Green Bay Packers: Aaron Rodgers should embrace throwing from pocket

Aaron Rodgers has long relied on his ability to extend plays outside of the pocket, but a knee injury in Week 1 has limited the Green Bay Packers star’s mobility.

The Green Bay Packers offense was built to cater to Aaron Rodgers‘ play style. Escaping the pocket, scrambling around, and extending plays is the name of the game. Entering 2018, there were conversations among fans that this season’s edition of the Packers offense could have been the best Rodgers has ever had.

It was to be a record-setting year with weapons like Jimmy Graham, Davante Adams, Randall Cobb and more.

But all of those ideas, hopes, dreams and what have you came to a crashing halt before the Packers could even reach halftime in their very first game of the year against the Chicago Bears. Seemingly in the blink of an eye, a season full of lofty expectations had been lowered to nearly nothing.

It appeared as though Rodgers — arguably the most influential and important player to his respective team out of anyone in the NFL — had been knocked out for the year with a knee injury, as he proceeded to be carted to the locker room as an awe-struck crowd at Lambeau Field looked on in fear.

Just as all hope had been lost, however, Rodgers came trotting out of the tunnel as the second half was just about to begin, in what seemed to be nothing short of a miracle. He then led an improbable 24-23 comeback against the Bears, as Green Bay fans around the world rejoiced with jubilation.

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The Packers still haven’t fully-disclosed the details regarding Rodgers’ knee injury, but many have speculated anywhere from an MCL sprain to a deep bone bruise. Some have even speculated it may take up to two months to heal. In fact, some pundits have argued he shouldn’t even be on the field.

“He has a pretty unusual injury that would keep most people out awhile,” one source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The fact of the matter is that we simply don’t know the full extent of the injury, and for good reason. Green Bay clearly doesn’t want to reveal the full status of his knee, most likely not to alert opposing teams of its severity. Rodgers has worn a large protective knee brace on his left knee the past two games, and likely will continue to do so as the season wears on.

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As for how he’s dealt with the injury, Rodgers has done a decent job of throwing from the pocket and taking sacks when needed, but there’s still been times that make you hold your breath. He hasn’t been afraid to scramble when the play breaks down, diving for a first down as he’s piled on by opposing defenders.

Charles Davis and Kevin Burkhardt joked on the FOX broadcast last week that Rodgers told them he may as well lay it all out on the line for his teammates, because game days come once a week and he can rehab his knee for the next six days. Still, Rodgers has been pretty limited in his mobility.

Because of his limited mobility, the Packers’ playbook has significantly shrunk. Mike McCarthy has relegated his play calls to exclusively shotgun and pistol formations, in an effort to give Rodgers more time in the pocket while still giving the running game a fair shot at success out of the pistol. But for the last two games, we’ve seen an offense that looks lackluster, anemic and worst of all, boring.

It’s not as if Green Bay doesn’t have the personnel to help open up the passing game, either. As fellow Packers writer and Xs and Os expert Dusty Evely pointed out on Twitter, perhaps the answer to Green Bay’s passing game woes are right in front of them.

Comparing each of the Packers’ and Los Angeles Rams’ performances against the Minnesota Vikings defense, Dusty points out that McCarthy should follow a yellow brick road of playcalling. After all, the NFL is and always has been a copy-cat league.

He compares an immobile Jared Goff — who put on a passing clinic against the Vikings on Thursday to the tune of 465 yards, five touchdowns and a perfect passer rating of 158.3 — to a hobbled Rodgers, in the sense that Rodgers could do the very same thing from the pocket if put in a similar situation. Essentially, it all comes down to scheme.

It all starts with how players are used. Comparing Brandin Cooks to Marquez Valdes-Scantling may seem foolish at first glance, but in essence, Valdes-Scantling could play the same role in a Packers offense that clearly lacks speed and creativity. In the Rams offense, Sean McVay likes to open up the passing game by scheming end arounds and jet sweeps to gain commitment from the defense on one side of the field, which in-turn opens up the other side of the field.

Although still a rookie and severely inexperienced, just the pure fact that Valdes-Scantling is on the field could make for a variety of options in the passing game; he doesn’t even have to touch the ball. Defenses respect speed, and with a 4.37-second 40-yard dash on his résumé, Valdes-Scantling would garner respect sooner than later.

Another aspect the Packers could implement is more running back usage in the passing game. With the dynamic ability of Aaron Jones out of the backfield, and Ty Montgomery being a former wide receiver, quick screens and mismatches with linebackers could create several big-play opportunities. Simply splitting their running backs out wide could create easy mismatches.

Finally, we haven’t seen nearly enough of what Marcedes Lewis can do, most notably in the running game. For whatever reason, McCarthy has used Graham and Lance Kendricks to clear space in both the passing and running game. Lewis is an excellent blocker and has even shown the ability to be an effective possession receiver for his age.

We saw an example of Graham’s inabilities to block last week against the Washington Redskins, where he was tasked with blocking Pro Bowl defensive end Ryan Kerrigan. I probably don’t need to explain how that went. Then there’s Kendricks, who had an extremely disappointing drop at a crucial point in the game. It makes you scratch your head, wondering why Lewis isn’t being utilized more.

The main point of all of this is that Green Bay doesn’t need Rodgers to be superman to succeed. Although Rodgers is extremely vital to the Packers’ overall success, part of the load can be taken off his back if plays are designed in certain ways. The usage of certain players on certain play calls could make life a heck of a lot easier for Rodgers on his injured knee.

Mike McCarthy could (and should) take note of what’s going on around him, because if he doesn’t act fast, it could spell doom for a Packers team that hasn’t even begun the brunt of an extremely difficult mid-season schedule.