A lack of timely changes hurts Packers in long run of 2022 season

Timely changes, or a lack thereof, were a factor in what ended up being a disappointing and underwhelming season for the Green Bay Packers.

As is always the case, there are many reasons why the season ended as it did for the Packers, and this isn’t to say that benching Royce Newman a week earlier would have made Green Bay a playoff team. But for a group that missed the playoffs by just one game and who had five of their eight losses take place by just one score, not making these adjustments quickly enough had an impact on how their year went.

From Weeks 10 through 17, the play of the offensive line was a critical part of the Packers’ success, with Aaron Rodgers being one of the least pressured quarterbacks during that span, along with the run game averaging almost five yards per rush. However, before then, the offensive line play was very up and down. In part, this was due to injuries, which there is no control over, but another factor was players playing out of position.

After being a starter for most of the 2021 season, Royce Newman began the season at right tackle, and then moved to right guard in Weeks 2 through 6, where he struggled mightily. In those six games, he allowed 18 pressures and four sacks, along with struggling as a run-blocker. For some context, Newman ranked second to last out of all guards this season in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric in true pass sets.

Replacing Newman was a move that should have been made sooner than it was. It’s also not as if the Packers didn’t have options either. Zach Tom could have taken over at right guard, or, and this brings me to my next example, Elgton Jenkins could have gone back to left guard sooner, moving Jon Runyan to right guard to take Newman’s spot.

It was no easy task for Jenkins to play right tackle. He was working his way back from a major injury, and he also had very little experience at the position. At right tackle, Jenkins allowed 12 pressures in five games. However, back at left guard, where he has the most experience, Jenkins gave up five pressures in 10 games.

In part, my guess is that the Packers’ hesitation in making this move was because this also meant Yosh Nijman had to move to right tackle, where he had no NFL experience. But once there, he proved to be capable, and the offensive line as a whole was much more cohesive, which is important. Or, once again, the Packers could have put Tom there if they had doubts about Nijman.

The most obvious move that the Packers needed to make much sooner than what they did was replacing Amari Rodgers as the return man. Rodgers continued to have issues fielding the ball cleanly, and even when he did catch it, he brought little playmaking to the position. Somehow, Keisean Nixon was sitting on the Green Bay bench this entire time, and apparently, no one knew the big play ability that he had.

If we take away Rodgers’ fumbles and add in Nixon’s home run ability with the ball in his hands over the course of the entire season, who knows how much of an impact that has on the Packers’ offense? Extra possessions and improved field position would have gone a long way for a unit that struggled much of the year. Aaron Rodgers even alluded to that late in the season.

Other personnel examples include benching Darnell Savage sooner than what Green Bay did. It was a move that clearly helped because since returning during the Miami game, he looked like a much-improved player. However, before then, the secondary was littered with coverage breakdowns, and Savage was often in the middle of those miscommunications.

Josiah Deguara was a huge part of the Packers’ success in the run game with his ability as a blocker but also his versatility, which played into the illusion of complexity that Matt LaFleur often discusses. But through the first seven games, he was averaging just over 10 snaps per game. Since then, however, he as on the field for almost 20. And again, a strong run game to lean on was a must for this offense, so why wasn’t he on the field more often earlier in the year?

Lastly, Devonte Wyatt clearly brought some juice as a pass rusher but saw little playing time. For an interior defensive line unit that struggled to create pressure for much of the season, Wyatt should have been taking more pass rush snaps from Dean Lowry, who is more of a run defender anyways. Of the rookie class, Wyatt had the highest pressure rate of those who played at least 100 pass-rush snaps this season.

Also, one more thing actually, why did it take until the bye week for Joe Barry to make drastic changes on defense? During the Packers’ win streak, we saw more cover-2 and cover-6, which helped eliminate big passing plays and clearly cured the communication issues on the back end. The defense was in better positions to make plays on the ball, and the pass rush was getting home more often.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but to varying degrees, I’m going to guess that most of the personnel changes just described were relatively obvious to those watching the Packers. I’m sure there are many more factors that go into these decisions than what we see, but at the end of the day, if you’re not seeing the results — which for much of the season the Packers weren’t — changes need to be made and done so promptly.