| Green
Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy addresses reporters' questions
about a controversial touchdown call on Monday Night Football
during a press conference in Green Bay, Wis. |
 |
GREEN BAY —
One day after venting on his radio show about the refereeing debacle
that cost the Green Bay Packers a game in Seattle, Aaron Rodgers
saved one last barb for the NFL.
Asked
Wednesday about how the Packers were handling the aftermath of a
Monday night loss that touched off a national firestorm about the
league's use of replacement officials, Rodgers dismissed an
NFL-issued statement generally supporting the officials' handling of
the situation a "bogus report."
Beyond that,
though, the MVP said it's time to move on.
"I think
one thing that we really learned from it is, as frustrating as it
is, ultimately it's a game judged by people who are imperfect, and
there's going to be mistakes," Rodgers said.
"And you
hate it that it affected us and we lost a win because of it, but
there's a lot of blame to go around other than referees. They have a
job to do. They're trying to do their best. They obviously didn't
bring their best in that game and in that play, but there's a lot of
blame to fall on the shoulders of guys like myself who didn't play
their best game that night."
Going into
Sunday's game against New Orleans, Packers coach Mike McCarthy says
it's fine for his players to use the incident as motivation — to a
point.
"I love
emotion," McCarthy said. "Emotion is the engine that makes
this thing go. So I'm for any kind of emotion, as long as it's
channeled properly. So you want to talk about chips on your
shoulder, whatever it is, the only emotion I don't really care about
is self-pity. We're not the victim. Nothing's guaranteed to
you."
With McCarthy
urging his team to put the situation aside and focus on the Saints,
it's worth pointing out that the Packers wouldn't have been in
position to have that game taken from them if their sputtering
offense was performing closer to its recent high standards.
Replacement
officials didn't allow Rodgers to get sacked eight times against the
Seahawks, and the refs can't be blamed for the Packers making
themselves one-dimensional by handing the ball to running back
Cedric Benson only twice in the first half.
This week's
drama took the focus off what has been an uncharacteristically poor
start to the season by the Packers' offense.
Three games
into the season, the Packers rank 20th in yards passing per game
(226), 28th in yards rushing per game (78.3) and 25th in total
offense (304.3).
Packers
players know the time for venting is over. There's too much work to
be done to dwell on anything else.
"It's
easy to put it behind us," said M.D. Jennings, the player who
appeared to intercept the decisive pass before the call went against
him Monday night. "In this game, you've got to have a short
memory and just learn from things and move on."
The Packers
are 1-2 after a last-second pass by Seahawks quarterback Russell
Wilson was ruled a touchdown catch by Golden Tate — when the
Packers, their fans and most of the football-watching public saw it
as a clear interception by Jennings.
"It's
tough to learn something from that situation," Jennings said.
"You can second-guess yourself thinking, catch it or bat it
down, but I just had to go on with my instincts and that was to go
up and try to make a play on the ball. And just put it behind me and
move on. That's all I can do."
In a
subsequent statement, the NFL acknowledged that Tate should have
been flagged for offensive pass interference earlier in the play but
didn't take issue with the way replacement refs handled the rest of
the play.
That further
angered the Packers — especially Rodgers, who read portions of the
statement on his weekly radio show on Milwaukee's ESPN 540-AM
Tuesday and paused several times to point out the inaccuracies he
saw.
Rodgers is
just one of several Packers players who spoke out. Packers players
are not expected to be disciplined by the league for their comments.
Rodgers wasn't
surprised about the lack of punishment.
"There's
too many people who felt the same way," Rodgers said.