But in the last 2 games I noticed the offense clicked well when they used a quick short passing game and Jones running the ball. The offense bogs down when they try to hit long bombs.
That may be. Take it up with the coach. My point is that this isn't about Rodgers going off the reservation. There is a meshing of predispositions.
I'd like to see more of what you suggest. About once per year I like to go back to those few consecutive quarters of football over a few games from a few years back. Consider this my ration.
Starting in the second half against Dallas, I forget precisely which year, the Packers went hurry-up, small-ball with Rodgers completing something like 19-21 in that half. It was one of those games where Montogomery caught some 10 or 12 balls. They followed that up with another small-ball effort, against the Bears I think it was. Somebody can refresh my memory but I think the Packers lost the first and won the second. Maybe not. They didn't go back that since over any extended period, McCarthy or LaFleur.
Anyway, I've come to accept that Aaron Rodgers is not Drew Brees, and this new coach doesn't have the profile where you'd expect him to want some radical change. Stylistic differences between the two are at the margins. When it's 1st. down, 2nd. and manageable, against a run front and single-high, these guys want to go deep. I'm still seeing 4 go-routes being run; Rodgers isn't the one drawing that up. And you know, Brees has only one ring as well.
Here's the thing. One play, one strike, gets you 7 points. A lot can go wrong along the way with an approach that requires 10, 12, 15 plays. Short of a turnover, there's nothing more deflating, and a boost to the opposing defense, than going all that way down the field and coming away with a FG. It seems to be there's more than the normal number of early down penalties getting things off track even if you want to go that way.
As a passive observer, it's a waste of time and energy to belabor some woulda-shoulda-coulda that's not happening. When you do that you end up obsessing over the things don't work and overlooking the things that are working. What's happened is the higher than normal number of misses has led some to say Rodgers has regressed to average passer status. I guess some think it is worse than that. Well, they may have been overlooking the great throws still being made. It's all a little off, not a lot. And again, there's the matter of the quality of the weapons and the trust therein.
Some might point to Rodgers lower than average TD count this year as one symptom. Elsewhere I've noted how many times the Packers have run the ball in on 1st. or 2nd. down in the Red Zone. In past years that didn't happen. Maybe if the running game was sh*tty like it had been for most of Rodgers career he'd have 3, 4, 5 more TD passes on close range throws.
All that said, you would think once in a while these guys would want to go small ball over a couple possessions to change things up. Maybe they have, but a penalty here, a two yard loss on a run over there, took them out of it, just like trailing late means putting the ball in the QBs hands.
