Aaron Rodgers says he 'thought he was done' after getting injured last season | NFL Countdown

going to jump straight into it like there's an image I can't get out of my head a year ago it's freaking Monday Night Football it's 911 you running out with an American flag like everybody in their mom is watching right this amazing storyline that's about to unfold and and like Wham obviously we we all got cheated out of it I'm curious though A year later now like like what are your memories of that day like what's yeah you know it's kind of a blur honestly um um I mean you know I mean you've had some serious injuries like I knew when I was on the ground that something was wrong and sometimes you get drilled and you know something's off and you just kind of hope you get up and it kind of like shakes itself out sometimes you know you're like oh okay well that's just a sprained MCL or ankle that's you I got to walk off but when I stood up I said I knew it you know and then I just went down and you just everything flashing for your eyes you know the the 18 years in Green Bay the trade the spring this excitement the summer the city the Hard Knock run on the field with the flag for the first time 911 um yeah and then just thinking that's going to be the last time you know because I know I'm old and and the rehab I know I knew was going to be tough and so in the training room I really thought damn that's how I'm going to go out yeah certainly you've had your physical re have but really the more the mental side of this and they don't know what goes into that and I think they see you as like a Hall of Famer and that you probably don't deal with these things right you don't deal with doubt thinking your career is over like is this this is this how it really is going to end they don't see like the setbacks and the plates I mean I'm and I'm curious like those are things that I battled like are those things you've dealt with and how have you how have you like countered them you know yeah I mean it's been a tough it's been a tough year it's probably been the best year of my life though at the same time maybe you can relate to that but when you get hurt in a significant way it's a reset on life and everything just stops in your life everybody else's life man keeps going you like I always said you know the game was around long before we started it's going to be around long after we're done it doesn't stop for you the whole world doesn't wait for you to come back yeah conquer and here no no no everything keeps on going keep going but your life stops you become sedentary you can't move you got to be wai on by people you got to be taken care of and as somebody who loves taking care of other people you know I mean talk about life lesson right there of just like sitting in all the frustration the sadness the Heartbreak um but it was a total reset for my life and I'm so thankful for it in the moment you never think and I'm never said I don't even like this saying everything happens for a reason because I'm like really yeah but I do believe if you can't get out of your own way you're going to miss all the Little Miracles that go on around you the people that come into your life and take care of you and I know you had a lot of people take care of you during yours that become like family they become so close in your time and need they showed up time and time again and then you know you start working on the mental part the physical you have these big jumps and then there's long Plateau yeah you know where it's like when you go from sitting your ass on a couch to now I can actually walk to the bathroom with crutches then I can actually walk in a shoe those are exciting times but the mental it takes forever because you're still trying to get over the frustration the heartache the Heartbreak the what if the what could have been the excitement feeling like you let people down um I think you still deal with that I mean you still wonder can I go out there and do it um until you've done it now training camp was awesome for me because I had one of the better camps I've had I just felt like but every day I was telling one of the coaches every day I got to remind myself I'm great you know I got to go out there and do it it's the same thing come Monday night like I got to go out there and myself I can do this it's been a couple years since I played you know full game um but the mental part how did I do that I did you know a lot of stuff I like doing you know I went out in the jungle for a week I went and did uh you know and and worked on my meditation practice daily to kind of reset um surround myself with really important people unplugged you know just putting the phone away uh kind of getting off the grid um I had to you know going to Egypt was was I planned the Egypt trip in the doldrums of rehab I said I need something next summer to look forward to because mentally I'm not in a good place so you got to you have to like have some goals on the horizon not just the physical ones but the mental ones to like full body reset because it's not just a physical part it's like you said it's the mental part you mentioned these like Milestones that you hit in your rehab right like even the walk into the bathroom and then you fast forward to like big things like practicing right like training camp have you been tackled yet no so this was and I I dealt with this big time like the last the last big mental wall and physical certainly like as QBs like you wear a bright red jersey right like I know this you're untouched you didn't play in the preseason I dealt with the same thing the last time you got tackled your ke's ruptured right like you're going to go through this on Monday Night Football in front of the country it's fascinating like what have you thought about that like yeah of course of course like no no other position I was kind of hoping that you know Tac or somebody would accidentally like drill me in practice cuz you just get it out the way you know or even a joint practice you never know what's going to happen in those just somebody accidentally come screaming too hard to get pushed in you get to knock but nothing happened I was upright the whole time I might have gotten stepped on and fallen down at one point but but yeah you know I think it's really two things um one getting tackled or hit yeah and the other is extending a play and like running for a first down and sliding yeah or running out of bounds where there's going to be a rise that first down run and give him that look yeah it's going to be that rise smile like yep you know did that which I'm looking forward to it's so nice to be able to move Beyond those you know and again to be I need watch you know you need to because that's the last step it was like doing practice extended play throw a ball on the run but even in practice you know guys aren't running trying and kill you you you know some of the worst hits are in the sideline when you're trying to get they're trying to drill you you know awward a lot of times they might ease up a little bit but but I'm not getting you know Chase full speed with you know some crazy guy trying to you know drill me so it's those two things and then we'll be settling in a little bit I think one of the great your greatest strengths like at least from that my perspective has been your ability to take a narrative to take whatever crap's out there and you use it as fuel and like some people caught a chip on his shoulder whatever I think it's strength I mean I don't care if it's high school and not getting a scholarship it's sitting in the green room right it's replacing a Hall of Famer you left right away you you you've constantly like you do and it's fascinating like things that I think other people and even for me like could be discouraging you flip it you flip it like and and I don't know if you hear it now now it's you know we're 40 you're 40 Achilles like you're not going to be the same you're not going to be the guy from a couple years later like it's how do you deal with with that I enjoy it I think we all need the little extra inspiration to to play as long as we have you have to be self-motivated so you have to be able to wake up in the morning and push yourself out the door even on the toughest days but we also need to be inspired a little bit and having that that doubt the negativity is just that little extra inspiration that I just am so thankful for um because in those moments where like ah man you know like I'm tired you're pushing through a practice you're pushing through a weight room set or a rehab set and you're watching people talk about how You' done you're never going to come back like just that little extra something man it goes a long way and I'm real thankful for it so I don't let it bother me I just I'm thankful for all of it like just that little extra little inspiration chip whatever it might be is is really appreciated is that rubbed off on the team at all I mean there's a lot of same thing kind of New York media this team expectations everybody's got an opinion it seems pretty polarizing it's well I think the most important thing is we can't ride the wave you know we can't ride the up and down um I thought we were at our best in Green Bay over the years you know we didn't ride the emotional wave of we're incredible we're terrible because yeah yeah the New York media has a reputation Green Bay media you know there's expectations there you know they have reputation there's expectations Green Bay is title town for a reason so when we weren't winning titles which was a lot of years you know there's there's some harsh criticism that comes with that I think the most important thing is with this first game we win we're going Super Bowl we the best team in the league we lose we're the same old Jets y right you know it's you know quarterbacks wased you know they're not going to be able to do it they're overrated whatever it is so it's going to be really important to see how we respond not this week but the next week and then the following week because you know some of the best teams are teams that hit their stride midseason their late season I remember you guys had a run uh one of your years where you guys went like six or eight going into the playoffs right and and those are probably the best teams you're on where you dealt with that adversity then you figure figure it out then you go on a run because the teams that win the playoffs the teams get hot and we won the first 13 in 2011 then we lose at Kansas City then we kind of have a couple games going to the playoffs and we lose in divisional round I mean like the year one Super Bowl we won our last two to get in and we're the six seed the best teams are the teams that can stay healthy but also get on that run so we got to ride this wave we we got to get off the wave we can't be riding this up and down the entire season because that's the what the media wants to do and so if we can find a way to do that especially after this first week will be a great test for us whether we go out there and take care of business or whether we don't um but I'm excited to see how we respond because that's one of the things as older players you'd love to see how the team deals A diversity and you can lead the way but everybody else doesn't their own way and this is a big Fishbowl so it's be fun shockingly uh the NFL decided to run this back since Monday night last year we're going to do Monday night this year again right and this time you're going home right Northern California kid I'm a West coaster too I know what this is like but this is your childhood team what what do you expect that moment to be like when you run back out on the field yeah I think it's going to be uh emotional for sure I mean there's been a few emotional times uh when I kind of knew things were done in Green Bay like that last walk off the field I tell you last year was real emotional as I was carrying that flag when I kind of held in my hand in the in the tunnel I was like put myself getting teared up a little bit I was you know and you know as a father and the older we get it's a little easier to you know have the have the tears come but uh it it'll be emotional listening to The Anthem and just thinking back to that year almost to the day um so I'll be uh I'll be fighting back uh Misty Eyes for sure but uh there's a lot of gratitude that comes from for all the people that were there for me for my surgeon for my head of rehab for all the people that showed up for me all the messages that were sent you know that that stuff meant a lot to me in some dark moments and it continues on and and those people have still played a really important role in my life so I'll be thinking about all those people who kind of got me from off the table in the training room uh to back on the field has there been approach like my my last year when I when I came back it was almost freeing in a sense like I went to Camp every day I went to practice every day every game I drove like this might might be my last like it was like freeing in a lot of ways like is that at all like I mean it yeah 100% yeah for sure I think I think when you get on the other side of a major injury um you feel like you're kind of playing with house money yeah and I said this towards the end of my career in Green Bay but but just having a little more awareness every single day like not just going through the motions you get on the bus put your headphones in you lock you just of it maybe take him out every now and then maybe find a conversation in the locker room grab somebody just be a little more intentional because this game has given us so much to like walk through this maybe zombie mode I think you just miss out on a lot of really cool things so I'm I I take the back roads every day to work so it's a little longer Drive I just enjoy like my time in the morning to just think about how special it is to be 40 to still be playing to still have a chance to come to work with a team that has a legitimate chance to be one of the teams um that's fun so I don't take that for granted and who knows what's going to happen