Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is expecting passing offenses around the National Football League to see more success this upcoming season. Referencing what promises to be more of an effort on the referees behalf to call illegal contact and other defensive penalties, Rodgers envisions an uptick in production from quarterbacks (via Packers.com).
I think you’re going to see the passing game reffed a little more tightly this year.
Rodgers continued by taking a bit of an off-handed potshot at the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.
I was joking with this crew that we might want them to head up to the Pacific Northwest in about a month.
This was in reference to Green Bay’s Week 1 matchup against the Seahawks in Seattle.
When it was reported this past offseason that officials were going to be calling more illegal contact penalties than in the past, many assumed it was a direct result of the Seahawks aggressive play on the defensive side of the ball. Those assumptions were a bit off, as league officiating executives didn’t show a single Seahawks penalty when telling referees to call it tighter in the secondary.
In any event, this new emphasis on illegal contact is going to have some wide-ranging ramifications for both offenses and defenses heading into the regular year. And the difference is well documented around training camps this summer.
Packers cornerback Tramon Williams had this to say.
They’re warning us right now…Obviously, we have to make adjustments to it, and it’s going to be an adjustment period, but how much can we really change? That’s the question.
While Williams fell short of complaining, we can be sure that Rodgers and other quarterbacks around the league are pretty giddy about the emphasis on illegal contact penalties. Just imagine the numbers that Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers will put up under these new guidelines. On the other hand, we are bound to see some frustration from secondaries as they get used to the new “rules.”
Photo: USA Today