'We got to check ourselves on that'
The trip across the pond wasn’t too favorable for the Green Bay Packers, and that seems to be the case in more ways than one.
First, Green Bay allowed 17 unanswered points in the second half and watched the New York Giants earn a 27-22 comeback victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. That was the initial reason behind Green Bay’s down day, but after the defeat, quarterback Aaron Rodgers publicly expressed his disappointment in postgame comments by teammates.
Some players in the Green Bay locker room, including star cornerback Jaire Alexander, reportedly were already talking about Week 6 — and potentially losing to the New York Jets. Rodgers was filled in about those comments made by Alexander and others and confirmed them himself.
The superstar signal-caller was asked if he was concerned with the offense, or if he would be should the Packers lose to the Jets next week.
“No,” Rodgers said, per the team. “And frankly, I don’t like all this conversation about losing next week. I’m a firm believer in the power of words and manifestation. And we got to check ourselves on that. Because talking about that, that’s not winning football. There was conversation about that in the locker room and I don’t like it. Ja (Alexander) is my guy, but we don’t need to be talking like that. I understand there is a reality in this game, there’s a win and a loss every single game. But there’s also reality in life that what you’re putting your energy towards, that’s where your focus is going to go. So I’m not going to address the prospects of losing up here, other than we just lost this game.”
The Green Bay offense was held scoreless in the second half. The only points the Packers scored after the intermission came as the Giants willingly took a safety to allow valuable time to tick off the clock in the final seconds. Rodgers went 25-for-39 for just 222 yards passing as the Packers compiled 301 yards of offense.
“Offensively, we haven’t put two halves together,” Rodgers told reporters. “There’s games like this where defense is not going to be up to their normal standards and we got to pick them up. We had chances, a lot of chances. So definitely the offense, this one is going to weigh heavy on us on this flight back.”
It seems there might have to be some sort of team meeting on that flight home, as well.