GREEN BAY, Wis. -- If there's a downside to the fact that Jordy Nelson has an NFL-leading 18 catches for 292 yards through two games -- and there may not be one -- it could be that the Green Bay Packers have become too reliant one player.
At this point, the man throwing Nelson the ball does not see that as a concern.
While admitting it's a departure from what they normally do, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Tuesday on his ESPN Milwaukee radio show that he does not see a downside to it.
"If teams are going to start rolling some coverage to Jordy, then we need our other guys to step up and we need to be able to run the ball more effectively," Rodgers said on his show.
In Sunday's comeback win over the Jets, Rodgers targeted Nelson 16 times. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Rodgers had never before thrown that many passes toward a single receiver in one game. The previous week, Rodgers went to Nelson 14 times.
"That's a lot of targets," Rodgers said. "We've spread the ball around pretty good over the years because that's the way we run our offense. We throw to the open guy, we go through our progressions and a lot of guys have opportunities to be the No. 1 on various plays.
"But I think we've found ourselves targeting him more and realizing that there's a lot of good things happen when the ball's thrown his way. I'm happy for him. I'm not surprised. The guy makes incredible plays every day in practice. He is constantly looking for ways to help out our offense, and he does the little things as well. He's a great blocker, he's a great route runner, he has great second and third reactions. Just going to keep trying to find ways to give him the football."
