National Football League

Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers hears the ‘trolls’ and uses them for fuel

Published Sep. 21, 2021 11:07 p.m. ET

By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist

In the end, Aaron Rodgers just couldn’t resist. The opportunity was too good to pass up. We will probably never know if he had a momentary thought about letting it slide or taking the high road.

When the chance to metaphorically walk into the end zone and score the easiest of points against the Detroit Lions presented itself late Monday night, Rodgers took it. Of course he did.

"I think we maybe tried to show that we cared a little bit more tonight," Rodgers told reporters. "I just think people like to say a lot of s---, and it’s nice to come back in here after a game like that.

"I think there’s even more [overreactions] than when I started playing. There’s so many overreactions that happen on a week-to-week basis. So it’s nice to come out, have a good performance and get the trolls off our back for at least a week."

Colin Cowherd: Aaron Rodgers loves playing the victim I THE HERD

Colin Cowherd wasn't surprised that Aaron Rodgers chose to "play the victim" during his postgame news conference.

Were you really surprised? Rodgers doesn’t take slights gently, especially when he feels they are unjust, premature, too focused on him or just plain wrong. The Green Bay Packers' quarterback is not a water-off-the-duck’s-back kind of guy. He’s a collect-a-doubly-big-pail-of-water-and-throw-it-back-at-you kind of guy, having heated the water to near boiling point and added salt to it.

This is part of what makes him intriguing: the knowledge that all the noise surrounding the game, which we typically assume players ignore or certainly attempt to, isn’t lost on Rodgers. He doesn’t dismiss what is said about him. He takes it in, lets it percolate, and if he doesn’t like the sound of it, he’ll fire it right back at you.

Rodgers didn’t like any of what he heard following Week 1, when the Packers got chewed up and spit out by the New Orleans Saints in a mighty — and mightily unexpected — shellacking. It was the biggest defeat of his career, and the viewpoints that came from it weren’t especially generous.

They mostly revolved around Rodgers' level of perceived commitment following a summer of uncertainty that ended with him signing a restructured deal — a deal that paves the way for him to exit Green Bay after this season.

Marcellus Wiley: Aaron Rodgers' commitment was discouraging and makes us doubt him l SPEAK FOR YOURSELF

Marcellus Wiley explains why the Packers should be concerned about Rodgers' commitment, which was "on full display" last Sunday.

Rodgers' four-touchdown performance Monday in the 35-17 win over the Lions was an appropriate answer, his words afterward an even more emphatic one. It all proved one thing beyond a doubt: Whatever else Rodgers was doing in the days between the Saints defeat and the Lions victory, he was collecting all the slights and using them to fuel his inner fire.

"Part of me would like Aaron Rodgers to be more like Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes and ignore the outside noise," FS1’s Chris Broussard said on "First Things First." "But Rodgers is a guy that plays his best football when he's paying attention to the haters and he feels like he has something to prove."

Cohost Nick Wright described Rodgers as having "rabbit ears," a reference to how the QB doesn’t miss any of what is said about him, during good times and bad.

Chris Broussard: 'Aaron Rodgers plays his best when he has a chip on his shoulder' I FIRST THINGS FIRST

Chris Broussard breaks down why Aaron Rodgers' comments about getting "the trolls off our back" further proves his theory that the MVP quarterback plays his best football when he feels slighted and when he has a chip on his shoulder.

Green Bay’s win achieved the immediate benefit the Packers were seeking, getting the season back on track ahead of a Sunday visit to the San Francisco 49ers that carries a far greater level of difficulty.

Until further notice, the Packers must be considered genuine Super Bowl contenders (+1400 with FOX Bet), and because it's Rodgers and because it's Green Bay and because that’s just the way it is, they’ll be one of the most talked about teams in the National Football League.

On any given week, Rodgers might love the chatter, he might hate it, he might think it’s (expletive), and he might just keep it in his back pocket for days or weeks or entire seasons, ready to unload it with as much force as those TD passes.

He knows what you’re saying, and he doesn’t miss anything. He sees, reads and hears it all. Shoot, he’s probably reading this right now.

I didn’t just troll him, did I? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.