Lost in all of the discussion about the poor officiating in the Green Bay Packers' Monday night win over the Detroit Lions was how terrific Aaron Rodgers played down the stretch.
Rodgers' numbers in the victory won't jump off the page, as he completed 24 of his 39 passes for 283 yards, a couple of touchdowns and an interception. But it was the way the quarterback led the Packers back from a nine-point deficit (with some help from the referees) to steal a one-point win that was impressive.
On Tuesday morning, Fox Sports analyst and Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe lauded Rodgers for his performance, noting how he did all of that with his No. 1 receiver in Davante Adams sidelined.
"Aaron Rodgers was playing without Davante Adams… but he doesn't need a No.1 receiver. The great ones can take average guys and make them look phenomenal. Rodgers looked beautiful last night, that was a virtuoso." — @ShannonSharpe pic.twitter.com/tC7alLbFNm
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) October 15, 2019
Of course, most people are not going to want to talk about Rodgers' outing, as the main focus has been the two botched illegal-hands-to-the-face penalties on Lions defensive lineman Trey Flowers down the stretch, which helped extend a pair of Packers drives that ultimately resulted in Green Bay scoring 10 unanswered points for the victory.
However, as Sharpe points out, pinning Detroit's loss on the officiating seems myopic, as the Lions could not punch the ball into the end zone (they kicked five field goals) and rookie tight end T.J. Hockenson dropped a touchdown pass.
Still, with all of the conversation about poor NFL officiating, particularly dating back to last year's NFC Championship Game, Rodgers' performance will almost certainly be swept under the rug.
Regardless, Green Bay improved to 5-1 on the year while Detroit fell to 2-2-1.
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