The Green Bay Packers’ quarterback made rare mistakes when he lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Aaron Rodgers speaks of a warning shot for the team, which has played almost perfectly so far. For him the Raymond James Stadium is a place of horror.

Tampa is a nice city, located at Tampa Bay, a beautiful bay on the Gulf of Mexico.

Numerous animal and plant species can be found in the protected mangrove areas, the manatees swim into the bay for the winter and enjoy the warm Florida weather. All in all a pretty paradisiacal place.

But for Aaron Rodgers Tampa is hell.

Rodgers get injuries
As a young quarterback, he injured his shoulder in Tampa in 2008, and in 2014 he was injured in the same place on his calf.

On Sunday the quarterback left the Buccaneers’ game physically unharmed, but with a defeat in his luggage that neither Rodgers nor anyone else would have expected with such clarity.

By Sunday, the Packers had played almost perfectly this season, which was mainly due to Rodgers. With impressive precision, the quarterback handed out the passes, and the 36-year-old achieved extraordinary statistics.

He never missed a single interception in the first four games of the season, and since the start of the 2018 season there have only been six.

Aaron Rodgers almost never throws a “Pick Six
But at the score of 10:0 for the Packers on Sunday evening, the previously well-oiled machine from Green Bay started to stutter, for which Rodgers was responsible.

A-Rod threw an interception at Jamel Dean, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ safety carried the ball back into the Packers’ end zone. Rodgers almost never throws a pick six, and this was only the third time in his NFL career since 2005.

The fact that he missed two of these three “Pick Six” in Tampa is a further indication that the city is simply not a good environment for the Gunslinger.

The Pick Six on Sunday was his 6,215 pass in the NFL, so statistically Rodgers throws an interception with a subsequent touchdown by the opponent on one of about 2,070 throws.

Which is why it was all the more surprising that two passes later he almost missed the next Pick Six. Bucs-Safety Mike Edwards was stopped after the interception but just before the end zone. Nevertheless, the two plays had a fatal effect on the Packers and the team imploded afterwards.

The Packers’ 10:0 lead turned the Bucs around quarterback Tom Brady into a 38:10 victory.

“Shit like this happens,” Rodgers said after the game: “I haven’t had many of these things in years. But the wind blew pretty strong from right to left. I actually felt good with that pass. I knew it was going to be tight, but we’ve already managed throws like that. I missed the spot by maybe 30 centimeters. And the kid made a good play.”

Rodgers with second worst Passer Rating in his career
Rodgers finished the game with 160 passing yards, without touchdown and with the two interceptions, giving him a Passer Rating of 35.4. Only once in 2014 against the Buffalo Bills did the quarterback have a lower rating if he was a starter and did not leave the game prematurely injured.

The Bucs Defense was mainly responsible for the uncomfortable evening in Tampa. The Bucs Defense kept flashing Rodgers, made it to twelve quarterback pressures and literally chased the experienced passer.

“Of course you don’t want to lose like that,” Rodgers said, “but for me it felt like we could use a wake-up call. Everything has been going so well so far and there has been so much talk everywhere about how easy we can move the ball and score points. Maybe we needed a kick in the ass.”

Arrogance attack by Rodgers
And Rodgers himself had not exactly made a modest appearance recently. “Sometimes I laugh about it when people talk about my bad years. Because many of my bad years would be top years for most other quarterbacks,” he had said on the “Pat McAfee Show.

Which is true, of course. But surely such statements also contribute to the fact that the opposing defenses are even more motivated. And the statements fall on your feet when things aren’t going so well after all.

Spotlight on Battle of the GOATs
At the beginning of December Rodgers turns 37 years old, 2010 he could win the Super Bowl with the Packers. It is his only ring so far, which is actually too little for a player of his class. Tom Brady, seven years older than Rodgers, is a lot ahead of him with six rings.