Aaron Rodgers clearly wasn’t himself in the second half of last night’s loss to the Saints. But the Packers quarterback wasn’t making any excuses for himself either.

Some degree of hamstring issue left Rodgers limping slightly but noticeably after the 44-23 loss, but he insisted it wasn’t an issue.

“I’m not going to miss any time,” Rodgers said, via Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin.com. “If I felt it, then I had to back off a little bit. We had to do a little more in the shotgun but it wasn’t a big deal, ultimately.”

Apparently it was. His passer rating before the whatever-it-was was 133.1. After, it was 45.8, with a pair of interceptions which weren’t entirely the fault of his legs. And any element of him moving, the way he did when he scrambled for a first down, was gone.

The story went on to say that Rodgers didnt't even want to call the issue a hamstring injury. Whatever it was, the good news is the Packers are on a bye Week 9, and while we can't always trust players when it comes to comments on injuries, it seems like the time off will have Rodgers ready to go in Week 10 - a Sunday night matchup at home against the Bears.

Andrew Quarless has officially taken over the Packers' starting tight end job from rookie Richard Rodgers. For the first time this season, Quarless was listed as the starter on the team's weekly depth chart.

Quarless had been in Aaron Rodgers' ear most of Sunday’s game, letting him know that he can beat the defender when it's a linebacker assigned to cover him. On the game-winning play, Rodgers saw the same matchup, changed the call and went right to Quarless.

"It's plays like that that you feel really good about the connection you have with the receiver when you can make that eye contact and be on the same page," Rodgers said Tuesday on his ESPN Milwaukee radio show. "I'm proud of Q. He's a guy who's made some big plays over the years and hopefully this is the start of getting him some more opportunities."

Quarless is in the mix as a fantasy TE2 given the confidence that Rodgers has in him and the overall production of the Green Bay offense. It doesn't look like Richard Rodgers is going to make much of a fantasy impact this year.

Packers beat writer Rob Demovsky: As Aaron Rodgers' trust in Davante Adams increases, so will the rookie receiver's production. Adams caught his first career touchdown pass last week against the Vikings, and Rodgers noted this week that the more he has watched film, "the more you're seeing No. 17 [Adams] being open." According to Rodgers and the Packers' offensive coaches, Adams has refined and improved his route running and has been winning more one-on-one battles against cornerbacks.

Adams only has 10 targets over the past three weeks, but he caught his first career touchdown in Week 5 (and nearly had one against the Jets in Week 2 and another against the Bears in Week 4), so Rodgers is not afraid to throw to him in the redzone. A breakout game is likely coming if he's going to continue to play starter-type snaps, which has been the case with Jarrett Boykin sidelined.

The issue is that Packers TE Brandon Bostick, a former college wide receiver, hasn't mastered all the tight end assignments and TE coach Jerry Fontenot refuses to put him on the field until he does. If Bostick shows in a game he's not on the same page as quarterback Aaron Rodgers, he might as well head for the bench anyway because he's not going to see the ball after that.

"I need to feel more comfortable with the things we're doing in practice," Fontenot said. "I need to see that he's making split-second decisions, the right decisions. We're still getting there."

Fontenot made it clear that if it were just a matter of Bostick running pass routes from a slot position, things would be different. But the tight ends have to block and run routes from an in-line position, line up wide as a receiver and serve as fullbacks on some running plays.

They probably have to know more about the offense than everybody but Rodgers. Fontenot said he would not put Bostick in the game without some mystery as to what he was going to do.

Bostick played some last year, but the Packers were in dire need after Jermichael Finley went down. Now they are comfortable with rookie Richard Rodgers and veteran Andrew Quarless. Bostick will have to prove that he is completely comfortable in the offense before he'll start seeing consistent snaps.

For what it’s worth, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers faced Vikings HC Mike Zimmer’s defenses in Cincinnati twice. The Packers went 0-2 while Rodgers completed 57.3 percent of his passes for an average of 252.5 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions and a 74.8 passer rating.

Last year’s 64.5 rating in a 34-30 loss at Cincinnati was Rodgers’ third-lowest rating since 2009.

“I have a lot of respect for [Zimmer] and the job he does,” Rodgers said. “He’s always well prepared and very confusing at times with their schemes.”

“It gives you some similar works and they run different things out of it,” Rodgers said. “Different blitz schemes, different coverages behind it. They give you some issues with the protections, obviously. And his defenses in Cincinnati always covered very well with a lot of talented corners, much like Minnesota does.”

We're expecting better numbers from Rodgers in this meeting, though the prep time is reduced on the short week. The Vikings don't have the defensive talent that Zimmer had in Cincinnati.

Jets beat writer Rich Cimini: The patchwork secondary came away from the opener feeling pretty good about itself, but I think they're in for a reality check against Aaron Rodgers & Co. If Dee Milliner sits out again with a high-ankle sprain -- he is a question mark -- the starters will be Darrin Walls and Antonio Allen, a converted safety whose experience at cornerback consists of 48 preseason snaps and one regular-season game. Allen is a big, physical player, a terrific tackler, but he will struggle against a polished route runner like Jordy Nelson. Ryan is a clever defensive coach, but he will have to pull a rabbit out of his hat to slow down the Packers' passing attack.

The Jets have historically been tough to run on -- they posted a league-best 3.4 YPC last season -- but teams have been able to move the ball through the air. The Packers will try to run the ball with Eddie Lacy, but if he doesn't get off to a hot start, expect a lot of Rodgers in on Sunday.