Aaron Rodgers to Richard Sherman: ‘Hope You Get Some Work’

In his weekly talk show Tuesday, Aaron Rodgers spent some time explaining why he attempted no passes to Richard Sherman‘s side of the field on opening night.

Well, he didn’t have much of an answer for it except that it wasn’t by design. He said that he didn’t have the right looks from the Boykin/Sherman matchup and thus, “threw to the open receiver.”

There isn’t really much to disagree with in that sentence, based on Rodgers’ track record with “seeing the open receiver” over the past several years.

But it sure looked to me like Jarrett Boykin was put out on an island by himself and sacrificed for the greater good. Sherman was yawning all night long.

In fact, after Greg Jennings‘ ugly departure from Green Bay and subsequent [selfish receiver] comments, I wrote about Rodgers’ uncanny ability to spread the ball around and hit the open guy. Most QB’s have a security blanket guy … and while some could argue that Jordy Nelson fills that role, it’s just not true. Statistics don’t lie, and Rodgers spreads the field better than anyone playing the game.

But it sure looked to me like Jarrett Boykin was put out on an island by himself and sacrificed for the greater good. Sherman was yawning all night long.

It wouldn’t behoove the Packers or Aaron Rodgers to come out and say that they didn’t want to test Sherman, so I get how consistent everyone’s story is from that night’s game plan perspective.

McCarthy saying that they were looking for Sherman to move to Nelson, which never happened; Tom Clements saying that purposefully avoiding Sherman was never in the game plan; Rodgers reporting that he only realized that no attempts were made to Sherman’s side until after the game was over … it all pretty much makes sense.

From a fan’s perspective, though?

It sure had the smell of fear on it, to me.

Let’s face it — Richard Sherman is the new “island” cornerback. Darrelle Revis held the title for a long time and still is a shut down corner, but not like this guy. He plays with a huge chip on his shoulder over his draft position, all the naysayers and the Seahawks quick rise to fame and fortune.

I get it, he’s good.

He’s better than good, he’s great. But we are operating under the best quarterback in the game and an arsenal of offensive weapons at his disposal. It was particularly unnerving to see Rodgers and Co. so particularly unnerved.

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After the game, cameras caught Rodgers and Sherman exchanging words. Really, only the tail end of it was caught, but it looked friendly enough. Rodgers explained what was exchanged between the two on his radio show, as well.

“I said, I don’t know, something like: ‘I hope you get some work this season,’ and then we kind of just laughed about it and moved on.”

I hope he gets some work this season, too. Otherwise, that was the most ridiculously easy offseason money that was ever made in the history of football.

Kudos to you, Richard Sherman. You’re exactly where you want to be.