GREEN BAY -- The sun rose in the east and set in the west. The beer flowed. The grills grilled. The toilets flushed. The usual oldies poured out of the stadium speakers. More beer flowed. The fans cheered. Yep, the first game of the 2008 preseason came and went Monday night at Lambeau Field and it was pretty much like every other exhibition opener for the last 15 years or so.

Except for the new guy at quarterback ...

Aaron Rodgers, whose very presence angers some fans who had hoped to squeeze another season or two out of recently-departed legend Brett Favre, stepped into the spotlight before 69,675 somewhat anxious spectators and took a big step toward establishing himself as "The Guy."

Rodgers, who was swarmed by ESPN's cameras during warm-ups and received a politely enthusiastic standing ovation when he took the field to start Green Bay's new era, completed 9 of 15 passes for 117 yards and a touchdown as the Packers lost their exhibition opener to Cincinnati, 20-17.

"I thought Aaron did a number of solid things," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "I thought the productivity was there. I thought Aaron did a very good job with the mechanical part of the game. I thought he threw the ball off his back foot with accuracy. I thought he was decisive. I thought he put together a good performance for us to build off of.

"Now there's going to be things I'm sure tomorrow, like there always is. It is preseason game number one and we'll correct it accordingly and make sure we build on the positives and fix the things that need to be corrected."

In four series of work, Rodgers led the offense to a touchdown and a field goal that, coupled with a strong start by the first-team defense, led to a 10-0 lead. After throwing an interception that clanged off Chris Francies' chest and found its way into Dexter Carter's hands, Rodgers moved the offense 44 yards for a field goal. He then struck James Jones for touchdown. Jones caught the pass between Marvin White and Deltha O'Neal, absorbed a punishing hit that separated him from his helmet, and scampered into the end zone.

"It wasn't that hard of a hit," Jones said. "It probably looked hard, but it wasn't that hard. I was able to regroup."

Rodgers, who called Jones' play "a great catch and run," was pleased with his own performance.

"We made some plays," he said. "We were close to really putting some points on the board. We just didn't execute as well as we probably could have. We're going to clean it up, watch the film, make the corrections and get better next week."

Was it a perfect outing? No. Was it enough to silence a few critics still stinging from Favre's departure to New York? Probably.

"I understand the attention around his performance tonight and him playing tonight," McCarthy said. "But I saw Aaron as like he is every day. I thought he went out there and played with excellent energy, which I always recall him playing with.

"I think he's done a really good job being consistent. I understand the microscope is on him with all the attention, but those are really external forces that we can't really pay attention to."

Some other notes from the night:

Familiar tune: When a local band performing a pre-game set in the atrium broke into a BoDeans' cover, a press box wag commented "If Favre was still here, they'd have gotten the real BoDeans to play."

Diehard fans: Packers rookie offensive lineman Josh Sitton was pushed around a bit during his debut, but he got plenty of support from the stands. A group of his close friends strolled into the stadium 45 minutes before the game and one of them had Sitton's number, 71, and a Packers "G" shaved into his chest hair.

Taking it easy: The Packers scratched a number of veteran players, including cornerback Charles Woodson, running back Ryan Grant, safety Charlie Peprah, cornerback Al Harris, linebacker Desmond Bishop, center Scott Wells, tackle Orrin Thompson, defensive tackle Ryan Pickett, wide receiver Greg Jennings, defensive tackle Justin Harrell, defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and defensive tackle Johnny Jolly.

Oh, behave! The Packers are enforcing their fan code of conduct this season as part of a league-wide crackdown on boorish behavior. Beer sales stop at the end of the third quarter, as per league policy, and ushers have been instructed to enforce the code, which prohibits fighting, taunting, smoking in forbidden locations, intoxication or alcohol impairment that results in irresponsible behavior, abusive or foul language and obscene actions and a refusal to follow instructions of stadium personnel.

Notebook: Packers historian Lee Remmel, who was ill for most of last season, attended the game. Remmel is 84 ... Nobody explained why it happened, but the "G" in the center of the field was not painted ... Briana Lipor of Racine, the reigning Miss Wisconsin, performed the national anthem ... The Web site for Sports Illustrated is not accessible in the Lambeau Field press box. A prompt came up that read, "Reason for restriction: Forbidden Category 'Intimate Apparel / Swimsuit.'"