The Green Bay Packers need to balance their offense

The Green Bay Packers need to find some balance on offense

The Green Bay Packers currently sit at 3-3-1, which is not ideal when you have the best quarterback in the game in his prime. A lot of the blame is placed on the roster or the defense, but the Packers currently have all the pieces they need to become contenders. They just have not maximized them.

Here is why the Packers need to become a run-first football team.

Aaron Jones

The Packers have not had an elite running back for the majority of Aaron Rodgers’s tenure as the starting quarterback. However, they have one now in Aaron Jones. The only problem is they seem reluctant to utilize him.

Jones averaged an impressive 5.5 yards per carry last season, which made many Green Bay fans take notice of him. He has taken his game to an even higher level this season by averaging 6.2 yards per carry, which is the highest in the NFL (minimum 44 carries).

Jones just scorched the dominant Rams defense last Sunday for 86 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries. When the ball is in Jones’s hands, good things happen.

The Offensive Line

The offensive line has been a consistent strength for Green Bay over the past few seasons. They have bought Rodgers plenty of extra time to find open receivers and have consistently been among the better lines in football. While they have been recognized for their pass blocking ability, they have been great at run blocking as well.

Left tackle David Bakhtiari is currently the highest graded tackle on Pro Football Focus (subscription required) this season. Typically, teams with strong offensive lines play to that strength.

For example, the Dallas Cowboys became a run-first team led by DeMarco Murray when their offensive line first became dominant. They then drafted Ezekiel Elliott in order to maintain their style of play. Playing through the run allowed Dallas to control the tempo of the game and masked some holes on the rest of their roster.

However, Green Bay seems content to run the ball only 32.7% of the time, which is the second lowest in the NFL.

The Defense

It is no secret that the Packers do not have the best defense in the NFL. While they have some Pro Bowl-caliber players such as Mike Daniels, the defense is still young and developing as a whole. If the Packers played through the run, they would hypothetically control the time of possession. As long as they kept picking up first downs, the drive would continue and the clock would run. So in turn, the defense would be on the field less.

This would alleviate the pressure on the defense and allow them to be fresher over the course of the game.

Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback in the NFL right now. He can make just about any pass, and the Packers are never out of a game because of him. However, the Packers are relying on Rodgers too much and it is making them less effective as a team. The Packers are passing the football 67.7% of the time (tied for second in the NFL) despite having a good running back and a strong offensive line. Opposing defenses know that Rodgers is going to throw the football for often then not and typically do not stack the box against Green Bay.

The New Orleans Saints were another pass-first team. This was primarily because they had Drew Brees. However, last season they established a ground attack with Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram. The Saints now have a more balanced offense, and Brees is on track to set a career high in completion percentage, as a result.