Flipping through the Green Bay Packers record book, a few of my favorites jumped out at me. Records that more than likely, will never be broken.
I was just a baby when in only 12 games, Paul Hornung put up 176 points in the 1960 season which was the NFL record until LaDanian Tomlinson broke it by playing four more games. The best Mason Crosby came to the Packer standard was 30 points short.
In his one and only season with the Packers in 1974, Ted Hendricks, “The Mad Stork” blocked a ridiculous 7 kicks by himself. That’s a league record that still stands after one of the most dominant years by a player in his one and only season in Green Bay’s franchise history.
Remember the “Road Runner”? Travis Williams was electric in 1967 as the Pack’s kickoff return man. He averaged, averaged 41.06 yards per kickoff return that season, taking four of them back for touchdowns, 2 in one game against the Cleveland Browns.
And here come the Browns again with another iconic record about to fall. On Saturday at Lambeau Field, it’s with a fair degree of certainty that Aaron Rodgers will throw a touchdown pass. If and when it happens, he will eclipse his Pro Football Hall of Fame predecessor in Brett Favre with his 443rd Green Bay Packer scoring pass.
Even Rodgers admits that 442 number appeared out of reach when he succeeded the ol’ gunslinger in 2008.
In his weekly zoom session today, Rodgers was asked a lot about the record, what it took to get even with Favre, advice he received from Brett this week and some of the 442 throws that came along the way.
Might as well start at the beginning.
You know the NFL player who has the best touchdown to interception ratio in league history actually threw a pick before a score? Mopping up against Baltimore late in the 2005 season, Rodgers was intercepted. The first touchdown would come two years later. Aaron’s gift of recall is a marvel and his storytelling about the 11 yard hookup to Greg Jennings in a game he never even expected to play in, is worth hearing for yourself.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if the next 441 came just as easily to him. Of course he has some favorites. Rodgers mentioned his first sluggo route to Jordy Nelson, a patented 80 yarder, Tom Crabtree running free down the middle for a long one, James Jones in the “hoodie” game making a remarkable grab keeping his feet in bounds, Randall Cobb’s 4th down game winner in Chicago, the three Super Bowl XLV touchdowns were obvious choices too. How about the couple of Hail Mary’s to Richard Rodgers in Detroit and Jeff Janis in the playoff game in Arizona? Rodgers remembers the teammates and the moments more than the throws.
Aaron said he texted with Favre after Sunday’s win in Baltimore when he matched the record with another ho-hum 3 touchdown afternoon. They’ve talked since and Rodgers said Brett’s advice was simple, ‘Enjoy the journey because before you know it, it’s over’, he told him.
How fitting is it that two quarterbacks who never imagined playing in the NFL’s smallest town with the league’s biggest legacy, for at least a week, share one of the most impressive franchise career records.
Rodgers was asked if he’s ever thought how different the careers of both he and Favre might have been if; 1- The Atlanta Falcons would have held on to their second round pick of 1991 and not traded their fun loving third stringer to the Packers for a first round draft choice, and 2 – If the San Francisco 49ers would have done what a lot of people thought they would do, Rodgers included, by taking him with the first overall pick in 2005. Both superstar quarterback career paths might have been vastly different.
Favre and Rodgers. Each with 442 regular season touchdown passes as a Green Bay Packer. Each with three NFL Most Valuable Player Awards earned while wearing green and gold. It’s been a remarkable 30 year run of quarterback play.
Consider these notes from that Packer record book a peeked at before writing.
4 and 12 have combined for 884 TD passes since 1992.
In the 60 years prior going back to 1932, as long as quarterback stats were being kept, there have been 55 players who threw a total 893 touchdown passes
Aaron and Brett share number one for now at 442. The rest of the Packer top 10 in touchdown passes has combined for 678. Here’s the list.
3. Bart Starr 152. 4. Lynn Dickey 133. 5. Tobin Rote 89. 6. Arnie Herber 66. 7. Cecil Isbell 61. 8. Don Majkowski 56. 9T. Red Dunn, Babe Parilli, Randy Wright 31. 10. David Whitehurst 28.
It has been a treat to witness both Favre and Rodgers throw all 442 TD’s and, like all records, this one is about to be broken.
Tuesday Notes at Lambeau:
Another COVID-19 case for the Packers. Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list by General Manager Brian Gutekunst late Tuesday afternoon. He joins defensive tackle Kenny Clark who was placed on the list last week and is scheduled to return in time for Saturday’s game against the Browns.
The team scheduled a walk through practice but after meeting with veteran team leaders, Matt LaFleur called off the practice. He agreed with his players that another day of recovery was needed after a physical game in Baltimore and heading into a short week. LaFleur said the Packers will have a pair of walk and jog throughs Wednesday just to get the guys moving again. One will be early in the morning and another later in the afternoon. They’ll wrap up preparations Thursday before taking the customary Friday off before game day.
LaFleur said he hasn’t heard anything from NFL headquarters about the possibility of moving the game off the Christmas schedule. The Browns week 15 game was moved from last Saturday to Monday night because they exploded with 22 cases of COVID-19 including Head Coach Kevin Stefanski and their top 2 quarterbacks in Baker Mayfield and Case Keenum. Stefanski on Tuesday said he, along with several of those players will have their 10 day quarantine period on Saturday, which is game day. He’s even making separate travel arrangements if necessary. Stefanski is hopeful they’ll be able to test out of the protocol before then under relaxed testing rules implemented by the league.
