With Additional Help, Packers’ Superb Offense Looks Super
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Better days should be ahead for the Green Bay Packers’ offense.
And that’s bad news for the rest of the NFL playoff field.
While Green Bay’s defense stumbled down the stretch before Sunday’s face-plant at Detroit, the offense is rolling into the postseason.
The Packers finished the season ranked ninth in points and 10th in total offense. Among the teams in the high-powered NFC, that’s not all that impressive. However, with the possible exception of Dallas, which hung 50-plus on Washington and Philadelphia in its final three games, there isn’t a hotter offense than the one driven by Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams.
Starting with the November game at Minnesota, the Packers ranked second with 33.4 points per game, just behind Dallas’ 33.8.
And the Packers still haven’t fielded their full offense.
While Pro Bowl offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins and tight end Robert Tonyan are on injured reserve, five-time All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari made his season debut on Sunday. Randall Cobb is expected to return for the playoffs following core-muscle surgery. Former Pro Bowl running back Aaron Jones was held out of Sunday’s game with the knee injury he’s been playing through for weeks.
Getting three high-quality players back for the postseason should provide gas for an offense that had been burning hot, anyway.
Over the last seven games, Rodgers is on one of his legendary rolls. He’s No. 1 with a 124.4 passer rating (5.9 points better than Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow), No. 1 with 20 touchdown passes (three more than Dallas’ Dak Prescott and the Rams’ Matthew Stafford), No. 1 with zero interceptions (no quarterback with at least 100 attempts had fewer than two), No. 2 with a 72.0 percent completion rate (Burrow’s No. 1 at 73.7 percent) and No. 3 with 8.17 yards per attempt (Burrow’s first 9.59 and San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo is second with 9.08).
Over those same seven games, Davante Adams was second with 58 receptions and 689 receptions (the Rams’ Cooper Kupp had 60 receptions for 806 yards) and first with eight touchdowns.
“He’s a special, special player,” Rodgers said. “He’s so unique in his skill-set and his understanding of coverages. His hands and his route running, I’ve talked about all that, but he’s really settled into his role as a leader on the football team, leader in his room and I love seeing that. He got great examples as a young player. Played behind and played with Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb and James Jones, great leaders for us, great players. Kind of saw what it was like and he just paid his dues and became a star and became a superstar and became a generational star. And as he’s ascended to each level, the leadership has accompanied that.”
Now, add in a rejuvenated Jones. In limited duty in his final four games of the season, he ranked third in the NFL with 6.2 yards per carry. In his first 11 games, Jones was held to less than 4 yards per carry seven times. With three weeks of rest, he should be as healthy and explosive as ever.
Now, add in Cobb as a quality role player. When Pittsburgh had some success against Adams, Cobb scored two touchdowns. When Adams was out with COVID vs. Arizona, Cobb scored two touchdowns. And he carried the offense with four receptions for 95 yards and one touchdown in the first half of a big game against the Rams.
Now, add in Bakhtiari. One of the great offensive linemen in the NFL, Bakhtiari hadn’t played a game in more than a year and hadn’t practiced for two weeks before giving it a go on Wednesday and Friday of last week. In 20 passing plays, he didn’t allow a single pressure, according to Pro Football Focus.
“I thought David did an outstanding job,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Monday when asked about the returns of Bakhtiari and rookie center Josh Myers. “He looked great. He moved well. Certainly, I think there’s no substitute for football shape, and that takes time. But I thought he handled himself very well. Josh, I thought there were a lot of things that Josh did well. I think you’re looking at two just completely different circumstances in terms of the number of plays David has played throughout the course of his career versus the number that Josh has. I would say David probably looked a little further along than Josh, but we’re confident that Josh will get there. He’s another guy that just has got to get back into football shape.”
Rodgers has been sensational for most of the season. After tossing two interceptions in the Week 1 debacle, he ended the season with 37 touchdowns vs. two interceptions the rest of the way. He ended the season with seven consecutive games of two-plus touchdowns and zero interceptions, the second-longest streak in NFL history.
He had that combination in 13 games, the most in NFL history and four more than Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins this season. Of the other six quarterbacks in the NFC playoff field, he practically lapped the field. Prescott had seven, followed by Stafford’s six, five for Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady and four apiece for Arizona’s Kyler Murray and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts.
With a great quarterback, all things possible. With a great quarterback getting additional help, the greatest of all things is possible during these playoffs.
