Whatever Aaron Rodgers said, whatever he did, it stuck with the Lions. Their defense is using his perceived disrespect as fuel ahead of Sunday night's clash with the Packers at Lambeau Field.
"A-Rod doesn't respect us, that team doesn't respect us and we're used to being the underdog," safety DeShon Elliott said Friday. "No matter what the record says, we're going to fight our ass off and play smash-mouth football, just because the respect factor. We all got here someway, somehow. Yeah, he's a Hall of Famer, but I just don't like the way he's been talking about my guys all year and the way that team views us. So we want to go out there and prove something."
Rodgers, who's 18-7 all time against Detroit with a passer rating of 105.8, has taken a couple jabs at the Lions this season. After they picked him off three times in a 15-9 win over the Packers in Week 9, Rodgers said, "We can't lose a game like that against that team." He later stripped Detroit's defense of credit and said the Packers beat themselves.
And when Rodgers was asked after a win last month on Monday Night Football about the Packing needing to beat three above-.500 opponents in their final three games, he said with a grin, "Well, one of them's at .500 right now." At the time, the Lions were 7-7.
Asked if he was referring to any of Rodgers' comments specifically, Elliott said, "Shoot, whatever, just period, the way he carries himself, I don't like none of that sh*t. So we gotta go out there and show what we can do and show who the big dogs (are) and back all the talk up that we do."
Elliott, who intends to play Sunday after missing the last two games with a shoulder injury, isn't the first player in Detroit's locker room to latch onto Rodgers' disrespect. After the Lions' win over the Bears last week, rookie sack leader James Houston said, "Aaron Rodgers, he talked a little smack. ... I don't think he knows how close we've become as a team and how we've grown with each other these last few weeks, so it's going to be a really good game."
Even Jared Goff said this week that the Lions are "aware, absolutely" of Rodgers' comments. Ironically, Rodgers also said last week that Detroit has Green Bay's attention after rebounding from a 1-6 start and that "it's not the Same Old Lions" coming to Lambeau Sunday night.
The Packers will be playing for the NFC's final playoff spot on national TV. The Lions might be, too. Either way, they'll have plenty of motivation to send their divison rivals -- and their longtime nemesis -- home early.
"I just feel like as a competitor, bro, you respect everybody in this league and for you to see someone or hear someone say some wild stuff about you and your teammates and brothers, shoot, what you gonna do?" said Elliott. "You gonna lay down or you gonna stand up? We're gonna go out there and stand up."
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