Bill Belichick ahead of Patriots’ showdown with Aaron Rodgers: ‘He looks healthy to me’

All of the talk surrounding Sunday’s upcoming Patriots-Packers matchup is around Tom Brady vs. Aaron Rodgers, but those two won’t be on the field together without something really weird happening. Instead, the Patriots defense will have to contain the Packers’ dangerous quarterback, which means that Bill Belichick has to game plan to do it. Rodgers injured his knee in Week 1 against the Bears, but Belichick thinks that he looks just fine.

“I’d just watch the end of the San Francisco game,” Belichick told reporters Friday, per Pro Football Talk. “I think that will take care of that for you. Yeah, he looks healthy to me. If he’s got more left, then that’s even worse, but he’s plenty athletic, is moving well. I mean, they’re having a hard time catching him and tackling him. So, maybe it can get better, I don’t know, but it still looks pretty good.”

Rodgers, of course, is arguably at his best when he’s flushed out of the pocket and able to play some backyard football. Some of the throws he makes on the run look impossible. He’s been wearing a massive brace on his knee for the better part of this season, but the effect has seemed relatively negligible. He currently has 13 touchdowns to one interception this year, but the Packers are a modest 3-3-1 on the season.

The 49ers game that Belichick is referring to is a 33-30 Packers win in which Rodgers threw for 425 yards and two touchdowns, despite completing just 25 of 46 pass attempts. The Packers’ game-winning drive included a 21-yard scramble from Rodgers.

To beat the Packers, containing Rodgers is key, but he won’t make it easy to do so. Belichick seems to recognize as much. And given the Patriots have had Brady on plenty of injury reports in the past, it’s easy to see why he’s preparing for a full-strength Rodgers come Sunday.

Source: Read Full Article