Green Bay Packers: Adam Stenavich Deserves Plenty of Credit for OL’s Success

The Green Bay Packers’ OL has been dominant this season despite a plethora of injuries, and OL Coach Adam Stenavich deserves plenty of credit.

The Green Bay Packers are 12-3, on the verge of clinching the NFC’s No. 1 seed, and have had one of the most productive offenses in football this season. Behind that success is the MVP-caliber play of Aaron Rodgers, the emergence of Robert Tonyan, of course, Davante Adams and Aaron Jones, along with Matt LaFleur’s play-calling.

While those are the names that will stick out to most fans, I think it’s safe to say that the Packers wouldn’t be in the position that they are in now without the stellar play of their offensive line unit. Outside of two performances against Tampa Bay and Carolina, this has been the most dominant offensive line in football. And as we’ve seen, if you give Rodgers time and create some holes for Jones, Jamaal Williams, and AJ Dillon, this offense is nearly impossible to stop.

Oftentimes, the play along the offensive line goes unnoticed — unless there is a mistake — but that rings even more true for the offensive line coach, a member of this team that some might not even know. For the Packers, Adam Stenavich, who is in his second season with the team, is more than happy to heap praise on his players, and they do deserve a ton of credit. But as Matt LaFleur pointed out recently, behind the scenes, Stenavich and Assistant Offensive Line Coach Luke Butkus have been integral parts in the team’s overall success (via Wisconsin State Journal):

"“The versatility is really a credit to the players. But I would say that the teaching that those two guys (Stenavich and Butkus) do is incredible. They’re great teachers, great communicators, and they put a lot of time and effort into what they do. The players know that. They know that they care about them, and I think that’s why you’re seeing good results.”"

Prior to Week 16, the Green Bay Packers ranked first by ESPN’s pass-block win rate metric as well as first by their run-block win rate metric. On top of that, the 4.8 yards per carry that Green Bay running backs are averaging is the sixth most in football, while the 15 sacks given up by the offensive line is the second-fewest, and their 116 total pressures are the fewest, according to Pro Football Focus ($).

What makes this dominance even more impressive is all of the movement that has had to take place due to injuries. We’ve seen Lane Taylor at right guard while rookie Jon Runyan has had to play both guard positions. Elgton Jenkins has played every position on the offensive line, with Billy Turner playing right guard and both tackle positions. Lucas Patrick has played both guard positions as well, and Rick Wagner has filled in at right tackle quite admirably this season.

The positions may change, but this unit continues to play at a high-level, and once again, as Wagner mentions, that’s a huge credit to Stenavich:

"“We’ve had a lot of people play different positions. Every week, it seems like somebody’s playing the opposite side or a new position. It just shows how good of a coach Steno is. Getting us prepared every week against different defenses, putting a game plan together for us that we have confidence in every week, he does a great job getting us on the same page.”"

In Year 2 of the Matt LaFleur system, we’ve seen the offense take a huge step forward as the Packers now lead the league in points per game. Everyone is more comfortable with the system, they know where they need to be, and when they need to be there, and it’s also allowed LaFleur to dive deeper into his playbook. While we see the results of this on the stat sheet for players like Rodgers, Adams, and Jones, these same principles apply to the offensive line.

As Stenavich points out, with a heavy focus on fundamentals, even in a shortened offseason, the offensive line is excelling:

"“I think coach Butkus and myself, we just focus on the fundamentals and let them be the players that they are. With the limitations in the offseason, we were lucky because we had a majority of the guys coming back, and they had a good base and a foundation. It wasn’t new to them. Then, it’s just a matter of teaching them the basics and letting them excel at what they do.”"

The Green Bay Packers are poised for a deep postseason run that hopefully culminates with a Super Bowl win, and they’ll be doing so with the best offensive line unit in the NFL protecting MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers. The high-level of play from this group is a major reason why the Packers are in the position that they’re currently in, and the players deserve a massive amount of credit, but so does Coach Adam Stenavich.