Rodgers-Led Passing Attack Makes Giant Improvement
The scouting report on the New York Giants’ defense required little more than an examination of the stats. The Giants entered Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers ranked sixth in yards allowed per rushing play but 31st in yards allowed per passing play.
True to form, the Packers didn’t make much headway with running backs Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams. Aaron Rodgers, however, fattened up his touchdown total in a 31-13 beating of the Giants at snowy MetLife Stadium.
Rodgers has had better days but, taking advantage of exemplary pass protection, he threw for 243 yards and four touchdowns.
A week earlier, a 37-8 loss at San Francisco that set the outside world into sky-is-falling mode, Rodgers mustered 66 net passing yards in 38 dropbacks (33 passes and five sacks) – a feeble 1.74 yards per passing play. Against the Giants, Rodgers threw for 243 yards, wasn’t sacked and averaged 7.36 yards per dropback.
“I was a little worried that it might be more rain than snow but when those big flakes were falling down, I felt pretty good about our chances,” Rodgers said.
In some respects, nothing changed from the past week. The passing game ran through Davante Adams, whose 10 targets were four more than any other player. Running back Aaron Jones, who picked up the slack when Adams missed four games with a turf-toe injury, was the second-most targeted player with six, but he caught just four for 13 yards. Many of Green Bay’s best plays required some Rodgers improvisation.
“There were a lot of great plays in this game that aren’t necessarily how you draw plays up, but our guys were able to step up, deliver and make the plays,” coach Matt LaFleur said.
In other respects, the changes were dramatic. Against San Francisco, Adams caught 7-of-12 passes for 43 yards and one touchdown with a long gain of 14 and 3.48 yards per target. Against New York, Adams caught 6-of-10 passes for 64 yards and two touchdowns with a long gain of 25 yards and 6.4 yards per target. Not seen on the stat sheet were two pass-interference penalties that helped set up touchdowns.
Against the 49ers, the rest of the receivers caught 5-of-10 passes for 23 yards. Against the Giants, Allen Lazard caught three passes for 103 yards. All three plays were important. On the opening drive, he caught a 43-yard pass to set up a touchdown. On the second drive, he caught a 37-yard touchdown. Early in the third quarter, he converted a third-and-13 with a gain of 23.
“He made a couple really big plays today,” Rodgers said. “Obviously, the first catch got us going when it looked like we had them offside and he just flashed a hand. When I threw it, the ball just came off a lot farther left than I was hoping. What a great adjustment and then the weather and the wet ball to come down with that while he was going to the ground was pretty important and special. I’ve always said about Allen, he just has a calm demeanor. He expects to make those plays and you love that as a quarterback because he gives you confidence back. It’s almost like, ‘Hey, the ball should be coming my way.’”
Geronimo Allison’s two catches for 20 yards moved the chains. Allison made what Rodgers called the play of the game with a fourth-and-10 completion with about 4 minutes remaining in the third quarter. As he was being drilled, Rodgers connected with Allison for a gain of 15 to the Giants’ 20.
“We needed a drive there and I loved the aggressiveness from Matt (LaFleur) and I kind of held it, held it and saw G-Mo put his hand up. I was fortunate to get it in a good spot,” Rodgers said.
Several plays later, on third-and-goal from the 17 early in the fourth quarter, Rodgers caught the Giants with 12 defenders on the field and hit Adams for a touchdown that made it 24-13.
“They’d been subbing at times during the game. We haven’t done that in a while so maybe it wasn’t on their radar that every now and then we try to catch you,” Rodgers said. “At that point, it’s making sure you give your guys a chance. I felt like things were collapsing after my initial look. I looked to make sure that he was not off the field and then looked to the first couple looks. I saw Davante out of the corner of my eye break inside. It wasn’t like a special pass or anything. I just kind of laid it up there. Luckily, whoever was in the slot took two with him and ‘Te was open.”
Green Bay capped the scoring on Rodgers’ fourth touchdown, a 1-yard touchdown in which Rodgers shrugged aside a potential sack by Lorenzo Carter and hit Marcedes Lewis for the score. Lewis, who was forgotten by former coach Mike McCarthy last season, scored his first touchdown since Nov. 19, 2017, while with Jacksonville.
Rodgers fondly calls Lewis “Big Dog” and was thrilled to connect on their first touchdown together.
“It was a little something special with Marcedes, just because the kind of guy that he is, kind of player that he is, what he’s meant to our team this year from a leadership standpoint,” Rodgers said. “He’s a pro’s pro. He hasn’t been a huge factor in the passing game but he’s been a rock in the run game opening up holes for us and doing his job, never complaining, leading by example. At this point, I couldn’t have thrown a touchdown to a better guy.”
