When the Green Bay Packers hired Matt LaFleur in January 2019, Packers fans all over the country wondered how different the offensive scheme would look. With Aaron Rodgers now in New York and Jordan Love operating the offense, we can only wonder how much LaFleur will overhaul the offense. One realistic change that we can expect is for the running back tandem of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon to be vital contributors at the start of the year.
Regardless of how many reps he gets at practice, Jordan Love is still a brand-new quarterback in the NFL. He may get jitters against the Chicago Bears in Week 1 due to the pressure of succeeding Aaron Rodgers. The best way LaFleur can counter the butterflies and help Love get more comfortable in the offense would be to lean into the running game early and often.
That may seem like a small impact on the overall success of a football team, but effectively running the ball can open up the passing game in many ways.
First, we need to consider the types of running backs we are dealing with here.
Aaron Jones has been Green Bay’s main running back since the 2018 season. He is more of an elusive back who can juke and make spin moves in the open field, and he’s sure-handed in the receiving game. In the last four years, Jones has averaged just over 1,000 rushing yards per season.
Dillon is more of the old-fashioned power back who will put his shoulders down and run over defenders. Although many fans were not happy with Green Bay’s decision to draft Dillon in the second round, he has averaged about 785 yards over the last two seasons.
As the spread and air-raid offenses have become very popular, many fans think that running the ball has grown outdated. Still, having a good running game can open up and support a spotty passing game. Average four or so yards per carry and the defense will have no choice but to stack the box, freeing up space in the backfield.
An offensive guru like Matt LaFleur can scheme plays that complement both the running game and Jordan Love. One of LaFleur’s close friends, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, always designs two or three different passing plays with the exact same formation and motions as their running plays. LaFleur has adopted this philosophy.
By combining those techniques, he can force a defense to both respect the run and expect it more. But if you line up with the same formation of a running play you just used, and the defense puts many defenders in the box, LaFleur can have Love run shot plays out of play-action.
If Jones and Dillon can pile up at least 30 carries between them, Green Bay can execute this technique at the beginning of the season. That will force the defenders to take their focus off Love and allow him to get more comfortable with the offense.
Like any team, the Bears will be familiar with play-action. They might even be expecting it. But given the raw talent that Green Bay has in the backfield, they have multiple ways to get the offense rolling in September.
Let’s say that LaFleur has Love throw the ball on the first few plays: Expect them to be short wide-receiver screens similar to what Rodgers and Davante Adams did. Do not expect deep-passing plays that require time in the pocket unless it is a play-action shot later in the game.
We can guarantee two things about this year’s offense. The first is that they will be fast. It is impossible to run a fast offense when you throw incomplete passes. So expect either short screens or ground-and-pound between Jones and Dillon to begin with, then opening up play-action passes.
The other one is that we will see the full extent of LaFleur’s offensive scheming without any restriction, and it will enable Love to get into a rhythm early in the season. They key ingredients in this recipe are Dillon and Jones.
