4 Big Things from Green Bay Packers No. 1 Seed Clinching Win
By Paul Bretl
It looks like the Green Bay Packers have something in David Moore
Ideally, you want your return units to be a weapon. At a minimum, you don’t want them to be a liability. In the Green Bay Packers’ case this season, you crossed your fingers and hoped that disaster wouldn’t strike.
In a recent article of mine, I highlighted just how much the kick and punt return units have struggled this season:
"“Amari Rodgers has largely handled the punt return duties his season, and of the 18 eligible return men, he ranks 12th with an average return of 7.5 yards. However, the real issues are his indecisiveness with the ball in his hands and his inability at times to field punts cleanly. The kick return unit, often led by Malik Taylor, hasn’t been much better. Out of the 100 NFL players with at least one return attempt this season, Taylor ranks 69th with an average of 19.4 yards. And in case you were wondering, Rodgers ranks 100th with a 16.8 yard average, according to PFF ($$).”"
In addition to both Rodgers and Taylor struggling this season, the Packers were without both of them against Minnesota, with Rodgers on the reserve/COVID list and Taylor on IR. So Green Bay would sign veteran receiver David Moore to the practice squad this past week, and he took over return duties on Sunday.
Moore entered the game with 22 career punt return attempts, averaging 8.4 yards per return and four career kick return attempts as well. Now, I know, expectations should be tempered–it was a really small sample size, after all. But it does look like Green Bay has something with Moore.
Moore didn’t take any kick return attempts out of the end zone, but he did have three punt returns and totaled 33 yards, including a long of 21. It sounds simple, but it was refreshing to see him field the ball cleanly, be decisive in his decision-making, and he displayed good vision as well.
"“I thought he did an outstanding job,” Head Coach Matt LaFleur said of Moore via Packers.com. “He had a lot of success it looked like, from my vantage point. I was really impressed by him.”"
In the playoffs, a team’s weaknesses are magnified and if Moore can add some stability and playmaking ability to a position of weakness, well, then that’s a huge boost for an already very good football team.