It’s no secret that for much of the season, the Green Bay Packers offense has not been on the same page. Game after game, they haven’t looked like the Packers people are accustomed to seeing. There’s a certain expectation for a team when the Super Bowl trophy is named after their coach who led them to three NFL Championship and two Super Bowl wins. This season, however, the likelihood of this team seeing January football is questionable. They have struggled to keep drives alive. Until this point, Green Bay has attempted 162 third down conversions and has succeeded on only 60 of them.
In Week 14 at home against the Atlanta Falcons, though, the Packers were finally clicking on offense. They started to convert more consistently on third down. They had less dropped passes. The Green Bay Packers offense is finally waking up and managed to piece together a complete game.
Green Bay Packers Offense Is Finally Improving
Overcoming Third Down Struggles
Failing to execute when it’s game time has been a reoccurring theme for Green Bay’s offense. Through their last three consecutive losses to the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, and Arizona Cardinals, they were converting on 22.9 percent of their third downs. Week 14 against the Falcons, however, the team converted on 53.8 percent of their third downs.
Twice on Sunday, the Packers converted on third-and-10 or more, and four times they converted for three or fewer yards. Over the last few weeks, the offense has struggled more with third and short than third and long. Against the Falcons, though, this team dominated.
Following the loss to Minnesota in Week 12 on Sunday Night Football, Aaron Rodgers was asked about the Packers lingering third down problems. He said, “It was just execution. Guys in the right spot, me making the right throw. We just weren’t on the same page on a few of those and they made some good plays on a few of them. Third down, we’ve been pretty bad compared to how we’ve been over the last 10 years.” This quote sounds like the solution was to get better reps in practice and put their best performance on the field during game time. So, was this a mental issue?
Increasing the Completion Percentage
This season, the Packers have struggled to consistently complete passes. Part of the problem is that Rodgers has failed to see the open receiver multiple times. He also leads the league in throwaways this year. According to Fox Sports, he is on pace to have over 70 throwaways.
Following the head coaching change, Rodgers seems to be more sure of himself when making throws. His receiving corp is running better routes, getting open, and catching the football. He is seeing the field better and noticing the open guys. Sure, these sound like simple fixes, begging the question — why didn’t the Packers make these adjustments weeks ago?
Removing Mike McCarthy from the equation looks like it was the answer to the Packers struggles all along. In the first week without his playcalling, they looked like a completely different team. For starters, they learned how to win again. Aside from his two failed challenges, interim head coach Joe Philbin made quite the playcalling debut. The real test will be how he leads the team through the final four weeks.
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