GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Alex Van Pelt has been on both sides of the debate about whether to play a quarterback in the preseason.
As a former NFL quarterback, he liked playing in the preseason.
As Aaron Rodgers' position coach, he's not so fond of it.
"As an ex-player I think, yeah, you do want to take some hits just to get that 'OK it's over with,'" Van Pelt said this week as the Green Bay Packers prepare to start Rodgers in Friday's preseason game at San Francisco, in what will be his first -- and perhaps only -- preseason appearance.
"I remember what that's like. But as a coach, no I don't want him to get hit. But that's part of the game. He's been hit before; he'll be hit again."
So Van Pelt, who played nine years with the Buffalo Bills, mostly as Jim Kelly's backup, was happy to take his first hit of the year?
"In a sick way, yeah, all quarterbacks are," said Van Pelt, who is in his third season as the Packers' quarterbacks coach. "I remember playing in games where you're nervous and then you get the crap knocked out of you, and all of a sudden you're not nervous anymore, you're fired up and ready. So sometimes it helps."
To Rodgers, it's more about getting his wind ready to play a full regular-season game, not necessarily taking a hit.
"Regardless if I play zero snaps or 100 in the preseason, nothing is going to officially get you ready for that first game until you get out there," Rodgers said last week. "You can prepare for it, but it's always going to be the first couple [games to] test your wind, but the only way to do that is if you played every snap of every preseason game, and that's not going to happen.
"So I would expect extended time in the third game, and probably not much to not play in the fourth game. So it's about conditioning at that point, and making sure you feel good by the time Week 1 rolls around."
