Once upon a time, there were two franchise quarterbacks who would make their mark on the NFL. One wore green (and still does) and the other wore blue and now wears red. Winning was all that was on their minds and it always seemed to come to fruition for their teams as well.
Now that father time is creeping up on them, things have changed recently. Now all they think about is staying healthy while keeping their squads record at least .500. So now it’s time to ask, should the 2 main GOATS in the NFL retire?
The GOAT’S
Aaron Rodgers (38) has been playing with the Green Bay Packers since 2008. On Feb 6, 2011, Rodgers led his team to a win in Super Bowl 45 over Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington Texas.
While he has yet to win another one, he had some close calls in the 2021 NFC Championship Game, when they lost to Brady and the Bucs at home. He then lost last year in the NFC Divisional Round to the San Francisco 49ers.
Tom Brady (45) originally played 20 seasons for the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick. Brady would go onto win 6 Super Bowls with the club. This tied the record of 6 set by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Brady then joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March 2020, where he won his seventh overall Super Bowl. He beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 at Raymond James Stadium.
Team Records
Both the Green Bay Packers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are stumbling out of the gates with identical records of 3-4. What was once a conference led by these two franchises not that long ago, are now dominated by Philadelphia, New York, and Minnesota. One thing’s for sure, the conference and the Super Bowl dreams are not being run through these two winning signal-callers.
The Packers
The Green and Gold are struggling so far, as they are 3.5 games behind the Minnesota Vikings in their division, who they suffered a loss to in week 1. They have been defeated three-straight weeks in a row.
Waiting to play them are Buffalo and Philly, two teams who are considered to be among the best in the NFL. Rodgers will be six-years-younger than Brady as he turns 39 on Dec 2nd. But Brady’s longevity trumps Rodger’s effectiveness to still play the quarterback position.
They need help at the receiver position as Devante Adams left this past offseason to sign with the Las Vegas Raiders. Their current catching core dropped 4 balls against Washington this past weekend.
Also, their not winning games in the trenches as their o-line is all sorts of sloppy and the run game is abysmal (38-yards on Sunday). Rodgers only threw for 47-yards in the first half and didn’t convert a single third-down against the Commanders.
“It’s not winning football,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers has only known one type of football in his career, and that is winning football.
The Buccaneers
Tom Brady with some words to his offensive line. pic.twitter.com/qBqjD7vfKg
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 16, 2022
Things were not all that better for Brady and Tampa Bay either. The 45-year-old was heated and was shouting at his offensive line. For the first time in Brady’s life, it looked as if it was finally time for the Tampa Bay QB to hang it up.
Brady has always been the top dog in the NFL, but on Sunday he was the biggest loser as the Bucs lost at Carolina 21-3. What was more embarrassing is his team lost to a Panther team that had PJ Walker starting at quarterback. Walker is an undrafted free agent out of Temple who has only thrown 2-career touchdowns and their team has lost 12 out of their last 13 games.
The drained quarterback has never had a losing season as the starting signal-caller. He has won 10 conquests in 19 out of 20 matches.
Solution
Green Bay Packers
On his weekly stop on “The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday,” Rodgers believes that the Packers recent mishaps are due to “mental errors”. He also believes that some of his teammates should sit out due to them. His impression is that his players aren’t making the plays that are being called and that different participants should take their place:
Guys who are making too many mistakes shouldn’t be playing,” Rodgers said. “Gotta start cutting some reps. Maybe guys who aren’t playing, give them a chance. We’re gonna see.”
The distressed quarterback didn’t name names, but clearly was bothered by the situation.
Rodgers then went on to say:
“We had so many mental errors and mistakes. It’s not the kind of football we’re used to playing over the years,” Rodgers said. “There have been seasons where we averaged four or five, six, maybe seven at the most, kind of mental errors or missed assignments per week… This season, a lot more than that every single week. It’s double digits every single week.”
With Allen Lazard experiencing a shoulder injury, and his wide receiving core with little talent thus far, of course Rodgers isn’t going to take any of the blame himself:
“This was my highest graded game by {quarterback coach Tom Clements}, which people may be surprised to hear,” Rodgers said. “We obviously didn’t execute, a couple drops, a couple missed throws. But we’re behind the sticks… Way too many penalties, way too many drops, not enough rushing attempts because we were behind the sticks the whole time.”
Whoever is to blame for the Packer’s mishaps, the team needs to get their act together if they want to make the postseason.
Tampa Bay Bucs
The Bucs have issues that need to be addressed also, but one thing’s for sure, at least they’re still tied for first place in the dreadful NFC South.
Bye Bye
Well, it’s funny how they say, “never say never” and there is no need to debate Hall of Fame Quarterbacks, but I think that it is time for Rodgers and Brady to face the fact that it “is” that time and not “may be” the time for them to retire.
Heck, if you asked me, both of them should of left on a positive note last year.
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5 Comments
Tom should have stayed retired, Rodgers still has some gas in the tank
Great article! I wonder if they will actually retire!
Two amazing quarterbacks!! Great article
Too bad they didn’t have the sense to retire when they were on top.
Brady should’ve retired after Bucs won the superbowl 2 years ago? and Rodgers should’ve retired last year. They both are playing like shit this year.