What’s changed since the Seahawks last played the Packers? Aaron Rodgers ‘doesn’t have to be Superman’ anymore
Some elements will feel familiar when the Seattle Seahawks travel to Green Bay for the divisional round of the playoffs Sunday.
They will play in a familiar, hostile environment in a stadium they haven’t won in during the Russell Wilson or Pete Carroll eras.
There, the Seahawks will face a Packers franchise that surely hasn’t forgotten some of its own crushing losses when visiting Seattle during the past decade.
Many familiar faces will line up on offense for both sides in the latest edition of this NFC rivalry. Wilson is still piloting the Seahawks, and Aaron Rodgers is still the quarterback in Green Bay. Devante Adams is still catching passes, and so is Tyler Lockett. Marshawn Lynch is back, too.
But, not everything will feel the same — especially not when Rodgers leads the Packers’ offense on the field.
Perhaps Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs best described the changes Green Bay has made to its offense this season while addressing reporters at his locker Wednesday afternoon.
“They’ve got different elements,” said Diggs, who played against the Packers seven times during his four seasons with Detroit, before joining the Seahawks in October. “They’re definitely running the ball more. So that’s definitely helping A-Rod out. He doesn’t have to be Superman.
“I think that’s why people are saying his numbers are down. He’s still making plays. It’s just they’ve got Aaron Jones running the ball, and he’s doing tremendous things running the ball.”
How to stop Green Bay’s evolving offense is certainly a point of focus for the Seahawks this week.
“The running game seems to be a lot stronger than what it was when you played them before,” Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “Obviously, they have a lot of confidence in the running game, but it’s still a great quarterback out there.
“We are not going to try to overthink the running game and forget that (Rodgers) can throw the ball and do the things that he is capable of doing. We have to find a way to make them one-dimensional.”
That will be tough with how well Jones has been playing. The 25-year-old paces the Packers with 1,084 yards this season, and of Green Bay’s 18 rushing touchdowns, he’s scored 16.
“They’ve made some big adjustments,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “I think the thing that looks the most obvious is the way the running back is playing. Aaron Jones has just been a huge factor for them. He’s taken the pressure off the quarterback spot. … I think that has changed them as much as (anything).
“Schematically, they’re different, too. Matt (LaFleur) runs a different offense. There’s a lot of things that look the same, but it’s not coming from the same notebook necessarily.”
Jones has certainly produced during the first season in LaFleur’s system. He is the first Packers player to rush for more than 1,000 yards and finish with more than 200 carries since Eddie Lacy in 2014. Jones is also the first back since Lacy in 2013 to finish with double-digit rushing touchdowns.
And the Packers have run the ball more overall this season, rushing on 42 percent of their offensive plays. Since Rodgers became Green Bay’s regular starting quarterback in 2008, the rushing percentage has fluctuated anywhere from 34-45 percent.
In the past, Rodgers was leaned on more in that aspect of the game, as well being relied on for his arm. In seven of his 11 seasons as Green Bay’s starter, he’s logged more than 50 rushing attempts. He had injury-shortened seasons two of the years he finished with less, and he has just 46 attempts this season for a career-low 183 yards in years he’s played all 16 regular-season games.
Green Bay has become much more reliant on its running backs under LaFleur. Jamaal Williams has added another 460 yards and a touchdown on 107 attempts, complementing Jones.
“The commitment to the running game is different,” Carroll said. “I think that’s what’s different. Not that they didn’t run it before. Matt is from the (Mike) Shanahan tree. That makes Alex Gibbs’ tree. They run that principle of the running game and feature it.
“They’re really committed to it. They’re a zone team, basically. Outside and inside. It’s just the play of Aaron Jones that’s made them so well-balanced and difficult to deal with.”
The pivot toward the run game has helped the Packers to a 13-3 record and a five-game winning streak entering the weekend.
“At times, it’s been really good for us,” LaFleur said during a Wednesday conference call. “It helps you stay a little more balanced in terms of not being quite as predictable. ... There’s been some games where the run game, we’ve won from it.”
Those weeks it has been effective — Jones has five games with 100 or more rushing yards this season, and three in his past four games — it’s also helped free up Rodgers to attack through the air.
“I feel like that really sets up their play-action game, their boot game and things of that nature,” Wagner said. “The run game really complements what they do well already passing-wise.”
It’s not a career season for the veteran quarterback, but he has still thrown for 4,002 yards and 26 touchdowns with Adams (83 catches, 997 yards, five TDs) and Jones (49 catches, 474 yards, three TDs) as his top targets.
“He controls the game so much and he does so much at the line of scrimmage,” Carroll said. “Every aspect of the quarterbacking position, from seeing and reading the defense to get his offense in the right place, to tempo, to cadence — everything about it.
“The scramble aspect of his game is as good as you can get. His extraordinary accuracy making throws when he’s in unusual positions and things has been heralded. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. He’s a great player.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
