Packers: Rodgers Needs Matt Ryan-like Jump in Year 2 of LaFleur Offense

The Green Bay Packers are hoping for a Matt Ryan-like jump from Aaron Rodgers in Year 2 of the Matt LaFleur offense.

From a numbers standpoint, the 2019 season for Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers was a very average one. His passer rating of 95.4 ranked 14th, he was 11th in passing yards with 4,002, and while Rodgers was eighth in touchdown passes, he ranked 29th in completion percentage.

Now to some degree this should have been expected. Although Matt LaFleur was brought in to help revitalize Rodgers’ and this offense, it was the first year in a brand new system. Naturally, there were going to be bumps in the road. Not to mention that last year’s offense was a mashup of LaFleur’s system and what Mike McCarthy had established over the years.

However, this is a Green Bay Packers team that was just a game shy of the Super Bowl last season and Rodgers is much closer to the end of his career than the beginning. So in Year 2 under LaFleur, we hope that we see Rodgers and the offense as a whole make a significant jump.

In fact, we hope that it is a similar jump to the one we saw Matt Ryan make during the 2016 season in Atlanta.

Since the offseason began, both LaFleur and General Manager Brian Gutekunst have mentioned the significant improvement that Ryan made from the 2015 season to the 2016 season when LaFleur was the quarterback’s coach and Kyle Shanahan was the offensive coordinator in Atlanta.

Of course, it’s worth pointing out that it wasn’t LaFleur who was calling the plays but he worked with Ryan every day and in terms of coaching philosophy, he and Shanahan are cut from the same cloth. This is why this comparison between the 2020 Packers’ offense and the 2016 Falcons’ offense has been made.

In 2015, Atlanta would finish the year 8-8 while Ryan would complete 66.3 percent of his passes, for 4,591 yards at 7.5 yards per attempt. He would also throw just 21 touchdown passes while tossing 16 interceptions and posting a passer rating of 89.0.

But in 2016 things would begin to click resulting in Ryan and this Falcons team going on a run.  Atlanta would finish the season at 11-5, they were the highest-scoring offense in the NFL, they made it all the way to the Super Bowl, and Ryan was named the league MVP.

In terms of the stat sheet, Ryan improved in just about every category and led the NFL in several areas as well. His completion percentage jumped to 69.9 percent, he threw for 4,944 yards with a league-high 9.3 yards per attempt, and he would total 38 touchdowns to only seven interceptions. On top of that, his passer rating sky-rocketed to 117.1.

Having said all of that, at this point, who knows if we will see Rodgers have the same kind of success in Year 2 as Matt Ryan did. With the players having a better understanding of the offense and the coaching staff having a better idea of what their players can and can’t do, it should be more likely than not that we see the Packers’ offense improve. But the big question is, by how much?

Most are going to agree that the Green Bay Packers overachieved last season and that they are prime-regression candidates in 2020. And it’s easy to understand why. However, one significant way that they can combat that regression is by seeing both Rodgers and this offense take a leap forward this season. Just like Ryan did under Shanahan and LaFleur in 2016.