Sean Payton expects better from Aaron Rodgers.
Payton, the former longtime Saints head coach now serving as a Fox NFL analyst, voiced his displeasure with Rodgers’ body language and comments during and after the Packers’ Week 1 loss to the Vikings.
“It drives me crazy,” Payton said on the “NFL Rhodes Show”. “It drives me crazy.”
Rodgers has notably been critical of the team’s young receiving group, which lost Davante Adams when the Packers traded him to the Raiders in a blockbuster this offseason. During the preseason, Rodgers said “the young guys, especially young receivers, we’ve got to be way more consistent. A lot of drops, a lot of bad route decisions, running the wrong route. We’ve got to get better in that area.”
That sentiment has now carried into the regular season, which saw rookie receiver Christian Watson drop an easy, wide-open would-be 75-yard touchdown in the beginning of the loss.
“There’s going to be growing pains,” Rodgers said after the game. “This is real football, it counts. It’s different, there’s nerves. … We’ve got to make those plays.”
Those comments rubbed Payton the wrong way, who would have preferred Rodgers take accountability instead of shift blame onto rookies and young players.
“After the game we go to the interview in the locker room and the very first question posed to Aaron was about bouncing back and he referenced the first play of the game, the dropped pass from a rookie,” Payton said. “And I thought, ‘Come on.’ I like Aaron Rodgers, but I didn’t like what I saw.”