If you thought you were sick of Aaron Rodgers when he played in Green Bay, this NFL season may force you to stock up on Dramamine.
After foisting a typically melodramatic offseason on the football public, Rodgers forced his way out of Green Bay, where he won four MVP awards, and to the New York Jets, where he has become the story of the NFL and the star of the HBO series “Hard Knocks.”
Rodgers has become the dominant figure on ESPN’s many NFL shows, including “Get Up,” which is hosted by frothing Jets fan Mike Greenberg, who has embarrassed himself and his network with his daily homerism.
There is much to dislike about Rodgers as a player and conspiracy-theory-touting human, and there is much to dislike about the giddy coverage of his arrival in — let’s be honest — New Jersey. Get past the many annoying aspects of this marriage, and what you have is something similar to what Minnesotans witnessed in 2009, when Brett Favre left the Jets and signed with the Vikings.
Favre, like Rodgers, is easy to root against, but what he brought to the Vikings in 2009 was something the franchise hadn’t seen since the ’70s — a proven, experienced franchise quarterback.
With apologies to Hall of Fame Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton, no Vikings quarterback had ever thrown a football the way Favre did.
Suddenly, with Favre behind center, defenses were dissected, decisions were made and passes were thrown at previously unfathomable velocities. Linemen didn’t have to hold their blocks as long. Receivers needed to be less open.
Favre briefly transformed the Vikings. Rodgers, whether in Favre’s shadow or casting his own, will try to do the same with the Jets.
On “Hard Knocks,” Rodgers comes across as friendly and charismatic while displaying the kind of genius required to be an all-time great quarterback. He looks like the kind of guy you’d like to have the proverbial beer — or ayahuasca — with.
Rodgers winning a Super Bowl with the long-underachieving Jets would become one of the…
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