The Green Bay Packers barely escaped Jacksonville with a win after a pulse-quickening game.
Green Bay’s offense kept getting in its own way and struggled to put up points against the Jacksonville Jaguars’ poorly-ranked pass defense. Worse, Jordan Love struggled with pain for most of the first half before exiting the game with a groin injury.
But Green Bay persevered thanks to Malik Willis and Matt LaFleur’s play-calling adjustments. The offense did enough to put the Packers in position to drill a time-expiring, game-winning field goal for the second consecutive game.
Credit Matt LaFleur and Brian Gutekunst with finding a savvy backup quarterback and setting him up for success by playing to his strengths. The Packers have won all three games where Willis started or played significant snaps.
With Willis under center, the offense leans more heavily on the scheme and the running game to make life easier for the quarterback. Love’s status is uncertain for this week’s game against the Detroit Lions. Still, whenever he’s back in the lineup, LaFleur and Love need to rely more heavily on the run game and scheme to optimize the offense’s performance.
The offense hasn’t been bad, so this isn’t just looking for something to be mad about. Love has thrown some incredible passes on big plays, and we’re seeing the emergence of some fun playmakers.
But between self-inflicted mistakes like penalties or Love’s NFL-leading interceptions, the offense still has room for growth. The Packers have the youngest offense in the league, and mistakes come with the territory.
Still, the Willis games have shown a blueprint for minimizing those mistakes and playing more efficient football. With Love’s high ceiling and ability to find big plays, melding the two philosophies can lead to success.
When the offense was red-hot to end the 2023 season, it was no coincidence Aaron Jones was putting up a streak of 100-plus-yard rushing games. The Packers were a more balanced team that could beat you in multiple ways, thanks to the cache of weapons.
Josh Jacobs has two 100-plus yard rushing games this season, and both were with Willis under center. In Week 2, LaFleur took advantage of the Indianapolis Colts’ porous run defense, and Jacobs had 151 rushing yards.
Despite having a rushing TD, he wasn’t overly efficient in the first half against the Jaguars. Still, wearing down Jacksonville’s defense and a more favorable game plan led to a big second half. He finished the day with 127 rushing yards and two TDs. His first 12 carries went for 39 yards and a 3.25-yard average before breaking out in the second half with 88 yards on 13 carries for a 6.7-yard average.
What changed besides the usual wear-and-tear that helps running backs in the late game?
LaFleur better played to Jacobs’ strengths, abandoning the outside runs that weren’t picking up steam in favor of good old-fashioned north/south battering-ram play. Chris Brooks played a big role throughout the game with some nice blocking and an incredibly savvy play where he went down to keep the clock running rather than attempting to score his first NFL touchdown. LaFleur better used his running backs by playing to their strengths and prioritizing the run game. Even though Jacksonville has a poor passing offense, LaFleur focused on wearing down the defensive front to great effect.
It wasn’t simply taking the ball out of Willis’ hands, either. Willis was incredibly efficient as a passer and still made plays, including an untested bomb to Jayden Reed that set up the game-winning field goal.
With Love under center, he’s a big-play merchant with confidence in his abilities. This “arm arrogance,” as it’s been called a few times, leads to incredible big plays but is inconsistent on a play-by-play basis.
I don’t want Love to change who he is. He’s a fun quarterback who has brought success to this program.
But consider the offense in 2020, when Aaron Rodgers won MVP, and the Packers had the best offense in the league. That season saw a beautiful marriage of Rodgers’ patented hero ball within LaFleur’s offense. It was the most Rodgers played within the scheme and was his best season with LaFleur as the playcaller.
Under Willis, we’ve seen the offense lean more on the scheme opening up opportunities in the passing game and better utilizing the run. LaFleur can adopt this approach for Love, making his life easier on a consistent basis while still allowing Love to change the play under center and take his shots when he sees the opportunity. Let the plays do the work to complement Love’s talent.
LaFleur has had some of his best games in must-win situations. He has a lot of trust in his quarterback, who has more than earned it, but he can utilize what has worked in sticky situations in the good times to take this offense to another level. The Packers are 6-2, and their biggest enemy has been themselves. By minimizing the mistakes and letting the scheme do more, Green Bay’s offense can dominate in the second half of the season.
