WEEK 13: It Doesn’t Get Easier for Eagles with Aaron Rodgers, Powerful Packers
PHILADELPHIA - Change the play-caller, try another tweak on the offensive line, and even integrate Zach Ertz back into the 28th-ranked offense in the NFL.
Whatever the 3-7-1 Eagles do they are up against it in Green Bay on Sunday when they square off with Aaron Rodgers and the 8-3 Packers, one of the real contenders on the NFC side of the NFL's bracket.
It seems almost redundant to say Rodgers is having an MVP-level season, something that has almost been an annual occurrence since he took over for Brett Favre in the 2008 season. Green Bay as a whole has been spoiled with Hall of Fame quarterback play for over a quarter-century now.
The MVP race this year is likely a Jake from State Farm closed affair with Rodgers, the 16-year veteran, dueling with young gun Patrick Mahomes of Kansas City.
When Rodgers is on, no one has ever played the position at a higher level.
Through 11 games this season, A-Rod leads the NFL in passer rating at 117.6 while completing 68.5 percent of his passes with 33 touchdowns vs. four interceptions.
Rodgers is always in control, perhaps the greatest manipulator at the line of scrimmage ever, the master of the hard-count and a player who has somehow managed to marry being the top big-play threat at the position while also taking care of the football better than anyone in history.
In 6,375 career passing attempts, Rodgers has been intercepted only 87 times. His career-high was 13 picks during his first season playing and hasn’t thrown double-digit INTs since. Since 2017 Rodgers has thrown 16 interceptions in over 1,785 passing attempts. As a comparison, Carson Wentz has thrown 15 this season in 422 passing attempts.
“I have so much respect for him going against him since 2008, I think was our first matchup, and then obviously in Detroit facing him twice a year,” Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said of Rodgers. “But I think he's really taken his game to another level this year. He's incredibly efficient."
The change comes with the move at head coach from Mike McCarthy, who allowed Rodgers to freelance at will, to Matt LaFleur, who has developed a more structured approach.
“He was always good at making big plays and doing those kinds of things, but he's just so efficient," said Schwartz. "He doesn't miss a check down. He runs a boot and he's taking the positive yards. He still scrambles. He still makes those plays, but I think you're seeing it in his overall play.
"He still makes his big plays down the field, but I think he's taken his game to another level this year.”
The Eagles arguably played their best and most balanced offensive game of the 2019 season at Green Bay, winning a 34-27 shootout with Craig James playing the hero late.
A similar path to victory is likely in play this season.
The Packers can be beaten as their three losses attest to but you almost have to do it by winning a shootout.
OFFENSIVE SCHEME: Green Bay runs one of the more multiple offenses in football under LaFleur and they have a QB who can get them out of bad looks at the line of scrimmage.
The main personnel formations are 11 (three receivers) at 50 percent followed by 12 (two tight ends) at 22 percent and 21 (two running backs) at 20 percent.
The elite playmakers are receiver Davante Adams, arguably the best in the NFL this season, and a route-running machine, and running back Aaron Jones.
“It's an outstanding offense,” Schwartz said. “They're incredibly efficient. They got a lot of different weapons, and they run the ball sneakingly well if that's a word. But you have to take care of that, too. Well-balanced, well-coached, good players at all the positions. It's going to take an outstanding effort for us.”
DEFENSIVE SCHEME: Mike Pettine, the son of the legendary Central Bucks West head coach in Bucks County, PA, and once the top man himself at North Penn and William Tennent high schools, long ago graduated to the NFL and was once the head coach in Cleveland with DC stops in Buffalo and with the New York Jets as well before he took over the Packers D in 2018.
Pettine runs a 3-4 attacking scheme with the main disruptor being edge rusher Za’Darius Smith. The good news for the Eagles is that Preston Smith hasn’t followed a good 2019 season with a sequel and former first-round pick Rashan Gary has yet to take off.
Overall the Packers rank 13th in defense with lockdown corner Jaire Alexander joining Za’Darius Smith to form the toughest pieces to deal with.
“Number 55 (Za’Darius Smith) lines up both left and right, so it’s gonna be interesting,” Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “We’re gonna keep looking at the film and build our protection plan.”
STRENGTH: Rodgers is the obvious answer and without peer when it comes to manipulation and the mental side of the game.
He’s ranked No. 1 by ProfootballFocus.com and as good as players like Mahomes and Russell Wilson are, even they can’t match Rodgers’ efficiency playing the position at age 37.
The respect Rodgers gets from his peers and opposing defensive coordinators is almost eerie.
“He’s so smart,” Eagles cornerback Avonte Maddox said. “He just knows he’s up there, you kind of catch him looking at you, and he’s checking right away. You can be locked into your receiver, looking out the side of your eye, he’s looking to see what you’re in or what you’re doing, and he’s checking to the right thing here and there.
“You just have to be able to keep him grounded. He can run, he can make plays on his feet, as well make any throw on the field. He’s just a great quarterback, overall, and we got to limit that guy as much as we can. We got to get off the field on third down. This team barely reaches third down because they’re making so many great plays.”
WEAK LINK: The Packers inside linebackers have been an issue all season with Christian Kirksey and Krys Barnes among the lowest graded in the NFL by PFF. Pettine has also tried Ty Summers and Kamal Martin at times to minimal success.
If you can get the big bodies like Kenny Clark and Dean Lowry blocked up front, Miles Sanders and the running game should be able to get some things done.
“The linebackers are probably a little more aggressive,” Sanders said. “They shoot gaps whenever they see ’em. … It’s going to be another challenge for the running backs, and we’re going to get the job done, regardless. Overall good defense. Good front, they like to do, like, a five-down front, they got some two-gap in ‘em. It's gonna be a challenge.”
UNDER THE RADAR: It seems like Rodgers turns some little-known receiver into a star every season and this time around it's tight end Robert Tonyan, once an undrafted rookie by Detroit out of Indiana State who caught a total of 14 passes in two seasons before 2020.
This season Tonyan has been one of the better pass-catching TEs in the NFL with 37 receptions and seven touchdowns.
MATCHUP TO WATCH: Jordan Mailata and Jack Driscoll vs. Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, and Rashan Gary.
The Packers are often like a knucklehead playing Madden. They are coming after you with the edge rushers and with Philadelphia having such little experience at the tackle positions, allowing a historic number of sacks to this point, and possessing a QB whose internal clock seems broken, you can set your watch to the expected pressure.
Mailata played really well against the poor pass rush of Seattle and it will be interesting to see which young tackle on which Pettine will unleash Za'Darius Smith.
OUTLOOK: The numbers highlight the daunting challenge for the Eagles.
Green Bay is No. 4 overall in total offense and top 10 in rushing (10), passing (6), third-down offense (4), and red-zone success (3).
The Packers excel in just about everything with LaFleur proving to be an early success in getting Rodgers to buy into a more structured approach in favor of the sandlot football that made the veteran into the most dangerous player in the NFL.
The latter remains in play, however, with Rodgers being one of the best ever in pocket awareness and the ability to extend plays while keeping his eyes downfield for the big-play strike.
The Eagles defense is underrated especially in Philadelphia and ranks top 10 in its own right when it comes to total defense, pass defense, and third-down defense but this is a league skewed toward offense and Doug Pederson doesn't have the horses on that side of the football right now with a shell-shocked QB behind a makeshift offensive line.
Final Score:
JOHN MCMULLEN: Packers 31, Eagles 20 (5-5-1 on the season, 6-5 vs. the spread)
ED KRACZ: Packers 28, Eagles 20 (4-6-1 on the season, 5-6 vs. the spread)
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Tuesday and Thursday on "The Middle" with Eytan Shander, Harry Mayes, and Barrett Brooks on SportsMap Radio and PhillyVoice.com. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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