Green Bay is back on a roll, but doesn’t have all of the answers it needs in NFC

The Packers are 5-1, second in the NFL in scoring, and Aaron Rodgers has the highest quarterback rating in the league, which is much different than a lot of people were projecting back in the spring.

It was such a process for Matt LeFleur and Rodgers to work together last season and when Green Bay drafted Jordan Love in the first round and not a receiver, it was all, “What are they doing? Are they ushering Rodgers out the door to start a new era? Are they actually trying to win this thing?”

There was a lot of outside noise – some inside noise as well.

So to come back and play as well as they have, I give a lot of credit to Rodgers to be in the right headspace to not let that affect him.

But it all comes back to Rodgers and keeping his jersey clean. That’s what LeFleur has shown Rodgers, more than anything, and that’s what we all saw through the first several weeks.

The Packers’ use of the run game and play-action, that’s where they can make the biggest plays and utilize Rodgers’ ability to push the ball down the field. Even when Davante Adams was out for two weeks, they were able to push it down the field vertically because of it.

We all got used to watching Rodgers for years just drop back and throw it 40 or 50 times a game. They’d cycle running backs through there, but it really didn’t matter. The thinking was, “All we need is a guy that can pass protect and catch the ball on third down.” They weren’t trying to establish the run – that just wasn’t the way they were going to play football.

One sack or less in 5 of 6 games

I think Rodgers has seen over the past year and a half that his jersey is going to be clean – twice this season he hasn’t been sacked and in the opener at Minnesota he threw 44 passes and the Vikings rarely got anywhere near him. That’s a good sign for him buying into that offense after they had a few issues last season, and now he has LeFleur’s back if anything goes sideways.

LeFleur has done a really good job of gaining his trust and that’s only going to be a good thing for Green Bay.

But that also makes the NFC really interesting. That one loss to Tampa Bay sticks out and the Packers could see the Bucs again in the playoffs.

The Packers will need to find some answers.

Tampa Bay stopped that run game very early, just like the 49ers did twice last season, including in that NFC Championship game.

Aaron Jones had 10 carries for 15 yards against the Buccaneers two weeks ago and when that goes away, then they’re left to drop-back pass. LeFleur and this offense in general, the strength is never going to be the drop-back pass game. Their concepts are very simple. They’re easy to read, easy to understand from a defensive standpoint.

They’re so good at play action, so good at misdirection, when they get into a drop-back pass game it’s almost elementary.

But when Jones has six or seven carries and has less than 10 yards, they’re thinking, “We have to do something else. We have Aaron Rodgers, let’s spread it out and throw it.” The Bucs took Rodgers back to where he was four or five years ago where it was just him in drop-back pass mode, dodging pass rush and trying to make as many plays as he could.

Then tackle David Bakhtiari gets hurt and Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh got after Rodgers – the Buccaneers had five sacks in that game and 13 quarterback hurries, which is a really big number.

Packers need to stick to the plan

When I watched that game, I think LeFleur was probably too quick to get into drop-back pass mode.

The Raiders were in the same situation last week against Tampa Bay when Josh Jacobs had 10 carries for 15 yards.

Every time a team plays those guys they have to make a decision – keep running it just to run it, or open it up a little bit?

But it’s tough. If a team can’t run the football consistently, the quarterback is going to have pressure around them all the time.

If the Packers do get Tampa Bay again,watch the first two series and there will be clues to whether they’re going to have a successful day.

If the Packers have some answers and Rodgers is able to get out on the perimeter and that Tampa Bay defense is really chasing the run, then everything else will open up.

If the defense is able to stuff the run and they’re able to cover up that big play-action bootleg on the backside and turn it into a drop-back pass game then even with Rodgers, as great as he is, and even with Adams, as great as he is, it’s going to be another rough day.

Dueling fantasy defenses

There are two matchups this week that feature high-value targets with Kansas City playing the Jets and Tampa Bay at the Giants, and both of those defenses are going to score points. The Chiefs and Buccaneers are top 10 in scoring defense, top 10 in takeaways per game. The Bucs might have an edge because they’re second in the league in sacks, while the Giants are toward the bottom of the league protecting the quarterback – the Eagles sacked Daniel Jones three times last week – but both could push a fantasy team to a winning week.