when Rodgers took over for Brett Favre in 2008. The two won a Super Bowl together with the Green Bay Packers in 2011 and hooked up for more than 4,000 yards and 35 touchdowns from 2008-2011. Last season, Jennings battled injuries and was basically phased out of Green Bay’s offense.
Now with the Minnesota Vikings, Jennings sounds like he is happy to have a fresh start. On Thursday, he basically told Dan Weiderer of the Star Tribune that the shadow Rodgers was casting had become too large.
“A lot of times when you have a guy who creates that spotlight for himself and establishes that and takes a lot of that, it becomes so-and-so and the team,” Jennings explained. “For me, I’m such a team person, I’m going to defer to my teammates. I’m going to defer to the team, to the team, to the team. And I think when you reach a point where you’re not deferring any longer, it’s no longer really about the team.”
Rodgers is arguably the best quarterback in the NFL, and the quarterback position is more important than ever now with how much the league relies on passing. He gets most of the attention for Green Bay’s success just as Tom Brady gets it in New England and Drew Brees in New Orleans. However, Jennings said the attention made it hard for Rodgers to acknowledge his flaws.
“Don’t get me wrong, ‘12′ is a great person,” Jennings said. “But when you hear all positives, all positives, all positives all the time, it’s hard for you to sit down when one of your teammates says ‘Man, come on, you’ve got to hold yourself accountable for this.’ It’s hard for someone to see that now because all they’ve heard is I’m doing it the right way, I’m perfect. In actuality, we all have flaws.”
Coincidentally, Jennings once again chose to not mention Rodgers by name. Although he may have been just messing with his former teammate, he did the same thing in an interview last month.
With Christian Ponder now his quarterback, it will be interesting to see if Jennings starts to miss Rodgers if things go poorly in Minnesota. But if that happens, Jennings can always stare at Ponder’s incredibly hot wife. That should make it all better.
H/T Eye on Football
