Green Bay Packers: 5 reasons the offense will improve in 2018-19
1. The return of Rodgers
When arguably the greatest quarterback in the game today returns from injury, a teams offense will instantly improve.
On that note, put away the fact the Packers added weapons for Rodgers. If that was not the case the simple return of Rodgers alone would have the Packers offense back on radar. He made plays to Jeff Janis, who was nowhere near a superstar player. He made plays to Geronimo Allison when he was still a nobody. The point is it doesn’t matter who Rodgers targets are, he gets the job done.
However, first-year general manager Brian Gutekunst added weapons. He gave Rodgers more athletic receivers and tight ends with all around size and skill. For the career leader in QBR and TD/INT ratio, more weapons only means more trouble for opposing defenses.
Time after time, Rodgers had made plays that seem impossible. Plays that one could only make playing Madden.
2015 NFL Playoffs, NFC Divisional Game. Aaron Rodgers getting pressured and says “PRAISE JESUS” and throws up a prayer, caught by Janis to force OT, too bad they lost the game. This was an awesome moment to witness pic.twitter.com/zsHLzM68Yp
— JonMike🎄 (@JonMikeyy) March 5, 2018
The clip from tonight's ESPYs of the sideline grab by Jared Cook from Aaron Rodgers. pic.twitter.com/gDjmAEBWHb
— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) July 13, 2017
Again, these clips show big time plays to Janis and Jared Cook, both of whom are far away from Hall of Fame players. Now, picture a healthy Rodgers with Graham, Adams and company and the possibilities the could happen. Plus, he now has a fairly solid backfield which will help open up the passing game more.
Although the packer added many pieces via draft and free agency for Rodgers, he alone will make the Packers’ offense much better. Those who don’t follow the Packers may not understand how much he means to the offense.
Consider the 2015-16 playoffs, the year in which Adams missed the playoffs and Cobb exited the divisional round game against the Arizona Cardinals. He still got them to that point with James Jones, Jared Abbrederis and Janis has his top receivers. Although they lost the game in OT, Rodgers put the team on his back and gave them an actual chance to advance.
Now that he has reliable targets, Rodgers won’t need to necessarily put the team on his back. However, he becomes even more dangerous with weapons.
Here’s a fairly obvious question, what other top reason would you expect as to why the Packers offense will improve in 2018-19 than the return of Rodgers?