You assigned some blame to Rodgers but only for his handoff style. I would contend that he also gets some blame for the lack of production in the run game in that he just is not as effective at quickly reading and dissecting defenses as Favre was last year. Whether it was finding a hot route, changing the play, finding a TE in a seam, or dumping a pass to Grant I think Favre was better at keeping a defense on their heals more and their LB’s off the line of scrimmage and out of the backfield. I think Rodgers is a good QB and I am glad we have him but I think he is less effective this year in keeping a defense guessing then Favre was last year. Maybe not a huge drop off but enough that I think it adversely effected the running game this year.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not assigning huge fault here to Rodgers nor would I to Manning for their team’s running game woes. In fact, I’m assigning just 7%. So I don’t think this is that big of a deal. What I am saying is that it is a small factor because it gives defenses a quick tip as to which way the play will be going. You are right, when there is a fake, it tends to be effective because the opposing defense has become so accustomed to just following what is so obvious. But as you pointed out, what’s the point of doing that if we rarely fake and how could we justify running a bunch of predictable running plays just for the chance that we’ll catch someone off guard with a fake later. My point is that by showing clearly THAT he’s handing off as well as WHICH DIRECTION he’s handing off, it makes playing defense easier than if he would be a bit more discreet about it. Even pitching it back might be more discreet because it happens faster giving the defense less time to react.