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Packers' Rodgers hobbled but ready

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The Associated Press

Published: November 3, 2009

GREEN BAY, Wis. - The hits just keep on coming for Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has experienced a season's worth of sacks in seven games. All that punishment is beginning to take its toll.

Rodgers limped away from Sunday's loss to the Minnesota Vikings with a sprained toe on one foot and a nagging sprain on the other. Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Rodgers could miss time in practice this week but is expected to play Sunday at Tampa Bay without losing mobility.

Rodgers has been sacked a league-worst 31 times this season, including six by Minnesota on Sunday.

"Our sack numbers are clearly out of balance," McCarthy said. "That's something we'll continue to work through."

But Rodgers' inability to stay upright is only one of the glaring problems facing the Packers (4-3), who were put in their place - a distant second place in the NFC North - by their former quarterback, Brett Favre.

"Their quarterback has made a big impact," McCarthy said of Favre. "That's something, that quarterback productivity, they haven't had in the last three years that we have played them."

Meanwhile, the Packers keep showing they're not ready for prime time.

McCarthy was typically measured in his assessment of the Packers' play Monday, but had sharp words for defensive lineman Johnny Jolly, whose personal foul head-butting penalty wiped out a third-down stop and set up the Vikings' first touchdown of the game.

"It is what it is," Jolly said. "That didn't cause (us to lose) the game."

Jolly's comments didn't sit well with McCarthy.

"There's no reason for it, there's no explanation for it," McCarthy said. "He needs to be more accountable for that."

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