Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
INSIDE THE GAME Offense has been improving even without Adams
Green Bay — The Green Bay Packers improved to 6-1 on the season and 4-1 at Lambeau Field with a 42-24 victory Sunday over the Oakland Raiders.
Owczarski’s observation
Following a 238-yard, zero-touchdown, 85.2-passer rating day in Dallas on Oct. 6, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers declared it his best performance of 2019. He said he knew his role, played well and kept things moving. It was also the first game without the injured Davante Adams and he connected with nine different pass catchers. Last week, he hit nine pass catchers for 283 yards and two scores.
After a strong showing against Detroit, Rodgers turned in a signature performance Sunday, dissecting the Raiders’ defense to the tune of 429 yards, five touchdowns and a 158.3 rating. He used eight pass catchers and operated head coach Matt LaFleur’s offense effortlessly.
5 Takeaways
At a standstill: Detroit and Dallas rarely rushed more than four against Rodgers the last few weeks, trying to limit his off-schedule, big-play ability in the pass game and his timely scrambles. This was a point of emphasis for Oakland, too, as the Raiders elected to play coverage. This ultimately played into Rodgers’ hands as he picked the Raiders’ pass defense apart.
Moving day: The Oakland starting offensive line brings 1,680 pounds to the line of scrimmage and head coach Jon Gruden likes to use all of it with a dedicated run game. And, when they continued to give Josh Jacobs the ball, the Raiders were very effective. Jacobs rushed 21 times for 124 yards.
Grant in aid: With their top three receivers hurting after the Monday night’s game, the Packers signed sixthyear receiver Ryan Grant last Wednesday. But Marquez Valdes-Scantling (ankle/knee) and Geronimo Allison (concussion/chest) recovered in time to play, making Grant inactive for his first Packers game.
Long distance: Mike Pettine’s defense has given up the big play through the air, as the Packers entered Sunday’s game allowing a league-high eight pass plays of 40 yards or more. Their overall pass defense has been solid, but the deep ball had been an issue of late. Despite the Packers playing zone against a Raiders team that lacked real receiving depth, Derek Carr was able to complete passes of 31, 36 and 48 yards. A 28-yard touchdown pass was called back due to a hold.
Home-field advantage: Gruden jokingly thanked the schedule-makers for “one of the greatest road trips in the history of football” for his team (48 days between home games in Oakland), while the Packers concluded five home games in their first seven to open the year Sunday. With the victory, the Packers became the first team to four home wins.
Game ball
Aaron Rodgers
The Packers quarterback had seen the passing offense start clicking against Philadelphia on Sept. 26, but then Adams got hurt. So, he had to go back to the drawing board to a degree in Dallas three weeks ago, and Sunday’s effort was the culmination of building comfort within the system and with his pass-catchers. Rodgers was quick on his release for the most part, accurate when pushing the ball downfield and put the ball in places where his passcatchers could then run after the reception.
See, what had happened was…
Following a 48-yard catch-and-run that gave the Raiders first-and-goal at the Packers’ 3-yard line at the 2-minute warning in the first half, the Raiders ran Josh Jacobs to the left for a one-yard gain. Then on second down Carr bootlegged to his right. Rather than throw the ball away he tried to turn the edge on Blake Martinez and held out the ball in his left hand. After Martinez shoved him, the ball squirted out of his hand and through the end zone. Instead of at least attempting a field goal, if not scoring a touchdown, the Raiders turned the ball over.
Rodgers then took the Packers 80 yards to score a touchdown and put the Packers up 21-10 in a huge point swing.
5 Numbers
1-27: Per ESPN, number of overturned pass interference calls (or noncalls) on a challenge. This after the first quarter of play in Green Bay on Sunday when Gruden lost a challenge on an offensive pass interference flag.
9: Touchdowns allowed on the season by the Raiders of 20 yards or more. The Packers hit them with three on Sunday: Rodgers connected with Aaron Jones for a 21-yard TD pass, Jake Kumerow for a 37-yard score and ValdesScantling for a 74-yarder.
8:06: Time of Packers’ second scoring drive, their longest on the year. The Raiders had one that lasted 8:28 just before.
40: Yards, which is a magic number for Valdes-Scantling. In eight of his 22 career games he has a catch of least that distance. He had catches of 59 and 74 yards.
2015: The year when Rodgers last threw five touchdown passes in a game, against Kansas City on Sept. 28.
Next Gen stat of the day
19.88: Miles per hour reached by 239pound Packers fullback Danny Vitale on a catch-and-run.
Did you notice?
With Valdes-Scantling clearly limited, the Packers didn’t really have a deep downfield threat to challenge the Raiders secondary — so instead they decided to create coverage mismatches out of the backfield. The Packers used running backs Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams and fullback Vitale to force Oakland linebackers into coverage, which were mismatches every step of the way. The trio found themselves wide open for Rodgers on short and intermediary routes, and Jones and Vitale were able to turn some of them into big plays with runs after the catch.
Play of the game
To open the second half, LaFleur dialed up a deep shot off play action. Rodgers faked a handoff to Jones to the left and ran a bootleg to his right. Valdes-Scantling had man-to-man coverage from Gareon Conley in the slot with safety Karl Joseph single-high. Despite ankle and knee injuries that kept him out of practice all week, Valdes-Scantling beat Conley off the line of scrimmage to the inside and then used a move deep to get Joseph to turn to the outside. That left Valdes-Scantling wide open. He had to wait for the ball, but it was a 59-yard completion that set up a Packers score that made it 28-10 less than three minutes into the second half and essentially buried the Raiders.
Overheard
“Tails never fails.” — Packers linebacker Za’Darius Smith as Raiders quarterback Derek Carr called heads on the opening coin toss. It was heads, and the Raiders received.