When you have a quarterback who has won the MVP award four times in his career, it would make all the sense in the world to want to go down swinging with that arm. On so many occasions, Aaron Rodgers has gotten the Green Bay Packers off the hook in crunch time. But the Packers’ roster is assembled to have other means of success on offense. As long as Rodgers is reluctant to use those outlets, though, it could become Green Bay’s pitfall.
In London on Sunday, the Packers trailed late by a touchdown but were driving inside the New York Giants’ 10-yard line. On a third-and-two from New York’s six-yard line, the Packers went out of shotgun, and the Giants batted Rodgers’ pass down at the line. On fourth-and-two, Green Bay returned to the well, going from the shotgun again. The result? Another pass batted down, and a Green Bay loss.
The Packers abandoned running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon for much of the second half when the Giants went on their comeback spree. Unfortunately, it’s something the Packers have done far too often on offense when the opposition starts to apply pressure.
Neither Jones nor Dillon had a single carry against the Giants that resulted in less than two yards gained. At a minimum, you give either of them the ball twice to get two yards, and you feel really good about their chances to move the sticks and get a fresh set of downs — if not score a touchdown.
Instead, Rodgers shoved that idea to the side and relied solely on his right arm.
Rodgers is a generational talent and one of the best ever to do it. However, Green Bay has one of the best duos in the league at running back. It’d be a different story if the Packers had a lackluster running game that didn’t consistently produce. That isn’t the case with Dillon and Jones.
Following the loss, Jones didn’t mince words on what he thought about the final sequence.
“I’d put my money on giving me or A.J. two downs to get two yards. I’d put my money on it. But, at the same time, I’m not the quarterback so I don’t know what A-Rod is seeing, and they made a good defensive play to bat it down.”
On one of the final plays, the camera caught head coach Matt LaFleur saying to Rodgers, “You want to run that play?”
Rodgers was asked about it on his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show and confirmed they went with Rodgers’ play call over LaFleur’s.
“I wanted to run this play that we’ve run in the past that I felt like was gonna give all three guys on the left side a chance to win. They (the Giants) played it good. … It didn’t quite shape out. … Matt had an idea about a play, and I had an idea about a play. I liked both plays and basically said ‘Hey, whatever one you think,’ and jogged back out there to give reminders to the guys and we called the play that I was leaning towards.”
It seems almost foolish to suggest using Rodgers less at times, given his resumé. But not only have things occasionally become predictable, but it also puts Green Bay in spots where they aren’t utilizing two of their best offensive players. Sunday’s game can’t be reduced to that one sequence on the final drive. But when this has happened repeatedly in the last couple of seasons, it becomes an unfortunate trend.
How do you tell a four-time MVP and one of the best throwers of the football ever to grace the earth that sometimes doing less and trusting what is around him can heed better results? Better yet, how do you convince Rodgers that it’s the right path to take?
That’s for LaFleur to figure out. If it doesn’t, the same fate could befall Green Bay as in the last handful of seasons: getting really close to the finish line only to fall short.
Of course, this isn’t the only reason the Packers have fallen short. There are problems on the other side of the ball, too. Still, Rodgers needs to trust the running game and believe the job can get done without the ball in his hands. It would be one big step in the right direction.
This year, Green Bay’s passing game is still working on a rhythm with so many new faces in the mix and familiar faces with heightened roles. The most obvious thing to do is to lean on Jones and Dillon while those elements of the offense get fine-tuned.
It’s on Rodgers’ shoulders to trust in that process — something he hasn’t shown yet.
