Two Good Things the Packers' Offense Did in Sunday's Win

Aaron Rodgers and the Packers’ offense weren’t perfect Sunday, but there’s reason for hope.

The Packers’ offense didn’t have a spectacular afternoon on Sunday, at least not to the extent that the defense did. But in addition to doing just enough to get the win, the offense did two great things that should give you hope about how they played.

First, even in suboptimal weather conditions, the Packers still generated explosive plays through the air. Aaron Rodgers complained this week about the wind, and the temperature and light precipitation likely didn’t help matters either. But even dealing with that, the Packers still produced five explosive gains in the passing game on Sunday. A.J. Dillon, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Davante Adams, and Aaron Jones (twice) all surpassed the 16-yard threshold we use to track explosive gains through the air. 

What’s more, they did so in a variety of ways. Valdes-Scantling and Adams both succeeded through traditional progression-based passing, Dillon rumbled for big yardage after Rodgers found him with a checkdown, and Jones benefitted from timely playcalling. Even in an overall down day for the offense, that’s a positive sign.

Second, the Packers sustained drives to close out the game, an incredibly useful skill for an offense playing in a tight contest. After a Seattle punt deep late in the third quarter, the Packers marched 62 yards (including a 20-yard penalty) in a little over five minutes to punch in their first touchdown of the game. And after picking off Russell Wilson in the end zone on the next drive, they did virtually the same thing, this time going 80 yards in 10 plays for the game-sealing score. The second drive wiped another six minutes off the game clock, leaving the Seahawks just 1:56 to climb out of a 17-point hole.

The Packers’ long, methodical drives consumed about 12 of the game’s final 16 minutes of game time. In addition to putting the game out of reach on the scoreboard, they gave Seattle less time to work with and made a comeback attempt far less likely. For a team that tends to play games with very few possessions to begin with, that’s a very good thing.

For more on the Packers’ win over the Seahawks, check out episode 481 of Blue 58 — A Packers Podcast here or below, then follow or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you prefer to listen.