Finley on Rodgers: “He’s Playing Like He’s on X-Box Right Now.”
NFL reporter Tyler Dunne, who recently moved from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel to the USA Today, relayed a couple interesting tidbits about Jermichael Finley on Twitter yesterday:
Jermichael Finley said his shoulder is about 85 percent today. Still looking for first big hit to really test it. #packers
— Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) October 24, 2012
Finley: “If you’re winning and you’re not getting the ball, you can’t say too much about that. He’s playing like he’s on X-Box right now.”
— Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) October 24, 2012
Finley (con’d): “So he can throw it to anybody he wants. I’ll sit back and wait for it to shift your way. That’s what I’m doing.” #packers
— Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) October 24, 2012
A few weeks ago, Finley noted that he was seeking better chemistry with Rodgers. Before that, Finley’s agent Blake Baratz criticized Rodgers’ leadership. It’s therefore refreshing to see him be tactful as the team is winning. Finley appears to be patiently waiting for the ball to come back around his way. He has just 26 catches for 241 yards and one touchdown this season.
On his weekly radio spot with Jason Wilde on ESPN 540 Tuesday, Aaron Rodgers said that he felt he had good chemistry with Finley, but that defenses have been keying in on stopping him:
The stats for him are obviously not exactly where you’d want them to be, but you have to understand that he’s been playing with an injury and a lot of times he’s been the guy that teams are trying to take away.
Rodgers continued:
There were a number of plays where he’s had two guys, one inside and one outside lined up on him, and just trying to take him away. It just lets other guys have the one-on-one opportunities and make the most of them. And I think he understands that if he’s one-on-one that’s usually where I’m going to look first but because of the respect of his talent teams usually pay a little more attention to him.
While Rodgers is also tactful, he’s obviously concerned with Finley’s drops, which have probably killed over a dozen drives over the past 1.5 seasons. Where he used to lock in on Finley, he’s looking in that direction less and less.
If Finley could curtail these drops, he would be an unstoppable weapon; he’s too big to be single-covered by cornerbacks and too fast for linebackers. As Rodgers noted, the match-up nightmare that Finley creates – even as a decoy – opens up single coverage for other Green Bay receivers. Finley therefore has tremendous value, even if he is not producing on the stat sheet.
In full disclosure, I’m probably inclined to give Jermichael more benefit of the doubt than most other Packers fans. About two years ago, I was sitting in a coffee shop, refreshing Twitter every 30 seconds. A tweet from his wife, Courtney, popped up: “I’m freaking out! I lost my driver’s license and have to fly tomorrow. It’s in one of three places. Whoever finds it gets two tickets to the next Packers home game.”
I started Googling the places she named. I called Chives, a restaurant in Green Bay (the names of the other two locations now escape me): “Hi, uh, this is gonna sound sort of weird, but…I follow Jermichael Finley’s wife, Courtney, on Twitter. She thinks she might have left her driver’s license in your establishment?”
“Actually, yeah, she did.”
The next game ended up being a Week 16 match-up against the New York Giants. It had major implications, the winner controlled its own destiny for the Playoffs. The Packers dominated, winning 45-17. This game began a 19-game winning streak that included a Super Bowl run.
Some of my favorite sports stories happen when players overcome massive amounts of adversity. I rooted for LeBron James last year after facing two years of backlash for The Decision. I was happy when Peyton Manning finally won the Super Bowl in 2006-07, his ninth year in the league.
I’m rooting for Jermichael Finley to realize his full potential as a Green Bay Packer. We’ve seen glimpses of what he is capable of when he went on a tear at the end of the 2009-10 season and the start of 2010-11 before suffering a season-ending injury. I would love if the quotes this week, which at the very least demonstrate feigned humility and awareness of the greater good, are a major step in re-capturing that dominance.