What’s wrong with the Packers offense this season?
Packer fans this season have been scratching their head as the historically potent Packers’ offense has fluttered and fallen far short of expectations. Green Bay so far this season is 24th in total yards, gaining only 341 per game. Despite an up-and-down year overall rushing, they still rank 15th in yards per game, getting 111.7 yards per game. The problem has been the passing game, getting only 229.8 yards per game through the air, good for only 22nd overall.
What has been the cause for such a collapse? The answer is three fold: simplistic route trees & play calling, a regressing offensive line, and the lack of a true dynamic weapon have caused this offense to become one that ranks in the bottom third.
Simplistic route trees:
Since Mike McCarthy has handed play calling duties to Tom Clements, the offense has gotten significantly less complicated. Very few crossing routes causing legal pick plays, wheel routes around a receiver who cuts in, bubble screens to wide receivers…the list of unique looks McCarthy had executed for years has dwindled to simple curl and drag routes, as seen above.
Denver was the first to spot this during their bye week and subsequently has given teams a blueprint on how to beat the Packers. Line up man coverage, with bracket (meaning two or more defenders) coverage on Randall Cobb, and do not worry about anything deep. Defenses have been dropping safeties into the box, both to stop the run as well as guard the first down marker because they know Green Bay no longer attempts to hit it deep.
The easiest way to fix this would be at the very least have McCarthy implement the offense, even if it is Tom Clements calling the specific plays. More diversity in route trees and deeper looks will open the door up more for Randall Cobb to get open, though there are other limitations causing the Packers to be unable to consistently throw it deep.
The Offensive line:
The offensive line has been breaking down as the season has progressed. The most obvious reason for the offensive line’s struggles have been injuries. Each member of the offensive line has been dealing with nagging injuries throughout the season, though that can be said for basically every offensive lineman. Still, it appears that the Packers line is playing especially hurt and most likely is the reason for the recent struggles.
Historical trends as well as the first six games the offensive line kept Rodgers for the most part upright and rarely sacked. Since the bye however teams consistently have been getting to him. This is the easiest long-term fix because an off season of rest and some good luck next year will fix this hole.
The lack of a dynamic weapon:
This has been the biggest issue this season for the Packers. This is why Randall Cobb is being taken away and why Rodgers has to keep looking and looking for someone to get open. They physically do not have the capabilities to beat the corners they are matched up with consistently. Take a look at the Packers’ receivers, for the most part they are all 4.5 forty yard dash speeds and range from 6’0″ to 6’1″. Think of these all as more-or-less your, “Greg Jennings,” mold guys. Greg Jennings was so good for the Packers because he worked incredibly hard to give small nuance fakes, utilize perfect timing with his quarterback, and ran in an offense where they would crisscross over the field. We do not have the intricate offense to hide their physical deficiencies.
Take a look at every successful passing attack and what they all have in common is a true mismatch physically either from speed or size. You can go back three years and the only team to do this without one is the Packers. Yes, even when Jordy Nelson was healthy, his recent big play explosion the previous two seasons was from double moves and usually on the free plays when Rodgers would draw a defender off sides. While Nelson will help Rodgers be more comfortable next season, let’s be honest he never was a top flight burner and coming off a torn ACL over the age of 30 means we will see diminished returns. If Nelson came back today with the way the offense is being run and the blueprint the teams have on the Packers, it likely would not make a large difference. Sure, they would get a few more points here and there but he is not a Rob Gronkowski, who when missing the Patriots look like a different team. Or a Julio Jones for the Falcons.
The Packers only solution to this long term is something people have more-or-less speculated on for quite some time, “what would Rodgers do if he had a true number one receiver?” Unfortunately for the Packers those do not grow on trees. What Green Bay needs to do is STOP drafting the same receiver over and over again, instead take someone who may not be that tall but is very fast, like a TY Hilton (5’9″ but 4.34 forty yard dash, third round pick) or someone that may not be fast but is 6’4″ or 6’5″ like a Kelvin Benjamin (28th overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft, so these types of talents are accessible).
A bargain draft pick example would be Martavis Bryant from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bryant was a raw, underdeveloped talent but ran a 4.4 forty yard dash and is 6’4″. He was more polished in college than Jeff Janis, who incidentally is the closest thing to what the Packers need being 6’3″ tall, with 4.42 speed. Bryant was a 4th round pick, and that kind of talent is available for the first few rounds. Historically, Thompson has selected guys who are not too short but also not tall, and guys who aren’t too slow but are not fast either. He needs to infuse something, either a speedster to take the safeties away from the first down marker OR a big tall receiver that cannot be covered one-on-one by someone who is four inches shorter.
The Packers could also fix this by simply drafting a physical mismatch at tight end. While Richard Rodgers has had flashes (see Thursday night’s amazing Hail Mary grab; in fact, see it again and again because it was fantastic) he also was on pace to be the third Packers tight end in the modern era to not have over 10 yards per catch. He was putting up one of the worst seasons outside of the redzone for any Packers tight end. This is not a knock on Rodgers so much as a reality check. He’d be fantastic…as the number two tight end or alright as the feature tight end if we had someone on the outside to draw the bulk of the attention.
As it stands, the Packers best hope going forward would be to either have Jeff Janis make a leap forward development wise or by making a bold statement early drafting high impact potential players. While the draft is a crap shoot and no one is guaranteed to succeed, what is guaranteed is that everyone has a limitation when they reach the maximum use out of their physical gifts. Like any sport, the players with the highest upside are those with the highest physical capabilities for growth and development. Instead of drafting a bunch of 6s and 7s who can only ever hope to become near 8s, lets get some 4s and 5s that with good coaching could become 9s and 10s.
As always, go Pack go! Stu Weis -Journalism graduate 2012, Carroll University
6 responses to “What’s wrong with the Packers offense this season?”
I think the most obvious conclusion is put JANIS on the field more often–we’ve seen Rodgers throw deep to Janis against Vikings-who had FOUR DB’s covering and Janis still got ahead and open but the throwaway from Rodgers (yeah, Aaron deliberately threw it too deep not expecting a catch but just to stretch secondary) was overthrown. We saw same vs. Lions on Thurs, Janis deep, Rodgers overthrowing the ball again just as he did to James Jones across the middle causing the INT. Utilizing Janis is the only way to change defensive coverage and Pack’s only deep threat, playing him just one, two sets and then ignoring him is allowing defensive to continue pressing WR’s and forcing Rodgers to hold the ball too long, miss rhythm throws. Packers also need to disguise run plays with some misdirection, use more screens–especially TE bubble screens. It wouldn’t hurt to throw in a trick play now and then if nothing but FORCE defense to adjust to a different look–handoff or pitchout to Cobb out of backfield, quick throw back to Rodgers to look deeper down field for option–Rodgers can always throw it away or Cobb to run it should the trick not be open, at least they show something to make defense THINK instead of reacting to what they KNOW is coming. Jet sweep or read option–use a direct snap to RB beside Rodgers–at this point I’d prefer Starks or Kuhn to handle that snap–even that’s shaky with Starks fumbling TWICE against Lions, ANYTHING to force defense into mistakes in cover.
Jordy Nelson is a very, very good WR but if you honestly believe that him being out is the main issue for this teams offensive failings, it would seem you belong in the audience of a show being taped that claps when instructed.
The point spreads,which are the most trusting over all in value of a player, in or out of a game, likely has the absence of Nelson moving that number 1-2 points at most.What has moved the spread and the trust in the Packers this season is the total failure of recent weeks and the 6-0 start that wasn’t as decisive as many Packer fans wish to believe.
Poor play calling, predictability or bad play, whichever eases the pain more, the lack of growth from the recent draft class and the almost total failure of growth from draft classes of older, 3-4 years, have caught up to the team but not as quick as the most recent class of last season.
The failure of this team to release/cut dead weight and replace in a more efficient manner has been the reason for a decline in play even if the wins already achieved are but illusions of false grandeur.
I agree. I saw the issues with the offense going way back to the SF game and it looked like they were just left unaddressed, being covered up by the win. It was the defense that stepped up big in that game and covered for the deficiencies with the offense. Had they not been satisfied with just the win and looked at the issues and deficiencies early on with fresher schemes and more practice, they would’ve been far better prepared after the bye to take on every one of those teams they lost to.
Each one of those games were winnable if both the offense and defense were on their “A” game. It just seems so lopsided at times where either the defense or the offense are playing at a high level but rarely have BOTH played at a high level at the same time. That’s something the coaches need to figure out in getting both sides of the ball on the same page in sync and playing at a high level every game. That’s what we’re been missing for quite some time now.
Nelson is a WR who fights for the ball and has a strong ability for the side line pass but his separation from press is a little above average.Him being on the field with Cobb and another of your choice enables that to be more enabling.Much of Nelsons yards are after the catch because of his speed and that is a reward of his hands in tight cover.
What I’m saying is the others,whether Nelson played or not wouldn’t be a correct all for what has been seen from the offense.In fact,Nelson not being out would simply make it harder to understand and accept the ill play of this team that goes beyond anything as simple as its the loss of Nelson.
I love Nelsons play as much as anyone but in no shape or manner is he the main answer or reason for this failing by the offense.This thinking has the scent of Nelson being more responsible for the pass success of the offense more than Rodgers and that is as ridiculous as the sentiment we are debating to begin with.
Yes,Rodgers is playing bad also but even his issue goes beyond Nelson as the cure.
My nose works fine and so do my eyes. We all know or at least those who admit to it, the Packers have endured the usual things that every team does during a season. Packer fans convince themselves it much worse for them. It isn’t and that is the simplest explanation. The Patriots have lost more players and ‘key’ players on offense and until this week they seem to continue winning. the Packers aren’t winning our opponent is simply losing easier…a huge difference and one that is obvious weekly.
No matter what the issue is … And I think it’s a whole bunch of everything , I just don’t see the pack going very far with Janis , Richard Rodgers , abbrederius, perrilo , and company …. I hope I’m wrong but if not for a Hail Mary this team is fighting for a wild card