Packers: Rodgers gets little help in rough outing

Associated Press  —  8/17/2008 8:56 am

SAN FRANCISCO — On a night when Brett Favre made a stunning debut with the New York Jets, the man who is attempting to fill the shoes of the legendary quarterback in Green Bay struggled mightily.

But the blame for Aaron Rodgers' rough night can be spread far beyond the shoulders of the man who waited patiently behind Favre for three years to get his shot.

Five days after an impressive showing in Green Bay, Rodgers was sacked four times and was the victim of a couple of dropped passes as he completed just 9-of-18 attempts for 58 yards in one half of action, failing the lead the Packers to the end zone in a 34-6 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

It was a disappointing effort for Rodgers, who had stressed all week the importance of a game in his home state against the team that passed him over as the potential No. 1 overall draft selection in 2005.

"As an offense you need to make some plays to get into a rhythm and to get a tempo going," Rodgers said. "Tonight our tempo stunk. I didn't make any plays so I take that squarely on my shoulders. A lot of times a quarterback, if he's making plays, can get the offense going and I didn't make any plays."

Green Bay managed just 46 yards of offense in the opening half and had to settle for a field goal after Charles Woodson picked off a pass from J.T. Sullivan on the 49ers' third drive.

On that series, Donald Lee couldn't hang on to a perfectly placed pass into the end zone. Donald Driver also dropped a deep ball on Green Bay's first drive.

It didn't help that the Packers played without starting running back Ryan Grant and reliable receiver Greg Jennings.

"The productivity wasn't there for the offense so I can't sit up here and say the quarterback played well," coach Mike McCarthy said. "It was not a good evening for all of our quarterbacks."

Brian Brohm, the Packers' second-round pick in this year's draft, was 4-of-9 for 33 yards. Seventh-round draft choice Matt Flynn, who is competing for the top backup job, was 5-of-6 for 33 yards.

Meanwhile, Favre completed 5-of-6 passes for 48 yards and a touchdown in front of a supportive home crowd in East Rutherford, N.J.

"I knew I had made the right decision," Favre said, "when I was on the field tonight."

Favre was solid in his brief Jets debut after a week of cramming to learn his new playbook. He threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Keller to cap his second series in a 13-10 loss to the Washington Redskins.

"It worked out better than I thought it would, not that I thought it would go badly," Favre said. "It was like starting all over again. I had some feelings that I haven't felt in 17 years, but that's a good thing."

The 49ers are trying to sort out their situation at quarterback, with O'Sullivan -- a former third-stringer with the Packers -- aiming to unseat Alex Smith, the player whom San Francisco drafted over Rodgers.

O'Sullivan threw San Francisco's first scoring pass of the preseason and led the 49ers on back-to-back touchdown drives, capping one with a 59-yard scoring pass to Josh Morgan.

"I'm going out there to try to play quarterback as well as I can and let it go from there," O'Sullivan said. "Unfortunately I don't get to make the decision."

O'Sullivan came into training camp third on the depth chart behind Smith and Shaun Hill. But O'Sullivan has started both preseason games for the 49ers and gave the best performance of the three in the first half against the Packers.

Coach Mike Nolan said earlier in camp that he'd like to have a decision on his starting quarterback by the third preseason game next week. He's now not sure that will happen.

"We want to make a good decision and we will," he said. "I'm confident, I'll say it again, I like all three of them. I thought tonight all three of them did a nice job."

O'Sullivan got off to another shaky start with the interception to Woodson. That was his third turnover in seven preseason drives, an alarming rate even at this time of year.

But he looked better once Green Bay's first-team defense started heading to the bench. After hearing some boos from the home crowd following a false start by Jonas Jennings and a timeout call, O'Sullivan connected on a 27-yard pass to Jason Hill on third-and-eight.

He then hit Morgan with a 22-yarder on another third-down play that moved the ball down to the 3, setting up DeShaun Foster's 1-yard score on fourth down.

O'Sullivan hit Morgan for the long score on the next drive and finished 8-for-17 for 154 yards with the touchdown and interception.

"It's our job as an offense to go out there and score touchdowns," O'Sullivan said. "Tonight we moved the ball consistently and we want to keep putting the ball into the end zone."

Smith played the third quarter and went 5-for-12 for 62 yards, a day after flying home to San Diego to attend a memorial service for a family friend who died earlier in the week.

Smith overthrew Morgan on a deep pass on his first drive and later missed an open Hill in the back of the end zone. San Francisco scored a touchdown on that drive on Moran Norris' 1-yard run on fourth down.

"I missed two big opportunities, the long ball to Josh and the ball to Jason in the back of the end zone," Smith said. "Those two stick out. Other than that, I thought I played pretty decent. But when you miss two big chances like that you can't get it out of your head."

Notes: Former Packers special teams ace Allen Rossum scored on a 67-yard punt return in the fourth quarter for the Niners. ... In addition to Grant and Jennings, the Packers also were without LB A.J. Hawk and DL Ryan Pickett. ... The Niners were without WRs Arnaz Battle, Ashley Lelie and Bryant Johnson.

Associated Press  —  8/17/2008 8:56 am