Aaron Rodgers has seemingly taken aim at his own coaches after the Green Bay Packers almost suffered a slightly embarrassing home defeat to the New England Patriots who had played the majority of the game with third-string quarterback, rookie Bailey Zappe.
Although having an impressive 3-1 record, the Packers have had a slow start to the season in both sides of the game, with the offence failing to live up to their standards of the past two seasons, whilst the defence has also struggled. And Rodgers himself has highlighted the need to improve in both facets, whilst surprisingly taking aim at the coaches by suggesting the gameplan was wrong.
Rodgers said: "I think we're going to have to play a little bit better against starting quarterbacks and if our defense isn't playing as well as they can."
He added: "This way of winning, I don't think, is sustainable because it puts too much pressure on our defence. And obviously, I've got to play better and will play better."
And whilst Rodgers was critical of his own performance, head coach Matt La Fleur also admitted he must do better calling the game, and putting his team in the best position to win. He called "the worst decision of the day" after an ill-advised replay challenge, which cost the team one of its timeouts.
The coach said: "I'm not too proud of that moment. That was an emotional decision, and I think it's a great learning lesson that you can never make those emotional decisions in the heat of battle. You know better.
"You've got to survive the ground. Connor Lewis was in my ear, he's up in the box and he's in my ear, and he said, 'I don't think so.' And he said that we shouldn't challenge it. Just made an emotional decision, and it was almost like throwing a Hail Mary. That could have came back and bit us in the butt."
The Packers sit atop of the NFC North along with the Minnesota Vikings, who defeated the New Orleans Saints in London on Sunday afternoon.
Rodgers' side will face the two New York sides in the coming weeks, first travelling to MetLife Stadium to face the Giants before returning home to face the Jets the following Sunday.
