2021-22 GB Packers Season Breakdown

Ryeguy said:
I don't like the blame one unit\ player mentality. Obviously special teams was a problem, 10 points was a problem. Outside of the defense, which played well and the first drive of the game there's a whole lot of disappointment. Is it coaching, is it personnel, likely some of both. As seen for the last 30 years, having a HOF QB will win you a lot of regulars season games but doesn't always equate to championships. I'm probably going with an unpopular opinion here, but Rodgers needs to share the blame on this one.

One of his biggest strengths is taking care of the ball; also one of his biggest weaknesses is taking care of the ball. Rarely do you see him just flat out throw the ball and give his guy a chance to make a play. In a game where the SF defense was very good and they put a fair amount of pressure on him, I feel he needed to take more risk and let some guys try and make a play even if he didn't feel 100% about the throw or their ability to make it.

For a decade now, we've been hearing all about "no defense", "Aaron need more play makers", "bad coaching", etc. At what point does the guy taking up 20% of the payroll have to be the guy to get it done? They've been in position with everything to their advantage in the play-off scenario multiple times and consistently come up short.

Championships are hard to win and we're spoiled as Packer fans but I think the time for Rodgers being the reason they win a championship is over. Going to be an interesting off-season.
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McGinn's yearly grades via Ty. >>

PASSING OFFENSE (B-plus)​

The Packers were more efficient than explosive. Just 15 of their 429 completions went for more than 35 yards, a sharp decrease from 22 a year ago and from 20 in 2019 and ’18. Only once, in the loss at Minnesota, did they throw for more than 350 yards. By the same token, the Packers led the league in time of possession at 32 minutes, 43 seconds. They finished eighth in passing yards (253.8) even though they were no better than a tie for 15th in pass attempts (593). A better gauge of a passing game is pass average, which is the result of dividing net yards by passes attempted and sacks. Here they ranked sixth. Green Bay ranked ninth in yards per completion (11.26). Of the 63 completions for 20 yards or more, Davante Adams led with 20, one fewer than his career best total of 21 set in 2016. Adams finished second to the Rams’ Cooper Kupp in receptions (123) and was third in yards (1,553). In all games, Adams’ total of 1,632 receiving yards was more than the total of the other seven wide receivers put together (1,539) just as his reception total of 132 surpassed his teammates’ total of 118. Aaron Rodgers led the NFL in passer rating at 111.9; his all-game mark of 110.9 was the third best of his career. His 18-game rating in 2020 was 119.2. Position coaches Jason Vrable (wide receivers), Justin Outten (tight ends) and Ben Sirmans (running backs) all could take a bow over the dropped pass total of 21, which was 20 fewer than a year ago and the lowest total since I began recording drops in 1990. Allen Lazard had a team-high four; Adams dropped merely three in 181 targets. Marquez Valdes-Scantling led the wide receivers in average yards after the catch with 5.15. The Packers slipped from fifth to 10th in percentage of sacks allowed. Of the 38 sacks, 25 were charged to the offensive line. Jon Runyan led with 4 ½. Of the six fumbles on receptions, two were lost: Juwann Winfree in Game 17, Marcedes Lewis in Game 18. Opponents rushed five or more on 26.3% of passes; the blitz rate of 6.2% with six or more rushers was the highest against Green Bay since 2015. Five of the 39 touchdown passes came on plays extended by the quarterback from the design of the play. The average distance of the 39 TDs was 14.2 yards, the team’s low since 2017. Rodgers’ average on his 37 TDs was 12.7.

RUSHING OFFENSE (B)​

With Aaron Rodgers under center, the Packers have never been a run-first team. In fact, the last time they were was with Ahman Green in 2003. In 2020, they ranked eighth in rushing at 132.4, their best finish since 2013 when Eddie Lacy was in peak form. Almost predictably, they slipped back to 18th this year at 111.8 in addition to a 20th-place finish in yards per rush (4.26). Matt LaFleur, in coordination with Rodgers, has achieved a semblance of balance on offense. Their run rate of 42.5% was a tick above the NFL average of 42.1%. Green Bay’s run rate in LaFleur’s first two seasons was 43.8% in 2020 and 40.2% in 2019. Week after week, the Packers mounted a respectable threat on the ground, surpassing 100 yards 11 times. The only foe to shut them down cold was New Orleans (15-43) on opening day. Aaron Jones (840 in all games) and AJ Dillon (828) combined for 1,602 rushing yards in the regular season, making them the sixth most productive duo behind the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines (2,087), the Broncos’ Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams (1,821), the Browns’ Nick Chubb and D’Ernest Johnson (1,793), the Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard (1,721) and the Vikings’ Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison (1,650). In money situations (third and 1, fourth and 1), the Packers converted an impressive 19 of 22 on the ground. Jones was six for six, Dillon 10 for 12. As the outside-zone scheme morphed to more inside-zone down the stretch, the Packers had few missed blocks. With “bad” runs defined as runs for 1 yard or less in non-short yardage or kneel-down situations, the Packers had just 93 in 466 rushes for 20%, their lowest rate in at least seven years. Jon Runyan was charged with a team-high total of 14 “bad” runs. Minimal whiffing up front contributed to the average gain of 6.12 yards on first down, which ranked second in the NFL and was Green Bay’s best finish since 2011. The main negative was the paucity of long runs. There were just seven of 20 yards or more, the team’s fewest since the 20-game championship season of 2010. Jones posted the only 100-yard day. Rodgers’ rushing total of 101 yards was a career low even counting his injury-abbreviated seasons. There were two lost fumbles on running plays, which was the most since 2016. Just to keep defenses on their toes, LaFleur pulled a lineman on 34 runs compared to 25 in 2020 and 14 in 2019. Dillon drew the only penalty by a running back. Since Ben Sirmans became position coach in 2016 the running backs have been charged with merely eight accepted penalties.

PASSING DEFENSE (B)​

Under first-year coordinator Joe Barry, the Packers stayed true to form virtually all season. Generally, that meant keep the safeties back, match receivers from combination coverages, seldom blitz and prevent the big play. It added up to a No. 9 finish in yards allowed and a tie for 13th in points allowed. The Packers were 10th in passing yards allowed at 219.1, their best finish since 2012; their pass-average finish of fifth was their best since 2010. The opponents’ passer rating of 86.9 ranked 10th. Just two foes clipped the Packers for more than 300 net yards passing, led by Minnesota’s 318 in a Game 11 defeat. The yield of 52 plays of 20 yards or more (2.89) was the team’s lowest average (2.88) since 2005. Six opponents had 100-yard days, including the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson (169), the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase (159) and the Ravens’ Mark Andrews (136). Green Bay made 19 interceptions, its most since 2011 (31). That season was the last of a three-year run in which the Dom Capers-coordinated defense amassed 94 picks. Rasul Douglas led the way with five, two of which he returned for touchdowns. There also were 14 dropped picks. Eric Stokes was charged with six, the most since I began recording the statistic in 1998. Barry blitzed on 19.6% of passes, down from Mike Pettine’s 22.5% in 2020. Barry sent six or more on merely 1.5%, the lowest mark since I began charting blitzes in 1998. Of the 101 rushes by inside linebackers and defensive backs, De’Vondre Campbell was the runaway leader with 44. Those 101 dogs and blitzes from the second and third level paled in comparison to Pettine’s totals of 263 in 2018, 149 in ’19 and 143 in ’20. Given minimal blitzing, it wasn’t a surprise that the Packers’ rank of 17th in sack percentage was their worst since 2011 when they were 32nd; in seven of the previous nine seasons the Packers surprisingly had ranked in the top 10. The pressure total of 206 included 43 sacks, 58 knockdowns and 105 hurries. The Packers had 179 pressures last year, 212 in ’19. Rashan Gary (48) and Kenny Clark (46) were a consistent 1-2 pressure punch. Of the 10 passes batted down at the line, Dean Lowry accounted for five. The Packers forced seven fumbles on sacks and recovered five, their highest total since 2013. Situational defense, however, was the Achilles’ heel. The Packers tied for 23rd on third-down efficiency at 42.9% and tied for 28th in red-zone efficiency at 66%, its highest yield in more than two decades. Only two teams, Washington (34) and Indianapolis (32), allowed more touchdown passes than Green Bay (31). By subjective count, Darnell Savage allowed the most with 8 ½.

RUSHING DEFENSE (C-plus)​

The Packers did some very good work against the run. They also did some very poor work. Their per-game yield of 109.1 ranked 11th in the NFL and was the lowest for them since 2016. However, they also allowed 4.70 yards per attempt, which ranked 30th. Both were the Packers’ worst showings since 2002. In some ways, the defense was fortunate the Packers were comfortably ahead entering the fourth quarter in so many games and opponents had to abandon the run. Partially as a result, they faced just 395 rushes, the fourth fewest in the league behind Tampa Bay, Tennessee and Baltimore. Only one back, Nick Chubb, surpassed 100 yards (126) as the Browns charged for 219 in Game 15. The last time the Packers allowed merely one 100-yard rusher in a year was the 11-game season of 1982 when Detroit’s Billy Sims carried 29 times for 109 in Game 6. What wrecked the Packers’ numbers was the production by quarterbacks. As a whole, quarterbacks rushed 76 times for 454 yards and a 6.0 average, all of which were highs against Green Bay in the last decade. While the quarterbacks rushed for 25.2 yards per game and 23.2% of the total yield, everyone else averaged just 83.7 and 4.33 per carry. Three passers did most of the damage in three games: Washington’s Taylor Heinicke (10-95), Chicago’s Justin Fields (9-74) and Baltimore’s Tyler Huntley (13-73). Slipshod lane integrity by the Packers’ pass rushers and a defensive scheme that didn’t feature an abundance of people near the line of scrimmage were the main reasons for the quarterbacking outburst. The Packers yielded just seven rushes for 20 or more yards, but four were by quarterbacks. In contrast, Aaron Rodgers hasn’t gained more than 20 yards on a run since 2018. Joe Barry’s static style of defense contributed to just 107 missed tackles, the team’s low since 2016. Krys Barnes led with 14. De’Vondre Campbell was the tackling leader with 152, 54 more than runner-up Adrian Amos. The Packers didn’t exactly live in the enemy backfield. They had a scant 31 tackles for loss, an average of 1.72 that was the worst since I started charting TFLs in 1992. The opponents lost eight fumbles, but not one came on a running play.

SPECIAL TEAMS (F)​

This was amateur hour, with a head coach minus any background in the kicking game, a coordinator (Maurice Drayton) in his first season running the show and an assistant (Rayna Stewart) in his first season as a top assistant. It added up to what were by far the NFL’s worst units during the regular season and then a game-costing pratfall in the NFC divisional playoffs. The warning signs of the Code Red against the 49ers had been apparent for a long time. In Matt LaFleur’s first two seasons Green Bay ranked 26th and then 29th in Rick Gosselin’s special-teams rankings, which he first calculated in 1985. The Packers were 32nd this season, giving them five last-place efforts in the last 17 years. Mike Sherman got the booby prize in 2005, Mike McCarthy was saddled with it in 2006 and 2014, and McCarthy and Joe Philbin combined for the cellar in 2018. Since 2004, the Packers have fashioned one top-10 finish: a tie for seventh in 2007. Drayton, an assistant to Shawn Mennenga in 2019-’20 (he was fired, too), was jettisoned after the San Francisco game in which the Packers allowed a blocked punt for a touchdown, a blocked field goal and a 45-yard kickoff return. On Robbie Gould’s 45-yard field goal, the Packers had 10 men on the field coming out of a timeout. Despite annual overall ineptitude on special teams, Mason Crosby almost always provided a measure of reliability. This season, handicapped by lousy snapping and holding, 10 of his field-goal attempts and two extra points went haywire. The Packers’ joint rankings in kickoff and punt coverage were the league’s worst, and only three teams were better than their joint kickoff and punt returns. The kickoff-return average of 17.7 was the poorest in Green Bay since 1987. Rookie Amari Rodgers, a so-called return specialist, was hesitant, slow, fundamentally unsound and all but worthless. Corey Bojorquez, the new punter, tied for 18th in net average at 40.0 but his average hang time of 4.26 was below that of JK Scott in each of his three seasons. LaFleur flipped snappers from Hunter Bradley to Steven Wirtel after eight games but over the last 10 games there was marginal, if any improvement. There were 39 missed tackles, the team’s most since 2010. Henry Black, the leading tackler with 14, also shared the lead in missed tackles with Oren Burks and Juwann Winfree. Each had five. At least the special teams refrained from turning the ball over and didn’t commit a rash of penalties. The turnover differential of even was the Packers’ best since 2017, and the penalty count of 12 was more than manageable.

PERSONNEL MOVES (B-plus)​

President Mark Murphy, GM Brian Gutekunst and Matt LaFleur began the year traveling separately for separate meetings with Aaron Rodgers in attempts to pacify their unhappy quarterback. After months of speculation, he reported for the start of training camp apparently with assurances that the front office would enact a win-now financial approach that was unprecedented in the salary-cap era. The Packers ended up pushing north of $40 million onto the 2022 cap, signed veteran players for legitimate depth as injury replacements and forsake the youthful flavor of their roster that dated annually to the late GM Ted Thompson. Now the brain trust will try to put a suitable roster together for another title run. Gutekunst did his best work replenishing the injury-torn offensive line. At year’s end, with the rise of youthful Jon Runyan and Yosh Nijman, the rapid development of rookies Royce Newman and Josh Myers and the July 29 signing of veteran Dennis Kelly, the Packers found themselves in the enviable position of having nine offensive linemen that could play. Kelly had to play third fiddle in the impact veteran department behind De’Vondre Campbell and Rasul Douglas. Both came on the cheap, Campbell as a fourth-tier unrestricted signing June 9 and Douglas as a Cardinals’ practice-squad steal in early October. In the nine-man draft class, the Packers unearthed three starters in Eric Stokes, Myers and Royce Newman and a pair of intriguing backups in T.J. Slaton and Kylin Hill. In seven games Myers, the No. 62 selection, was overshadowed by No. 63 pick Creed Humphrey, the Chiefs’ all-rookie center that finished third in All-Pro voting. Gutekunst damaged the special teams by drafting Amari Rodgers to handle an already weak return game and by not procuring a veteran ace to lead the special teams. The reduced number of college free agents in 2021 provided no help. Trades for Randall Cobb and Corey Bojorquez cost the Packers’ their sixth-round picks in the next two drafts. The Packers reportedly made a concerted effort to sign Odell Beckham but lost out to the Rams. The departures of Corey Linsley and Jamaal Williams in unrestricted free agency figures to result in additional draft picks via the compensatory system.


COACHING (B)​

Can he win the Super Bowl? Can he even get there? Those are the unanswered questions regarding Matt LaFleur after he came up empty as the Super Bowl favorite for the second year in a row. Just about everything LaFleur accomplished in his three seasons has been muted after the NFC playoff losses to San Francisco in January and Tampa Bay in January 2021. Each of the games were played at Lambeau Field, making the defeats all the more inexcusable. LaFleur has gone out of his way so often shouldering blame for hum-drum miscues on offense that his words have started to ring hollow. Seldom, however, has he taken responsibility for the NFL-worst performance of the special teams in his three-year tenure. After making a bad hire in Vanderbilt’s Shawn Mennenga in 2019, he compounded the problem by promoting Mennenga’s assistant, Maurice Drayton, in 2021. Neither had the resume to serve as the coordinator for a contending team. Three years of futility in the kicking game reached their logical and catastrophic conclusion when four horrendous plays spelled doom against the 49ers. As a high school and collegiate quarterback and a coach of quarterbacks, LaFleur has little or no background in blocking or tackling or the violent side of football, which represent the crux of special teams. Having to fire two coordinators in three years reflects poorly on LaFleur’s ability to judge people and hire accordingly. What reflects well on LaFleur is his sparkling turnover differential of plus-30 in 54 games. This season, the Packers tied for third at plus-13, including a tie for first in fewest giveaways with 13. Mike McCarthy, his predecessor, won by dominating turnover differential (plus-103 in 222 games), too. McCarthy also controlled the NFC North as has LaFleur, who owns a 15-3 divisional record and three runaway titles. LaFleur offered an encouraging sign for the future in his response to his first taste of an injury avalanche. After having merely five starters miss 10 games in his first season and 13 starters miss 55 games in 2020, LaFleur had to cope with 17 starters missing 105 games this season due to injury and/or COVID-19. In addition, 18 backups missed 86 games. According to mangameslost.com, the Packers and Ravens were the two teams most impacted by injury. Three of the team’s best players sat out the majority of the season: David Bakhtiari (17 games), Za’Darius Smith (16) and Jaire Alexander (13). On offense, the Packers wasted too many timeouts. That was on the play-calling LaFleur. However, when it came to discipline in the area of penalty avoidance, the Packers were without equal. Their 69 penalties were the fewest in the NFL and the lowest in club history since Dan Devine’s 1974 squad had merely 55 in a 6-8 campaign. Green Bay’s penalty yardage of 678 ranked fourth in the league. LaFleur also deserves credit for the scant total of 21 dropped passes and for finding creative ways to move the ball despite the season-long flux in the offensive line. His line coaches, Adam Stenavich and assistant Luke Butkus, earned promotions to offensive coordinator and No. 1 line coach, respectively.

OVERALL (B)​

They were annihilated by New Orleans on opening day after Aaron Rodgers blew off the entire off-season to throw the program off-kilter. They lost at Kansas City by six points because Rodgers refused to take a vaccination shot, tested positive and couldn’t play. They lost at Minnesota by three. They lost at Detroit in a meaningless finale when most starters played a half or not at all. And they lost to San Francisco in the NFC divisional playoffs on a field goal as time expired. The Packers’ 13-5 record included victories over the Bengals and Rams, who will meet in the Super Bowl. In six games against playoff teams, they went 5-1 with the only loss coming without their quarterback. They clinched the NFC North Division title in Game 14 and, in Game 16, the No. 1 seed and corresponding lone bye in the NFC playoffs. “The Super Bowl runs through the Frozen Tundra” became the dread-inspiring narrative across Wisconsin and the entire NFL. In many ways, the Packers against San Francisco really did look the part of a team fully capable of winning it all. With Za’Darius Smith and Whitney Mercilus back from injury to share a rush line with Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark and Preston Smith, the pass rush showed flashes of dominance with even more to come. Now that Jaire Alexander had returned to join Eric Stokes and Rasul Douglas, there was an embarrassment of riches at cornerback capable of dealing with any passing attack. Perhaps David Bakhtiari could have overcome his knee problems to reinforce the offensive line in the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl. Granted, the Packers ranked only 10th in point differential at plus-79. Also, their last five opponents either were without their starting quarterback, nursing long injury lists or just playing out the string of disappointing seasons. Green Bay was 1-3 against the spread in Games 14-17 after going 11-2 before then. But this was a team some saw rolling through the postseason, especially with integral players getting healthy just at the right time. The Packers took the field that Saturday night in Lambeau as the NFL’s only unbeaten team at home and as well-rested as a team can be in January. Then it all fell apart as snowflakes fell in Green Bay. Since their remarkable championship run as a No. 6 seed in 2010, the Packers are 7-9 in nine playoff seasons in which they were the No. 1 seed three times and the No. 2 seed twice. The Super Bowl drought has grown to 11 years. Packerland is hurting.
 
Mark87 said:
Situational defense, however, was the Achilles’ heel. The Packers tied for 23rd on third-down efficiency at 42.9% and tied for 28th in red-zone efficiency at 66%, its highest yield in more than two decades. Only two teams, Washington (34) and Indianapolis (32), allowed more touchdown passes than Green Bay (31). By subjective count, Darnell Savage allowed the most with 8 ½.
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Take note of those STATS
 
This also stood out, to my disappointment:

Their run rate of 42.5% was a tick above the NFL average of 42.1%. Green Bay’s run rate in LaFleur’s first two seasons was 43.8% in 2020 and 40.2% in 2019.
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With a 1-2 punch of Aaron Jones and full healthy AJ Dillon, there was no reason not to see that rush rate tick up even further. Instead the crown prince wrestled back some control from the HC, and it shows in the numbers. Somehow I doubt there are many creative run plays in the Aaron Rodgers Playbook.
 
rpiotr01 said:
This also stood out, to my disappointment:


With a 1-2 punch of Aaron Jones and full healthy AJ Dillon, there was no reason not to see that rush rate tick up even further. Instead the crown prince wrestled back some control from the HC, and it shows in the numbers. Somehow I doubt there are many creative run plays in the Aaron Rodgers Playbook.
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AR has a ton of run plays in his playbook, they are fake handoffs ;) sc))
 
An excellent assessment of what went wrong this past year, by Mark. Lots of blame to be shared by various members of the team, coaching staff, and front office. It all contributed to the melt down at the end.
 
If we had 2-3 pretty good WR and a good TE already on the roster I'd say the best case for the offense next year would be for Rodgers to come back without Adams and be forced spread the ball around. Unfortunately there isn't enough depth at skill positions outside the RBs and Adams to make it work. Rodgers absolutely relied too heavily on Adams and got massive tunnel vision but he wasn't crazy to do so.
 
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