Green Bay Packers plan on starting Matt Flynn, leave door open for Aaron Rodgers
By Josh Hill
The Green Bay Packers picked up their first win without Aaron Rodgers this season when they topped the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, and that has the coaching staff confident that Matt Flynn can lead the team. The vote of confidence in Flynn though isn’t as strong as you’d think as while the Packers are planning on starting Flynn against the Dallas Cowboys this week, the team is leaving the door open for Aaron Rodgers to return and start.
MM: We're planning to play the game (at Dallas) with Matt. That's the way you have to go about it. Aaron has hurdles to get over.
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) December 9, 2013
Notice that while McCarthy said Matt Flynn will start, he didn’t say Aaron Rodgers was out, rather that he had hurdles to get over. The Packers will continue to evaluate Rodgers status in practice this week, but the chances of him playing are still slim. Green Bay kept the drama alive though when they won against the Falcons, thus keeping their season alive.
So the incentive to rest Rodgers is almost as important as the one to start him is. The Packers both want Rodgers healthy for the playoffs but they know they might need him healthy before then to help get the team there. It’s a true ‘rock and a hard place’ situation for the Packers but it’s a situation that isn’t going away for at least another week.