Green Bay's Rodgers rips teammates' effort
Whether it is the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl or a scout team period in preseason practice, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers demands excellence.
When the Green Bay leader saw a "piss poor effort" from some of the team's younger players, Rodgers let them know about it Tuesday.
Rodgers, who probably won't play in the Packers' exhibition opener on Thursday against Tennessee, was running the scout team offense to help Green Bay's No. 1 defense prepare for the Titans.
The team's younger receivers apparently failed to run a play that was drawn up on a card, and that infuriated the quarterback.
"I think it was one of the worst carded sessions we've had," Rodgers told ESPN.com. "I don't know how you can make it simpler. You literally have what the play would be in our terminology of the card. And the effort level was very low, especially what I'm accustomed to, having run that period for a number of years. It's not a good start for us on the carded period for the young guys. I think (DeAngelo) Yancey has really progressed, (Geronimo Allison), obviously 16 (Jake Kumerow). But everybody else was piss poor."
So Rodgers may have been targeting rookies from this year's draft - J'Mon Moore, Marquez Valdez-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown.
The usually mild-mannered Rodgers did not intend to single out his teammates, but he said he was frustrated with the scout team.
"I was just answering the question," Rodgers told reporters. "I think it's pretty evident to anybody watching the end of practice, there were some mental errors. That's the frustrating thing. It's one thing if you're picturing a play in your mind and you're thinking about it and you're a little off, but when you're looking at a card that tells you exactly where to line up and exactly where the play is, there aren't any excuses for that."
Rodgers, 34, said he is not as patient with his younger teammates now.
"I'm getting older and grumpier," Rodgers told reporters. "I've been at this for a long time. I'm tired, too; we're all a little tired. When you get a little tired, the fuse gets a little shorter. Again, you're in like the 14th play of a 14-play drive and you've got low effort level and an MA (missed assignment), that's a little frustrating."
--Field Level Media
