As we all know, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has fallen from grace. He is in the midst of a malaise that has lasted for a year now, since the blowout last year against Denver. Back-breaking interceptions are up and ball security has been an issue. Rodgers’ accuracy is so off its glaring, with passes being thrown wildly behind and over receivers. This, among so many issues that a book could be written about it.
It cannot be an issue of physical decline, but rather is undoubtedly something psychological. Precisely because it is not a lull of a few games, this malaise should become a case study in sports psychology. Off-hand, the closest thing to what we are seeing that I can think of is the case of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jim Everett in the 1980s. Having shown flashes of an elite quarterback, bad offensive line play allowed defenses to pummel him with an unending battery of sacks and knockdowns. Eventually it got in his head, culminating in an infamous phantom sack where he went down before he was ever touched.
While returning somewhat to form after being traded to the New Orleans Saints, Everett was never really the same. Thus, it seems that we too face the very real prospect that Rodgers may never be his old self again. Baseball, of course, has many more of these case studies, such as Chuck Knoblauch, Jeff Weaver and Rick Ankiel, among many others, but it is seen far less often in football.
The question then is, what is the nexus of this psychological breakdown? Reading body language, it is clear that coach Mike McCarthy and Rodgers are, at the very least, having difficulties, and they are having difficulties on a more permanent, consistent basis. However, this may stem from mutual frustration from the systemic collapse of this offensive unit, which in turn suggests something else is the root cause.
Indeed, with rumors that Rodgers is not speaking to his family on account of his relationship with Oliva Munn, reason suggests that this Hollywood strumpet is the kryptonite poisoning the heart and mind of our falling hero in Packerland.
Recall that last year Rob Demowsky speculated as much, writing, “A longtime NFL agent told me recently that when he sees one of his top-performing clients play differently, as Rodgers has of late, the first thing he wonders is if something is going on in his personal life.”
This makes sense intuitively. I myself look no further than Ace Rothstein from Casino (based on real-life mobster Frank Rosenthal). He become so good at gambling on football, he moved the odds in every bookmaker in the country, and he did that by knowing everything. This voiceover quote informs how personal and relationship problems do affect performance and are relevant, and how they can predict who wins and loses:
But he didn’t bet like you or me. …He bet like a fuckin’ brain surgeon.
He had to know everything, this guy. He’d find out the kind of inside stuff nobody else knew, and that’s what he’d put his money on. Even back home, years ago, when we were first hangin’ out together . . . he’d know if the quarterback was on coke or …If his girlfriend was knocked up. (emphasis added)
There was nothin’ about a game he was gonna bet that he didn’t know.
Season after season, the prick was the only guaranteed winner I ever knew.
More telling, you have Olivia Munn’s outrage and consternation at Demowsky for making such a suggestion. If readers recall, this was all over the tabloids. Perhaps though she doth protest too much. If what he wrote were truly so outlandish and wrong-headed, why would she or anyone care?
Throw in vaguely confirmed rumors that Rodgers is not speaking to his family over this woman, and this theory becomes even more persuasive.
Perhaps most convincing of all is that she has done this before, to another star athlete, a hockey player for the New York Rangers named Brad Richards. Much like Rodgers did in the beginning, Richards played well when he first met her. Rangers fans even dubbed her a good luck charm.
Then she broke up with him. And he went six games without a score, and had just one goal over the next 12. At least one Rangers blogger states that after that “his game has never been the same.” Only until he really got over the tramp by getting engaged to Australian model Rechelle Jenkins did his stats improve. Of course, this statistical drop off in the year of the breakup is confirmed in these reference stats.
And so when one puts this drop off together with Rodgers’ mysterious jinx, we now have a pattern with this broad.
Still not convinced? Consider that before he became entangled with this guttersnipe, Rodgers was such a private person that he would neither confirm nor deny an engagement ring was worn by a woman believed to have been his fiancée, Destiny Newton.
Munn, on the other hand, went on a faghag talk show on Bravo hosted by Joel Cohen to brag about how much she likes to get fucked. Years ago, the hussy put out for Justin Timberlake right after her breakup with Richards, bragging to gossip rags about having a “weekend of great sex.” This even though he was with Jessica Biel at the time.
There are doubtless other examples demonstrating this woman is just the worst sort of Hollywood harlot, but this foray into celebrity sex gossip is already too painful to bear. A pox on her for obliging yours truly to read a bunch of Hollywood gossip rags to uncover hard truths, let alone for sabotaging the most important passion in my life, the Green Bay Packers!
It is plain for anyone to see that this sort of lewd, lascivious lack of discretion or propriety is not compatible with the Aaron Rodgers we once knew. The conflict she is sure to be generating in Rodgers life — both on an inter and intra-personal level — must rival that of a breakup, which would seem inevitable given this mismatch in personality types.
Of course, since neither Brad Richards’ prior relationship with Munn nor the year long bit of yips he had is hardly kept secret, one must ask why the Wisconsin and sports media have not asked these hard questions? Why, with inside connections and off-the-record, confidential sources, has there not been more focus on this? Why, for that matter, do so few Packers fans know who Brad Richards is?
Some journalists, like Jason Wilde, think personal matters are off limits. Every great bookie and for that matter every student of human nature knows otherwise. Of course, the stakes could not be higher. Any postseason aspirations are already in great danger if not outright lost. Going beyond that, because this has been going on for a year now, this problem could spell the end of the dream and promise of multiple Super Bowl championships for the foreseeable future.
Yes, the dream could very well be over, not just this year, but for this present era that ought to have been a far better contender than it has proven to be. And all at the hands of a tramp.
Queue the ending to Dr. Strangelove, where the world is destroyed to the tune “We’ll Meet Again Someday” by Vera Lynn. To a Green Bay Packers dynasty with multiple Super Bowl championships, I can only say with tears, “We’ll meet again / Don’t know where / Don’t know when / But I know we’ll meet again / Some sunny day.”
Perhaps when I am 70 if I am still alive, or in some other lifetime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFkryh6hC-k&feature=youtu.be&t=23s
Last updated on October 22nd, 2016 at 12:37 pm
I understand this topic is of high importance.
You professionals are aware of a recent Packer trade for a running back?
Ok, just making sure.
“If readers recall, this was all over the tabloids.”
– E. Wolf
Well Dr. Wolf…not all readers here are tabloid readers. I believe there are other sites better suited for celebrity gossip other than a football web forum such as this. Those sites cater to the kind of Ladies who thrive for that kind of entertainment and amusement.
The same kind of readers who will no doubt be commenting on this article.
Agree w/PF4L
P44L,
Are you such a silly rabbit that you conflate acknowledgement of a cultural milieu, such as celebrity hollywood gossip, as endorsement or approval of such a cultural millieu?
In any case, most readers were probably made aware of the coverage in gossip rags about her outrage because it was also covered in Wisconsin and sports media, as I was also made aware.
This broad may very well be the Oko Yono of Packerland–and very few if any had the temerity to confront this issue as I have, even though the stakes could not be higher. If this becomes more of a story, as I suspect it will, you and everyone else will have read it here first, on totalpackers.
Oh, fuck off already.
lmao…..Listen Dr. Wolf…Your not the first woman to post that garbage gossip in here, it’s been done a 1,000 times over the last year. Get over yourself and your $20 words.
So yea, fuck off already
You just fucked yourself.
Brett Hundley soon hopefully.
Why couldn’t Rodgers haven broken his collarbone this year instead of 2013 when he was good?
Gee, Kato….You could always hope he gets a neck injury or a career ending concussion i guess.
Never said career ending injury, said I wish if he had to suffer that injury, I wish he had done so this year. That being said, I am about tired of Rodgers.
That certain women can sap warriors and athletes of strength and vigor goes back to Samson of Biblical yore (and more recently, Kim Basinger’s siren in The Natural). My suggestion is humble – Rodgers should eschew putting Olivia in his martini and trade in the Munnster for, say, Kate Hudson, who helped another A-Rod slug the Yankees to a championship under her alluring touch.
Absent that, I have been authorized by the New York Jets to pursue a trade for your fallen star. We promise never to trade him to the Vikings. Might we interest you in Ryan Fitzmagic? His iconic beard fits Wisconsin better than the big city and he’s priced to go!
It is pretty funny: Piffle often profanely rails against Olivia and yet when a writer does the same he attacks. Piffle is a font of hypocrisy.
Or….You’re too stupid to know when i’m using it as sarcasm. Seriously …Go watch Barney with your little sister upstairs.
The only quarterback that I can think of that collapsed like and returned to a high caliber quarterback is Kurt Warner. He was younger than Rodgers when it happened and it took him several years to come out of it
“harlot”? “tramp”? “hussy”?
1) it’s not 1958 anymore.
2) your way of speaking about Munn suggests projection of a regressive attitude towards women in general, rendering whatever point you were trying to make useless as it sits under a heap of misogynistic trash.
It may suggest a regressive attitude towards women. So what. Or, get this, it could be that I use such strong language to denote my strong dislike for the woman *as an individual.* I base that appraisal on her conduct and what she stands for, as I have set forth in depth, and because I suspect she is the reason, or at least a substantial reason, that a very important part of my life (the Green Bay Packers) is all but forsaken, possibly for the rest of my life.
Fkn A….You tell her Wolfie!!!!
It’s that bitch’s fault!!! And GDI, you tell her it takes big balls to write that in here, as it’s only been done by 53 other people before you.
I guess the truth hurts, eh buddy? Time to take off that diaper pin already. Munn is the root of the problem, like it or not. Ever since the woman came into Rodgers’ world, his level of performance has dropped considerably. Like I said, the woman is toxic. http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/11/18/aaron-rodgers-has-cut-off-family-skipped-grandpa-s-funeral.html
Aaron Rodgers is compromising his morals…in addition to leaving out his family. Someone who has never been in a real relationship (w/sex) before and add to that family issues, well, guess what? We’re seeing it. You can say what you want about them, but Jo Jo isn’t giving herself away to Jordan UNTIL the wedding. And that is probably why he says she – unlike other women – is causing him to raise up to a new level. And Olivia Munn? Other way around.
Jojo made it clear she would try before she buys. She flat out said that sex is an important part of a relationship and that you should make sure you’re sexually compatible. She’s not holding out. She admitted it.
I would also put in Farve returning and making up with
the packers organization could have set off some
internal anger in
Rogers that he feels disrespected
somehow. Which we know how he can hold a
gruge like being drafted late first round
all happening when Favre announced
coming back to Lambeth field.
Never know how certain things
effect certain people. We all
have things that set us off
emotionally which is different
in us human’s that others
find silly, but matter to
ourselves immensely.
He is a closet alcoholic. Brain is slowed to the point he cannot compete at competitive levels.
That’s probably it.
Man, the stuff i learn in here from all you fine people.
I’m humbled. Thank you.
Shit topic, shit writing, shit article, shit writer.
A convincing argument/case though I don’t think “the dream is over” perhaps just on hold???
The dream is over? I think you are giving up way too quickly! This team is loaded with talent, and AR will soon return to his old form.
The sooner Aaron dumps Munn the better. As Mick said, “Women weaken legs”.
First, it is terrible that you think that the success or failure of an athletic endeavor could be swayed by a girlfriend. What, are you seven?
Second, Aaron’s affairs are his own. Does YOUR work suffer when you are in a happy, loving relationship?
Third, you must be a miserable human being to tear down other people when constructive criticism would be more effective. I insist that Aaron Rodgers was not the one having a bad day, but the ten guys who are supposed to protect him and move the ball up the field.
It is a shame that ignoramuses of your low caliber are allowed public platforms.
John, if you don’t think Munn is having an impact, a negative one at that, on Rodgers’ play, then I’ll sell you a bridge in Brooklyn. She has isolated the man from his family!!!
Munn is the Yoko of the GB Packers. The woman is toxic. http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/11/18/aaron-rodgers-has-cut-off-family-skipped-grandpa-s-funeral.html
Jared,
I’m pretty sure that part of your Subway deal was that you weren’t supposed to get on any site that children might be on. Please delete your “E. Wolf” avatar or I will contact the warden at your prison.