GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers can throw a football without any pain.
But that's only half the battle -- or maybe even less than half of it -- for the Green Bay Packers quarterback to return from the broken collarbone he sustained on Nov. 4 against the Chicago Bears.
Rodgers was seen tossing a ball around at MetLife Stadium before Sunday's game against the New York Giants, an exercise he said Tuesday during his weekly radio show on ESPN 540 in Milwaukee was a pain-free experience.
"It felt good," Rodgers said. "I had the adrenaline going."
Rodgers said he also has no pain while running, but he has not attempted to take a snap yet.
"I think the biggest issue is not the pain at this point," Rodgers said. "It is the risk of taking a shot like that and what it would do if [the collarbone] displaced. Obviously, I'd be out for the season and worried about any type of complications going forward."
Although Rodgers has repeatedly said there is no timetable for his return, he said Tuesday that the "normal" recovery for a non-athlete with this injury is six to eight weeks.
"We're 15 days outside of a fractured collarbone," Rodgers said. "Put that in the context of a normal healing cycle who's had a similar injury to mine."
The Packers were 5-2 before Rodgers got hurt against the Bears in the first quarter. They lost that game and then the next two to fall to .500.
On Monday, coach Mike McCarthy named backup Scott Tolzien as his starter for Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings and then added that Tolzien will "go into the week as the starter just like he did last week."
Last week, the Packers did not rule out Rodgers until Friday even though it was expected all along that he would not play against the Giants. It's unlikely much would change in advance of Sunday's game, either.
When asked about his chances of playing against the Vikings, Rodgers referenced a movie.
"Have you seen 'Dumb and Dumber?'" Rodgers said, "when he's asking her about the chances [for a date] …"
Of course, that's when Lauren Holly's character tells Jim Carrey's character that those chances are "more like one in a million," to which Carrey's character replies, "so you're telling me there's a chance."
"For that to happen, I would have to be on the field two days before the game," Rodgers said. "So it would be Friday this week or Tuesday of next week [before the Thanksgiving game at Detroit], practicing. If that's the case, then there's a chance. If not, then I will be spectating."