Aaron Rodgers is Not the Problem
For some reason, many in the media have been eager to paint Aaron Rodgers as the main culprit responsible for the Packers’ offensive struggles. But the reality is more of a combination of factors, as is normally the case in football.
This isn’t to say that Rodgers has been flawless. He hasn’t. There have been some throws during this 3-game losing streak that haven’t been as precise as we’re used to seeing out of him. And those have either led to incompletions or limited yards after the catch. More on that below.
Still, his mistakes have not been egregious (He hasn’t thrown an interception during the 3-game losing streak, for instance). They’re not the key difference between this offense being stagnant and taking off. Those issues are more widespread on this side of the ball.
The reality is that the Packers have a banged up and struggling offensive line, and that’s creating a huge impact in both phases of the game. Their receiving corps is made up of a combination of rookies, injured players who have missed multiple games and lots of practices, and a bunch of JAGs. There’s not a lot of margin for error with this group, which is a problem because there have been lots of errors.
Not on the Same Page
Probably the biggest issue is that Green Bay’s receivers have not always been doing what Rodgers expects them to do. Sometimes, that’s been a case of running the wrong routes. Other times, it’s been more about their inability to properly read and react to the coverage on the fly. Common sense should tell us that it’s not the 18-year veteran coming off 2 straight MVPs who’s making the wrong decisions. Instead, it’s the rookies, new faces, and players taking on bigger roles who are not seeing the field the same way Rodgers is.
There are plenty of examples from the last few weeks. The below play was the first 3rd down of the game for the Packers against the Commanders in Week 7. Green Bay had triple slants called to Rodgers’ left. If that middle underneath defender went with the #3 inside receiver on the slant, Rodgers would deliver the ball to the #2 inside receiver, Allen Lazard. That’s exactly what happened:
Below you can see that Lazard seemed to hesitate or slow down out of his break, as if he wanted to settle in the area between defenders. Rodgers saw the defender in front of him clear out with the inside slant and wanted Lazard to keep running, so he led him with his throw. The result was an incompletion:
Even with the lack of cohesion on this play, that ball was still in a place where Lazard could have at least caught it for a first down. That’s a self-inflicted mistake that kept the offense from staying on the field.
Below is another example of a lack of cohesion in the passing game. Here, tight end Robert Tonyan didn’t see the field the same way Rodgers did on a stick route. With the underneath flat defender sitting inside the numbers after the snap, Tonyan should have throttled down in front of him. Instead, he kept running. Rodgers saw the coverage and put the ball behind Tonyan to keep him away from that flat defender. Tonyan wasn’t able to haul it in as a result: