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Why the Green Bay Packers defeated Kansas City In Week 3

By Kenn Korb

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Sep 28, 2015; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) throws a pass while being chased by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker

Justin Houston

(50) during the third quarter at Lambeau Field. Green Bay won 38-28. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

The Masterful Mr. Rodgers

This wouldn’t be an article looking at why the Packers won without acknowledging their quarterback.

As usual, Rodgers was putting on a clinic; we might as well call him The Professor, because this type of game is what aspiring quarterbacks need to study.

While in some places didn’t exactly give him a flattering performance grade (namely Pro Football Focus, who actually graded him an absurd -0.8 on their grading scale), this was undoubtedly a great showing by the best quarterback in the league.

Sep 28, 2015; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) celebrates a touchdown pass during the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Despite facing a notably strong defensive group, Aaron Rodgers put up this stat-line: 24/35, 333 yards (9.5 average), 5 TDs and 0 INTs.

He earned a 78.0 QBR* on the night; excellent in its own right, but even better against a team that’s got great pass rushers and a pretty strong overall defense.

Also, going back to that low PFF grade: they make abundantly clear that their rating does not attempt to factor in traits that are inherently inquantifiable aspects (intangibles and whatever occurs pre-snap). Those are huge parts of what puts Rodgers on a level few can touch; subtle movements in the pocket, pre-snap play adjustments, garnering free plays, his always-moving feet, unrivaled vision of the field, knowledge of where his receivers are and will be, knowing exactly where he needs to place a ball, putting the ball EXACTLY on his targeted mark…it goes on and on.

Let’s also look at some marks he achieved and/or extended on the night:

– 44 TDs since his last home INT
– 2nd QB with 10+ QBs/ 0 INTs in first 3 games of a season (Peyton Manning had 12/0 in 2013)
– Most 5 TD games (4) in Packers history (Brett Favre has 3)
– 580 pass attempts without INT at home (extending own current record)

This may not be his greatest game ever — and the PFF grading system may not be too kind to it (though it appears the actual writers acknowledge it was still really good despite the grade) —  but it was still a masterful performance on the whole.

If this is what a usually spot-on system can call a bad game, I think everyone in Packerland and all of us fans can be safe in the knowledge that we have a guy leading our team that can put up record-setting performances and still have plenty of room to improve.

Great for us; terrifying for whoever has to face this man.

Prepare yourselves San Francisco; next week doesn’t look pretty for you.

*Total Quarterback Rating (QBR) is a statistical measure that incorporates the contexts and details of those throws and what they mean for wins. It’s built from the team level down to the quarterback, where we understand first what each play means to the team, then give credit to the quarterback for what happened on that play based on what he contributed. The rating goes from 0-100 (higher is better); 50 is average, 60 is above average, 70 is Pro-Bowl level, 80 is MVP-level.

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