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          NFL Nation

          No fluke Greg Jennings caught some of Packers' most memorable passes

          • Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff WriterJul 25, 2016, 10:55 AM ET
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              Rob Demovsky is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Green Bay Packers. He has covered the Packers since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2013. Demovsky is a two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the NSSA. You can follow him on Twitter at @RobDemovsky.
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          GREEN BAY, Wis. – Greg Jennings caught two of the most memorable passes in recent Green Bay Packers’ history – the 82-yard touchdown from Brett Favre on the first play of overtime to beat the Denver Broncos in 2007 and the 31-yard third-down conversion from Aaron Rodgers late in Super Bowl XLV.

          It was no fluke.

          Jennings, who announced his retirement from the NFL on Monday, was one of the most precise route runners Favre and Rodgers ever had.

          Although he left Green Bay in free agency following the 2012 season and his career was never the same in Minnesota (2013-14) or Miami (2015), his seven years in Green Bay were mostly a clinic on how to get open against tight coverage. It was how a receiver who measured just a shade over 5-foot-11 and weighed less than 200 pounds excelled.

          To hear Rodgers describe the third-down throw to Jennings in the Super Bowl is to understand why he – and presumably Favre – trusted Jennings so much. It was third-and-10 and the Packers were clinging to a 28-25 lead when they faced a critical conversion to keep the clock moving.

          "I remember that as I was lined up in the shotgun, I knew how important this play was," Rodgers said in his retelling of the play to ESPN in 2014. "And I also knew that if I kept the play on, I had really only one place to go with the football that would get us the first down."

          The receiver he trusted was Jennings against Pittsburgh’s Ike Taylor.

          "They were playing two-man with inside leverage and we had in-breaking routes, so I really knew Greg had to win against Ike Taylor and I'd have to make a really good throw," Rodgers said. "But I've made that throw a number of times and felt good about it. I was able to take a nice healthy hitch into it and put the ball where I wanted to."

          Taylor actually tipped the ball slightly, but that didn’t throw off Jennings. It helped lead to a field goal that would force Pittsburgh to have to score a touchdown on their final possession, which, of course, they did not.

          At total of 6,537 of Jennings' 8,291 career yards came as a Packer. Same with 53 of his 64 career touchdown catches. Had he stayed with the Packers instead of jumping to Minnesota for a slightly more lucrative deal, he almost certainly would have moved into the team’s top five in career receiving yards.

          His departure from Green Bay left some bad feelings in its wake. Jennings criticized Rodgers on his way out the door and said he was “brainwashed” by the Packers.

          Those comments won’t soon be forgotten, but it’s also worth remembering just how good Jennings was with the Packers. He belongs in the conversation with Donald Driver, James Lofton, Sterling Sharpe, Antonio Freeman, Max McGee and a handful of others when talking about the best receivers in Green Bay’s rich history.