Football is all about scoring touchdowns. Granted the highest scoring players in the league are generally kickers, but no team wants to score a bunch of field goals in a game and very few games are won without scoring a touchdown.
If Packer fans had a choice, every pass Aaron Rodgers tossed in the air would result in a touchdown. Of course, that’s never going to happen, but just how many of Aaron’s passes DO result in a touchdown?
The answer might shock you.
7% of all Rodgers’ passes in 2012 were complete for touchdowns. Take some time to let your head wrap around just how astounding that statistic is. One out of every 15 passes Aaron threw scored six points for the Pack.
Wow!
How does that compare to the rest of the league?
Well, there were only three quarterbacks in 2012 to have TD percentages in the six percent range. Rookie Russell Wilson completed 6.6% of his passes for touchdowns (one of which is highly disputable). Of course, he only attempted 393 passes to Aaron’s 553. Drew Brees completed 6.4% of his passes for touchdowns, and Peyton Manning completed 6.3% for touchdowns.
Last season Aaron was sacked 51 times. Cut that in half and Aaron has 30 more attempts. Statistically speaking those 30 attempts would then turn into two more touchdowns. Would those two touchdown have mattered in the grand scheme of the 2012 season?
Well…
The Packers lost in a controversial matchup with the Seahawks by two points. An additional touchdown in that game would have made the bad call at the end of the game irrelevant. Against the Colts the Packers lost by three points, and against the Vikings in the final matchup of the two teams the Pack again lost by three points.
One more win would have meant the 49ers coming to the frozen tundra rather than the Packers meeting them in SF. That alone might have been enough to change the outcome of the NFC playoffs.
Here’s hoping Aaron can continue making it count in 2013 and that the offensive changes give him more opportunities than he got in 2012.
The seahawks game was reprehensible! It is very strange…looking back…how much of a difference those few opportunities for an ace like Rodgers mattered…if our defense finds its groove…watch out!