With Aaron Rodgers’ return, Packers have ‘best player of his generation coming back’

The level of excitement within the Green Bay Packers and among their entire fan base is through the roof.

They know, with Aaron Rodgers’ return from a serious knee injury, they’re getting back so much more than their No. 1 quarterback. They’re getting back their spark and their swagger. And everyone on the team knows it.

‘I think that just lit a fire up under the whole city’

“You have the best player of his generation coming back,” defensive tackle Mike Daniels told Alex Marvez and Gil Brandt on Late Hits. “I think that just lit a fire up under the whole city. You get a guy like Aaron Rodgers back after he’s been gone, first of all, everybody in the building, the energy has just gone through the roof.

“Then, on top of that, Aaron’s a competitor. He is a competitor. You hear me? So, now, he gets his chance to get back on the field, oh, boy. Oh, boy. He’s back with that competitive edge. He’s talking smack, he’s getting that ball out right on the spot. Oh, yeah, I’m excited.”

‘We have to be on fire from the opening kickoff all the way through’

The Packers learned a lot about themselves during their time without Rodgers. On Nov. 26, they pushed the Pittsburgh Steelers to the limit before suffering a 31-28 loss.

“We do some really great things when we really need to, but then it’s those times where you’d just sit and wonder like, ‘Wow! We have to be on fire from the opening kickoff all the way through,'” Daniels said. “Because we have the ability to do so. We’ve shown it, time in and time out.

‘I’m really excited to see Aaron just do this thing, man’

“(Like) that Steelers game. They got the yardage on us defensively, but as a whole we fought and we competed against one of the top teams currently in the NFL. And we did it without Aaron. And that just goes to show the character and the pride of the men on the team. And to get him back? I’m just excited. I’m really excited to see Aaron just do this thing, man.”