NFL: Breaking News Updates
The 2017-18 NFL season is heading into Week 16 and just this past week we saw a lot of different storylines steal the spotlight. Earlier in the day, Aaron Rodgers returned from injury, but wasn't able to lead the Green Bay Packers over the Carolina Panthers. Later in the day, the Jacksonville Jaguars clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2007. And then at the end of the night, the New England Patriots stole one on the road with a last minute interception, defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers, in a battle of arguably the two best teams in the league. Our NFL Staff will update this will the most recent breaking news that hits us!
Aaron Rodgers is out for the season (December 19, 2017): Coming into the season, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers had Super Bowl aspirations as they do every year. But here we are after Week 15 with the Packers eliminated from playoff contention for the first time since 2008 and Brett Hundley as the Green Bay starter heading into Week 16. So what went wrong? Anthony Barr and a broken right clavicle is about what happened. Rodgers had the Packers at 4-1 headed into Green Bay’s October 18 game against the Vikings in Minnesota. He started off the season as he normally does, on fire with 13 touchdowns to only three interceptions. Unfortunately for Packers fans, midway through the first quarter is where the NFC North would completely shift from the Packers division to lose to the Vikings division to take. Rodgers was rolling out to his right, trying to avoid pressure, and as he released the ball, Vikings' Anthony Barr drove Rodgers into the ground and broke his right collarbone. Rodgers was done for the season. Right? That’s where you’re wrong. The best QB in the league (arguably) was determined to help his team make the playoffs, especially after Hundley began to struggle in Rodgers’ absence. Things looked bleak for Rodgers to return anytime in 2017 at first, but as the weeks passed it became more and more clear no matter how many plates or screws he had in his shoulder, Rodgers was going to come back and try to play one way or another. And eventually he did return with the Packers in a must win situation at 7-6 for a Week 15 game against the 9-4 Carolina Panthers. This would be easy work for the best QB in the league to win three straight games, salvage Green Bay’s season, and put them in the playoffs right? As we all found out, Rodgers is human, and thus like anyone else that hasn’t done something for almost two months, he was rusty. Rodgers didn’t look like himself at all in Carolina, as he tossed three interceptions, all on throws it seemed like he could make in his sleep pre-injury. However, the Packers still had a shot to steal a win and save their season. Down 31-17, Rodgers threw a TD pass with roughly 2:43 remaining and the Packers recovered an onside kick. It was time for the "bad man" to lead another one of his patented comebacks right? Not quite. Rodgers completed a pass to Geronimo Allison deep into Panthers territory, but Allison fumbled and the Panthers recovered. Game over for the Packers, and season over for Green Bay as well, with the Falcons win on Monday. The Packers did the smart thing and shut Rodgers down with nothing more to play for, but best believe after missing the playoffs for the first time in nine years, A-Rod and the Pack will be back with a vengeance in 2018.
Photo Credit: Sporting News.
