The star quarterback of the Green Bay Pacers, who is planning to return as the team’s owner on Sunday, having overcome a collarbone injury, does not mean that it is a guarantee for the team to be in the playoffs.
The same feeling has Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, who does not want the team to fall into “overconfidence” just because Rodgers is back to face the Carolina Panthers after missing nearly two months after suffer the fracture of the right clavicle and have to go through the operating room.
Rogers admitted that something more than his return will be necessary for the Packers to conquer the pass to the playoff competition.
“Hopefully, that will give some of the guys encouragement, but I’m not back to save this team,” Rodgers warned. “I’m back to play the quarterback position the way I know how to do it, hopefully we’re all going to reach the collective game level and find a way to win these three games to finish the regular season.”
With a 7-6 mark, Packers needs to do everything almost perfect in order to achieve their ninth consecutive appearance in the final phase after the absence of Rogers and under the direction of reserve pin Brett Hundley got a 3-4 losing record.
But with two consecutive wins in overtime that have been achieved in the last two games played, which makes the return of Rodgers have even more value for the team.
“I think we have executed our game very well to find different ways to win,” said McCarthy. “We’re not going to Charlotte with false overconfidence, we understand the impact that Aaron has on our team, he’s a great player, but we have a certain position, with 7-6, we understand, clearly, what’s at stake here. ”
Rodgers was in a warm start to the season before breaking his right collarbone on October 15 against the Minnesota Vikings.
Packers star quarterback led the National Football League (NFL) for five weeks in touchdown passes, with 13, and led a pair of last-minute comebacks against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Dallas Cowboys. .
But an eight-week injury reserve could make it difficult for Rodgers to resume the game at the point where he left to move the offense as much as he likes.
On a roll-out pass, in Minnesota, he was injured, after linebacker Anthony Barr hit him and fell on him near the diagonal.
Rodgers, technically, is not yet in the template of the Packers, because you can not activate reserve injured until the deadline of eight weeks, on Friday. But he took the first reps in training on Wednesday.
“I’m confident that I’ll be able to be on the field and play the way I always do, but I’ve been out for seven games, it’s been a long time,” Rodgers said. “So it’s going to involve an effort to be on the ground, to receive that first pass, to get that first shot and I’ll probably be settled.”
