World’s Best Preview: Less has not been more for Adams, offense

Throw him the ball: Aaron Rodgers has said it. Matt LaFleur has said it. Davante Adams sort of said it.

The Packers need to get Adams involved. Through three games, he’s tied for 37th with 15 receptions and 36th with 198 receiving yards. The previous three seasons, only Antonio Brown (36) had more receiving touchdowns than Adams’ 35. Last season, Adams caught 111 passes for 1,386 yards and 13 touchdowns. Had he not missed the final game of the season, he almost certainly would have led the NFL in passing targets (169; one less than Julio Jones’ 170) and broken Sterling Sharpe’s franchise record for receptions (112).

“It’s just putting him in position to have some opportunities,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said as part of the corresponding video. “We had 50-something plays last week which is limiting the amount of opportunities our entire offense has. If our offense has less opportunities, there are probably going to be less opportunities for targets for Davante.”

That’s true, but only to an extent. If the Packers leaned too heavily on Adams last year, they’ve gone the other direction this year. After being targeted on 29.2 percent of the team’s passes last year – behind only Houston’s DeAndre Hopkins (30.2 percent) – he’s down to 24.1 percent this year. That 24.1 percent is the same as Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

Adams is by far the team’s best player on the perimeter, which means he must get the ball to boost a sputtering offense. It would be a big surprise if he’s not targeted frequently against an Eagles pass defense that is one of the worst in the league and will be without top corner Ronald Darby.

“Just figure out what’s working,” Adams said after Sunday’s game against Denver when asked about how the offense can get going. “The old saying, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ … That’s something that we’ve got to lock in on a little bit more to make sure we’re communicating, talking to coaches about what I want to run, what I’m seeing, things like that. Because obviously defense adjust, so it’ll make it tougher throughout the game.”

Nowhere to run: While the Eagles are down two of their top three defensive tackles with Malik Jackson on injured reserve and top backup Tim Jernigan out with a broken foot, they rank second in the NFL by allowing just 2.95 yards per carry. All-Pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox remains a bully in the middle for coordinator Jim Schwartz’s defense, and the linebackers flow to the ball.

That group will challenge an inconsistent Packers rushing attack. Sticking with his word, Packers coach Matt LaFleur has stuck with the running game. However, while Green Bay is 10th with a run rate of 43.8 percent, it’s just 26th with a 3.44-yard average. Oddly, the Packers ran the ball better last season (104.2 yards per game despite the league’s most pass-happy attack) compared to this year (89.3), because the average has plummeted from 5.01 in 2018 to 3.44 this year.

“I had the opportunity to work with Coach Schwartz when he was at Buffalo,” Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said. “He’s a great football coach and they’ve got a great scheme and they’ve got some really good players that penetrate up the field and they cause havoc. That’s what this system has done. They’re very sound. I think it’s one of those things is we have to understand that there’s not going to be a lot of huge plays all the time and we have to take what they give us. A 2-yard gain isn’t bad at times. We just have to keep on pressing on that. They’re a very sound defense and they’re good up front. They’ve got good safeties, good linebackers; I was with Nigel (Bradham) at Buffalo when he was first there. Those guys are all good football players and a good scheme.”

Third down: We wrote about Green Bay’s horrendous third-down offense earlier. Only the Dolphins, who might be the worst team in NFL history, and Jets, who are down to their third string quarterback, have been worse on third down than Green Bay’s 25.0 percent success rate. On third-and-10-plus, Green Bay is a woeful 1-of-16 – a conversion rate of 6.3 percent. Only four teams have had more third-and-longs and only four teams have converted less frequently.

“I would say one of the biggest things has been a couple penalties, whether it be a holding play and you’re back at 1st-and-20, whether it’s a false start. Those have popped up quite a bit,” Hackett said. “It’s not one guy, either. You wish you could say it’s that right there, but it really isn’t. It’s just kind of a multiple bit of things. We just need to clean those things up where guys need to feel comfortable and go out there and execute.”

On the other side of the coin, Philadelphia’s third-down offense has been exceptional with a 56.3 percent conversion rate that ranks second in the league. Green Bay’s defense has been exceptional, too, ranking 10th with a 34.9 percent conversion rate.

“No. 1, obviously with the scheme, it’s multiple,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. “Gosh, first, second and third down, there’s different fronts, there’s different coverages, different people, personnel on the field. That’s the thing, these guys are good at disguise and trying to cause confusion with the offensive line, the backs and even quarterbacks in coverage. You think it’s heavy-blitz packages but sometimes they can confuse in the coverage game. You see this defense doing that and causing that with some of the quarterbacks last week, the week before, some of these veteran quarterbacks. That’s the challenge, especially on a short week having to get as much film prep in as you can.”

On third-and-1 through third-and-6, Green Bay’s conversion rate of 43.8 percent ranks a woeful 27th. While Rodgers is 8-of-13 with seven conversions and a 79.0 rating in that scenario, Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, is 12-of-14 with 12 conversions, three touchdowns and a 139.6 rating.

Give them a break: Defensive line and outside linebacker are demanding positions. And the Packers have demanded a lot out of outside linebackers Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith and defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Preston Smith has played 90.9 percent of the snaps, Za’Darius Smith is playing 86.1 percent and Clark is playing 79.4 percent.

All three have been tremendous vs. the run and pass, meaning it’s obvious why defensive coordinator Mike Pettine wants them on the field as much as possible, but those snap counts are unsustainable over the course of a full season. At some point, that means Pettine is going to have to go with his depth, with Kyler Fackrell and Rashan Gary at outside linebacker and more snaps for reserve defensive linemen Tyler Lancaster, Fadol Brown and rookie Kingsley Keke. That “some point” could be on Thursday, given the workloads of Preston Smith (63 snaps), Za’Darius Smith (59 snaps) and Clark (56 snaps) a few days earlier against Denver.

“It’s something that we’re definitely aware of,” Pettine said. “It is a long year. Whether it’s a guy who’s young (or not), you certainly don’t want them at those positions having that many reps. Part of it, too, is the guys behind them, getting them up to speed. You’ve got to develop a trust factor with the guys behind them. Like Keke came in and we thought did a real good job, that we don’t have a problem now taking Kenny out because Tyler’s been a solid backup for us. And then Rashan, being able to ramp up his reps, as well. Fackrell’s a guy that we’ve always had trust in. So, we’d like to get those reps down, but sometimes you get into those games and big situations and it’s, they don’t want to come out. Like, during the preseason, I tried to take Z out of the Baltimore game after a handful of snaps and he almost fought me on the sideline. He didn’t want to come out. So sometimes we’ve got to be a little bit more forceful with them to get them to come out. Because they’re competitive, which is what you want.”

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