Seahawks expect to see, hear best of Packers QB Rodgers

Published 4:30 pm Saturday, December 10, 2016

GREEN BAY, Wis. — It’s not so much what the Seahawks will see from Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers that will determine if they clinch their division’s championship in Week 14.

It’s what they’ll hear.

The key to Sunday’s game between Seattle (8-3-1) and Green Bay (6-6) here at wintry Lambeau Field may be the two-time NFL most valuable player’s voice.

Rodgers is renowned inside the league for his hard, “double” snap counts. He shouts loud, fake signal calls at defensive linemen to get them to jump offside before the snap. When they do he continues what amounts to a free play, knowing the defense is about to get penalized no matter what happens on the rest of the down.

There is about as much a chance a Seahawk jumps offside and gives the Rodgers a free shot down the field as what everyone in Seattle talked all this past week: Varying forecasts are calling for snow accumulating anywhere from 1-5 inches here during the afternoon. Kickoff is at 3:25 p.m. local time.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick, in assessing quarterbacks and hard counts, has said he thinks Rodgers is “probably the best at it.”

Seahawks defensive tackle Tony McDaniel sees no “probably” about it.

“Aaron Rodgers is the best at it,” said McDaniel, an 11-year veteran — and one of many past victims of the Packer’s ploy. “There is some stat out there that he’s gotten the most guys offside because of his hard count.”

Why, yes there is: Last season Rodgers co-led the league drawing 17 offside penalties. This year it’s been 12 such flags in 12 games.

“It’s aggressive. It’s tricky. And he stays consistent throughout the ball game,” McDaniel said. “Eventually, someone will break during the game. He even gets some of his offensive linemen offside, he does it so well.

“It could be any given time.”

Rodgers does it in obvious situations, such as third and less than 5 when an offside penalty would give Green Bay a gift first down. He’s also done it against Seattle on second and 17, first and 15 — whenever.

That’s because it’s not just the 5 free yards Rodgers gets his offense with the flags. It’s the free plays.

If his linemen who are used to the quarterback’s verbal tricks don’t move when a defender enters the neutral zone, that allows the play to continue while the defender that jumped offside jumps back to his side of the line. Officials throw flags, but it is a live-ball foul if the defender is not running unabated to Rodgers. (So there’s the anecdote: if you jump offside, keep going in a beeline to the quarterback to negate the free play).

When Rodgers, a 12-year veteran who learned the game’s edges from Brett Favre, continues on offside plays he takes the snap for that free play and, emboldened, he often chucks the ball downfield even in tight coverage.

It’s no risk, all reward. If his pass is intercepted on such a play, the offside penalty from the beginning of the down will wipe out the turnover. If it’s caught — voila! — penalty declined, big gain or touchdown accepted by the grinning Packers.

“Aaron Rodgers makes a living off of free plays,” Seahawks All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman said. “He’s one of the most adept at it probably in league history, drawing people offsides and getting deep penalties on people, pass interference.

“I think they got the longest pass interference of the season this year, like 70 yards or something like that.”

Sherman hates that the NFL makes defensive pass interference a spot foul at the place of infraction instead of a 15-yard penalty for passes beyond 15 yards down the field.

“That’s one of those rules that needs to change, and needed to change long time ago,” Sherman said. “Until they do, people will keep taking advantage of it.”

None more than Rodgers. And against no one more than Michael Bennett.

The Seahawks’ Pro Bowl defensive end is so eager to get off the ball quickly for an advantage over slower blockers he often guesses the opposing snap count. Thus, to the unending frustration of many Seattle fans, he jumps offside about as often as the sun rises on game days.

The Seahawks have gone offside six times in their last two games against Rodgers and the Packers. It’s seven times in their last three games against Green Bay.

Six of those seven flags have been against Bennett. The other was on McDaniel.

The Packers have scored 17 points as the result of those free plays from offside flags.

“He just does it so much. He knows that people want to get off the ball,” Bennett said. “He gets ‘em. He’s just a good quarterback.

“He just keeps going, over and over: ‘HutHutHutHutHut!!!…’

“I’ve been caught on that a few times, but fortunately we’ve come out on the ‘W’ side of that.”

In two of the last three meetings, anyway. Both of the Seahawks wins in the last three meetings, including in the NFC title game in January 2015, were in Seattle, where CenturyLink Field’s noise usually diminishes if not eliminates Rodgers’ ability to use the hard count when the Packers have the ball.

But Bennett jumped offside on the opening drive of Seattle’s game at Green Bay in Week 2 of the 2015 season. Twice. The second time was on second and 15. Rodgers took the snap on the free play and, sure enough, chucked the ball to the deep middle of the Seahawks’ defense. James Jones came down with that for a 29-yard touchdown.

During a Packers 2-minute drill at the end of the first half that night, Rodgers enticed Bennett offside again, on second and 17. On that free play Rodgers threw a pass he would not have otherwise, 50 yards down the right sideline to Ty Montgomery even though Sherman was in stride with Montgomery. The pass fell incomplete but officials flagged Sherman for being too grabby. The 52-yard pass-interference penalty set up a Green Bay field goal.

How important can this be to a game’s bottom line? Those two instances in September 2015 led to 10 points off free plays Rodgers got by drawing Bennett offside. The Seahawks lost by 10, 27-17.

Seahawks defensive coordinator Kris Richard smiled when asked if he had to remind Bennett about Rodgers’ hard count.

“Our guy wants to get off the rock, get after people,” Richard said. “We just have to make sure he’s able to keep it under control. There’s no doubt about it: the key to football is they snap it, we roll.

“It’s a very good football team. A very good quarterback. You know you can have a great impact on the game if you’re able to get him on the ground. We just have to make sure we maintain our poise and just cannot get overanxious in regards to getting after him.”

Bennett and the Seahawks aren’t alone. The Jaguars, Vikings, Titans and Eagles each have fallen for Rodgers’ hard count twice in a game this season.

How does he stay so good at it?

Rodgers explained to The New York Times last year he studies not just coaches’ tape of games but the network broadcasts, so he can get the on-field television audio. He uses that to self-scout his cadences. When he detects a pattern in how he’s calling fake snap counts, he figures foes have, too. So he changes his calls.

He says he learned this craftiness while backing up Favre in 2004-06, at the end of the Hall-of-Fame legend’s time as Green Bay’s quarterback. Rodgers took what he learned and practiced his cadence skills while running the Packers’ scout teams in those seasons Favre was starting.

Sunday, as sure as snow, Rodgers will put those skills to use again. He’ll do just about anything — maybe even a Discount Double Check — because his Packers (6-6) are desperately trying to stay in the NFC North race. They trail first-place Detroit by two games.

Bennett will be listening. And Richard and the Seahawks will be watching, to see if lessons have been learned. If they have, it could go a long way toward Seattle clinching the NFC West, which would happen with a Seahawks win and an Arizona loss.

“It’s his diaphragm,” Richard joked of Rodgers.

“He has a real good knack for it. It’s a gift.

“He does a whole lot of things well. That’s just part of his package.”