The Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers recently affirmed his admiration towards his fellow Packers QB Danny Etling following his performance in the preseason game against the New Orleans Saints on Friday.
During an interview, Rodgers went on to great lengths about how excellent Etling was. The latter showed his quality performance with a naked bootleg run for a 51-yard touchdown during Friday’s game.
Rodgers witnessed his whole play and he couldn’t hide his excitement when Etling played a big role in his team’s scoring process.
“What did I tell ya. What did I tell ya. What did I tell ya,” Rodgers said as he clapped his hands and smiled. “Yeah baby, I love it. I love it.”
For Etling, that was not his first time doing a long naked bootleg run to score a homerun. Back in his days with the New England Patriots in 2018, he ran across the field with no significant obstacles against New York Giants.
51-yard run to the HOUSE for Danny Etling & @AaronRodgers12 is loving it!
TOUCHDOWN! 🙌#GoPackGo
📺: #NOvsGB on Packers TV Network pic.twitter.com/7c87kTNh74
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) August 20, 2022
Unlike Rodgers, Etling admitted that he could not see himself doing that in the long run. He deceived the whole Saints team as most of their players ran toward running back Dexter Williams, he ran into the empty space and the rest was on the headline.
“I wasn’t quite expecting that,” Etling said.
When being asked how fast he is, Etling was just being modest, implicitly saying that he was not the fastest player around.
“It depends on who’s chasing me,” he said.
However, Etling admitted that scoring a touchdown is something that every quarterback desires. The naked bootleg itself was something that he would always bear in mind.
“It’s a surreal experience,” he said. “You hear about it all the time. It’s just an historic thing. Even as a quarterback, you think you’ll throw a lot of touchdowns. You don’t always think you’ll run one in and get the Lambeau Leap. That’s something that will live with me forever.”
Despite making his NFL debut with the Patriots in 2018, Etling has played for a variety of teams. He spent time on the practice squads of several teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Packers, who signed him this year.
Proves the doubters wrong
The Indiana-born quarterback said that he has always tried to show his best on every team he was in. For him, it is important to seize the momentum to give the best performance and always be willing to learn.
“I think it’s really just taking it day by day,” Etling said. “Understanding what this league is, you have to make plays when you get your opportunities and execute the offense. You have to continue to strive to be the best player you can be each day.
That’s all I’ve really focused on. Whether or not you make a roster or anything like that is so out of your control. In a lot of senses, you just control how you play and being a great teammate, really.”
The Packers coach Matt LaFleur said that he knew that Etling had proved his doubters wrong, adding that he also underestimated Etling at first.
“We were making fun of him,” LaFleur said. “He played in a preseason game in Detroit and we pulled up the tape in the quarterback room just to see how he did and, for a guy that didn’t have much experience at all, he’s definitely an athletic guy.
And for a quarterback even to be placed in that position, I think that says a lot about just not only his athleticism but his toughness, as well.”