Packers primed for fresh start
The Green Bay Packers made an uninspiring run to the playoffs, finishing the regular season with two straight losses and agonizingly familiar problems with the ball.
But after weeks of searching for answers, maybe the postseason will reignite Green Bay’s once vaunted attack.
“Really, everything we’ve done leading up to this point doesn’t matter,” offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett said on Monday night. “It’s about what we do now.”
They don’t have much of a choice anymore. The offense has run out of time to mold its identity.
The Packers (10-6) might have to scratch and claw their way to victories to have any shot at advancing as a wild card, starting this weekend on the road against the Washington Redskins.
“If you don’t win, you’re going home. Simple as that,” receiver Randall Cobb said when asked about coach Mike McCarthy’s message to the team for this week.
The mental reset that might come with the start of postseason play does not mean the Packers can forget about their problems.
This is, after all, a team that finished 23rd in the league in total offense. The Packers were six thin 2014 and third in 2013, the latter season the one in which quarterback Aaron Rodgers missed time with a broken collarbone.
Green Bay’s issues this season stem in large part from receiver Jordy Nelson, the team’s top deep threat, going down with a the season-ending injury in August.
It led to a trickle-down effect with opposing defenses playing more press coverage on the remaining receivers, who did not have Nelson’ s bigplay ability to open up the field.
The running game has been inconsistent. The offensive line has been battered by injuries and Rodgers has not played up to his high, twotime NFL MVP standards.
“Fresh start? I think it helps everybody, but you have to be realistic with fresh starts. I think you have to have fresh starts for the right reasons,” McCarthy said.
“The things that we’ve done wrong are just as important as the things we’ve done right. It’s what we need to focus on because when you win, you can’t just sweep the things you didn’t do right under the rug.”
One positive for the Packers is they have shown the capabilityto move the ball through the air when needed in lategame, 2-minute situations. Still, they could not capitalize on two trips into Vikings territory in the last six minutes of Sunday’s 20-13 loss that gave Minnesota the NFC North title.
Playing “schoolyard football”, as Rodgers describes it, might fit in with the quarterback’s strengths of creating opportunities on second and third reactions, but does not lend itself to keeping the Packers’ franchise player healthy and upright.
And with Rodgers having been sacked 13 times in the past two games, the Packers are having a tough enough time keeping their quarterback’s uniform clean.
“I think you have to remember, he’s a great player. He wants the ball in his hands and when things break down he’s going to make things happen,” McCarthy said. “But also the risk and exposure he’s put under is unacceptable. And he knows that.”
Yet for all the consternation about the Packers’ frustrations heading into playoffs, the team at least has one more shot to get the offense going again at the most important time of the year.
“Everyone is going to speculate on what’s going on. At the end of the day, we’re in the playoffs right now. We have an opportunity and that’s all you can ask for,” Cobb said. “We’re in the race.”