Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers explained how a lack of timing has been a major reason for the offense’s inconsistencies and the importance of self-scouting for improving the team’s passing offense during the week off.
Rodgers, who threw 28 incomplete passes during last Sunday’s win over the Detroit Lions, didn’t split hairs about what’s hurting the offense as the start of the playoffs near.
“I think the timing has been off a lot of the year,” Rodgers said at his locker. “I don’t know if that’s going to get fixed. It’s not going to get fixed the next two days.”
The Packers are off this week while waiting on an opponent for next Sunday’s NFC Divisional Round game at Lambeau Field. Rodgers said it’s a “good week” to self-scout the passing game and find out what has worked and what hasn’t in terms of timing and adjust accordingly.
“It’s just a matter of finding those concepts where the timing has been good because there’s been a number of concepts where we’ve looked good,” Rodgers said. “The ball has been coming out on time, I’ve been feeling good about the rhythm, and guys are getting open on time. But there’s too many concepts that we’ve really tried to hit and keep hitting and make it work and we just aren’t on the same page timing-wise. And that’s why this has been a good week to just self-scout.”
The lack of timing and precision in the Packers’ passing offense hit an apex Sunday. The Packers eventually got rolling and came from behind to beat the Lions, but Rodgers completed only six of his first 18 passes and set a career-high with 28 incompletions – many of which were off-target throws or plays where the quarterback and receiver weren’t on the same page.
Rodgers made it clear: The Packers aren’t going to suddenly get on the same page between now and next Sunday, but there’s a chance to improve the efficiency to start the postseason by finding the plays and concepts that worked during the first 16 games and dumping those that haven’t worked.
The bye week was important for the Packers for so many reasons, but it could have another positive effect if the offense can get better over by the bye week by identifying the good stuff and shelving the rest.