There had been an idea bubbling on the internet that Aaron Rodgers isn’t quite Aaron Rodgers anymore. It has come from all angles: the former scout; the talking head; the ex-teammate; the analytics nerd. All have offered varying reasons but all reached the same conclusion: the Green Bay Packers quarterback’s best years were behind him.
Utter nonsense. Rodgers squashed any notion that he is irrevocably broken on Sunday. He was at his devastating best as he posted the first perfect passer rating (158.3) of his career. He finished with six total touchdowns to six incompletions and threw for 429 yards in the Packers’ victory over the Oakland Raiders. Find a spot in the Guggenheim for this Next-Gen passing chart:
There have only been six performances in league history where a quarterback has finished with a perfect passer rating and more than 400 yards.And Rodgers did so without Davante Adams, Green Bay’s most gifted receiver.
Things aren’t as different stylistically under first-year coach Matt LaFleur than they were under his much-derided predecessor, Mike McCarthy. Both run similar plays and have similar concepts. But there have been two crucial differences through seven weeks: play sequencing and the use of running backs in the passing game.
Play sequencing is a fancy term for how one play call informs another. After the opening script, some coaches have a knack for knowing what play should be called at what time, or setting up designs earlier in the game that they can play off later with some pay-off shot plays. Whatever it is, LaFleur has it.
The bigger impact has come with the use of running backs in the passing game, though. Under McCarthy, backs were used to chip – block a pass-rusher or disrupt a pass rush – or to drift through the line and act as a quick outlet. Under LaFleur, backs have been a huge part of the overall system. Creative designs have been installed to make use of a coach and quarterback’s favorite match-up: a speedy running back on a slower linebacker in space.
The change has turbo-charged a once dull and plodding Packers offense. Rodgers didn’t throw a completion to a receiver until there were eight minutes left in the second quarter. By then, he had completed 80 passing yards to running backs. Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams and Danny Vitale finished with 102 receiving yards and two touchdowns combined.
Green Bay’s offense is finally matching the defense. The Packers defense has been one of the stories of the season so far. It wilted slightly on Sunday under the weight of injuries, but remains a top-eight unit overall. Green Bay lead the league in pressures per dropback. And in Jaire Alexander they have the league’s top cover-corner, giving the team the option for “island” coverage the likes of which we haven’t seen since peak Darrelle Revis.
When Rodgers and the Packers offense flatlined at the start of the season, the defense carried the team to wins. Now, with the defense banged up, the Rodgers we know has finally arrived. Green Bay have proved they are among the most well-rounded teams in the NFC, along with the Saints and 49ers. All three can win in a variety of different ways. But it’s Green Bay who lurk most dangerously. Rodgers in MVP form pushes the Packers from contenders to favorites.
Quote of the week
“Boooo” – Lions fans to the officials during the Detroit-Minnesota game after blown calls cost their team on last week’s Monday Night Football.
The Lions were speaking for fans everywhere. Officiating this season has been a travesty. Just in the early slate of games this week, we had the Falcons jobbed on a personal foul call, the Lions robbed on another pass interference call that cost them seven points, and most egregiously of all the Texans were robbed of a touchdown on a brilliant Deshaun Watson play.
Watson was denied the score because an official blew the whistle early. Watson was supposedly “in the grasp”, yet he was in the process of making a play – he threw a strike – and a pass-rusher was still able to smash him in the chest. How do those two things go together? They don’t.
This is not a case of poorly written rules as is often the case; this is incompetence because of a lack of structural investment. Officials remain part-time, and some of the good ones have moved to TV, where they are paid more handsomely and deal with less pressure. Officials across the board have been incompetent all season. In a sport defined by the finest of margins, it should not be incumbent on a team to blow an opponent out just to avoid officiating malpractice.
Stat of the week
296. That’s the number of snaps in which Atlanta have failed to record a sack. The Falcons are dead last in the league with just five sacks through six games and have not dropped a quarterback since Week 3. Atlanta’s quarterback, Matt Ryan, was sacked five times in just over two quarters on Sunday, before exiting with an injury. The Falcons have two first-round picks – Takk McKinley and Vic Beasley – along their defensive front and one of the league’s better interior rushers: Grady Jarrett.
That the defense is so bad is a damning indictment of head coach Dan Quinn. Quinn, who was considered a defensive mastermind when he was coordinating a Seattle defense dripping with future Hall of Famers, assumed defensive play-calling duties this season. It’s safe to say it’s been an abject failure. Quinn is still getting the support of ownership publicly, but it’s obvious he has now entered lame-duck territory and will be released at the end of the season, if not before.
MVP of the week
At some point with Lamar Jackson all you can do is laugh. Every week Jackson pulls out a play or 10 where you’re forced to ask yourself if what you’re watching is real life or some kind of sick, twisted footballing fantasy.
Jackson toasted an excellent Seattle team on the road, posting a modest 143 yards passing but rushing for 116 yards on 15 carries. When the game was tight, and his team needed him, Jackson delivered two devastating you-can’t-stop-me drives, delivering the goods in the air and on the ground.
Videos of the week
A couple of videos this week, because it’s important to remind ourselves, whenever possible, just what superheroes are playing professional football. First up: Aaron Donald picking up All-Pro running back Devonta Freeman – all 209lbs of him – like he was a naughty toddler in need of a stern telling off.
Then there’s Eric Ebron, who pulled off his own super-human feat against the Texans. Watch him stick out one his extend-o arms and pluck that sucker out of the sky. Then convince his feet to observe the laws of gravity in double-time:
Elsewhere around the league
– The Eagles and Cowboys met on Sunday Night Football, with the winner taking sole possession of first place in the NFC East. The Cowboys in particular needed a strong showing after losing three in a row. And they got it as Ezekiel Elliott put up a 100-yard night in a big victory. Credit to Dallas kicker Brett Maher too: his 63-yard field goal means he is the only player in NFL history with three successful kicks from beyond 60 yards. He is now three-for-three in his career on field goals of more than 60 yards.
– Give the Dolphins an extra gold-star for this week’s tanking project. Miami accidentally converted on an obvious fake field-goal against Buffalo, leading to first-and-goal from the three-yard line with a chance to take the lead. So, the Dolphins promptly left a Bills lineman unblocked, and he obliterated Ryan Fitzpatrick. On the next play, Fitzpatrick tossed a pick. Chess not checkers.
– The Niners moved to 6-0 with a solid win over Washington in tricky weather conditions. The Niners defense continues to prove it’s one of the best in the league.
– Bill O’Brien continues to befuddle on a weekly basis. Trailing by five with 2:41 left on fourth down inside the Texans’ own 10-yard line, O’Brien used one of his three timeouts so that his team could take an intentional safety. Why he chose to let 30 seconds tick away before he made that call, or why he didn’t just take a delay of game will forever remain a mystery.
– The Colts’ generational quarterback retired two weeks before the start of the season and they’re still in first place in the AFC South. Coach Frank Reich and GM John Ballard have done a marvelous job in Indy. Outside of Seattle and New England, there’s no better Coach-GM combination in the league.
– Some numbers from Kirk Cousins’ last three games: 74% completion percentage, 976 yards (10.8 YPA), 10 touchdowns, one interception. Against the Lions, he became the first passer in history to have three straight games throwing for more than 300 yards with a passer rating above 130. Don’t count the Vikings out yet.
