GREEN BAY, Wis. – For the third time in as many weeks, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had turned in a virtuoso performance. On Sunday night, he roasted the New Orleans Saints despite the absence of star receiver Davante Adams.
In his postgame news conference, the first question was about the pressure of matching New Orleans’ offensive performance. The last question was about the impact of Aaron Jones. In both cases, Rodgers answered the questions, then veered to a topic he wanted to address
“I think the flow of the calls has been really important to our success,” he said in closing his Zoom interview. “I can’t underscore that enough. It’s really been a good flow of the calls with Matt [LaFleur].
Rodgers, of course, is a professional quarterback. He’s also a professional in interview sessions. Clearly, he took to Zoom to praise LaFleur’s play-calling.
With LaFleur calling the plays and Rodgers running them, Green Bay’s offense is hotter than molten lava. With a league-leading 122 points, it’s scored the sixth-most points in the NFL through three weeks since at least 1940. For the first time since its inaugural season of 1919, when the likes of Marinette, Wis., and New London, Wis., were on the schedule, Green Bay has scored 37-plus points in three consecutive games. Rodgers has posted three consecutive games of 100-plus passer ratings. Rodgers hadn’t done that and won those games since the three games before suffering a broken collarbone in 2017.
So, what exactly is a play-calling flow?
Green Bay ranks fourth in the league with 7.0 yards per first-down play. That stands in stark contrast to last year, when it ranked 24th with 5.2 yards per first-down play. As you’d expect, the first-down success translates to third-down success, as well. Green Bay is fifth on third down with a conversion rate of 50.0 percent. Last year, it ranked 23rd at 36.0 percent.
As LaFleur has done through his 19-games on the job, he is quick to take the blame when things go wrong and quick to deflect the credit when things go right.
“Obviously, when plays are working, you’re a lot less hesitant to call anything,” he said before Thursday’s practice. “You just feel like whatever you call is going to come to fruition. Again, it’s a credit to everybody for the suggestions that our offensive staff made and then our players for going out there and executing.”
The offensive performance against a quality Saints defense was a masterpiece. With New Orleans ganging up on Jones, LaFleur kept running it anyway. By not getting impatient with a running game that wasn’t nearly as productive as it was in Week 2 against Detroit, LaFleur created a potent play-action attack.
Through three games, Rodgers is dealing the ball faster but pushing the ball downfield more often. There’s been a theme of the week. In Week 1 against Minnesota, it was stretching the Vikings’ defense horizontally and vertically. In Week 2 against Detroit, it was Jones’ all-around dominance. Last week against New Orleans, it was the play-action onslaught. There’s been a hero of the week, as well, with it being Adams in Week 1, Jones in Week 2 and Allen Lazard in Week 3.
While the Packers had fattened up against Minnesota’s new cornerbacks and Detroit’s injury-replacement cornerbacks in Week 2, the Saints were at just about full strength. It hardly mattered.
“I just thought it was a really good balance of repeating calls we like to repeat, and then being aggressive at the right times,” Rodgers said. “I just thought it was – and it really has been the first three games – it’s just been a really, really solid flow of calls where him and I are in lockstep as the adage goes, really just vibin’ on the same level. I was able to finish a lot of his sentences with the play calls, which is when you really know you’re on the same page. I just thought it was really good for our squad and for him and I.”
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October 02, 2020 at 10:26AM
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Rodgers, LaFleur Go with the Flow - Sports Illustrated
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