On cusp of record, Aaron Rodgers soaking it all in

Over the years, his perspective has come to incorporate all angles, because while he admits the competitor in him would say he’d be headed for the Hall of Fame whether he apprenticed behind Favre for three seasons or not, the grounded realist knows it was a positive factor in his career equation.

“The human element and the observer and the gratitude is understanding that things happen the way they happened to allow me to get in this position,” Rodgers said. “A lot of that is being able to sit behind Brett and watch one of the greatest players, competitors, quarterbacks of all time do it for three years, and then figure out how to do it on my own.”

Rodgers went on to say sharing a quarterback room as a rookie with someone better than him was good for both the ego and his personal drive.

“He throws it better. His mastery of the system is better. Instincts are better. Pocket presence’s better,” Rodgers recalled. “And that was great for me because I really got to see exactly what I needed to work on in order to become great, because my dreams and my aspirations and my drive was to be great.”

Rodgers also expressed gratitude for all the players he’s thrown touchdown passes to, other teammates he’s built relationships with, and coaches who’ve refined his skills and taught him new ones.

He even laughed about the first of his 442 touchdown passes, which came in relief of an injured Favre in a big Thursday night game at Dallas in 2007 – not about the touchdown itself but about that player 14 years ago, sharing the same long hair he sports now, first entering the game and “trying to wipe the hair out of my face to be able to remember what the (play) call was.”

It was a simple route by Greg Jennings, who made the catch, made a guy miss and got into the Texas Stadium end zone.

“And away we went,” Rodgers said. “That was a good feeling.”

The record-breaker, assuming it comes on Saturday or whenever, will be too, and Rodgers will make sure to enjoy it.