Packers Q&A! Most Intriguing Postion To watch, Jordan Love's best friend, Rashan Gary Injury
Good morning! Anwering questions before OTAs
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Good Morning!
OTA’s are about to get started in Green Bay, but I figured I would answer some questions as we await news to come out of Green Bay.
The first day of OTAs was yesterday, but today is the first day the media will be allowed to watch.
Look out later this afternoon for takeaways from Packers practice.
“Will we run the ball more this year? I want us to pound the rock and just have Love play action teams to death. Tell the big boys up front hey we’re running the ball a minimum 30 times a game, so we need you guys to be road graders! Looking forward to see what we do this season.” Matthew Pulizos
Odds are Matt Lafleur plans to pound the rock as much as possible. That will allow the pressure to be taken off Jordan Love. The Packers backfield is going to be Jordan Love’s best friend. The better the running game, the better the passing game. When defenses fall for the play action pass the Packers have a plethora of weapons with the ability to stretch the field with their top line speed.
I’d expect even more play action than last year with Aaron Rodgers.
While watching Packers offensive coordinator Adam Steneavich in a press conference last week there was one very interesting thing that caught my eye. He was asked by a reporter if because of Aaron Rodgers thumb injury the Packers weren’t able to line up under center as much as they wanted to last year. He said that was the case.
The Packers had to play out of gun more often than they would have liked last season. The Matt Lafluer offensive scheme is centered on running the ball which sets up the play action. Now with a fully healthy Jordan Love under center they will be able to do more and more of what they truly want.
Last season the Packers were pretty balanced when it came to run vs pass. They ran the ball 26.8 times per game and passed the ball 33.1 times per game. If you look at a team like the 49ers who run a similar scheme they ran the ball 29.7 times per game and passed the ball 29.5 times per game.
That partly has to do with the fact that most games they were playing with the lead. With the Packers trailing in many games last season, they were unable to stick with the run at all times.
Oftentimes people bring up the stat that teams that run the ball more win more often. That’s just because when you are up in a game you run the ball to take time off of the clock. So the more that you have the lead the more rushing attempts you will have.
On the other hand when you are trailing later in the game at some point you have to bail on the run and focus solely on the pass which makes you one dimensional and very predictable. Therefore in the end you end up passing more than you run.
Matt Lafluer never wants to get away from the run. Last year there were many games where he mentioned that abandoning the run was not something the Packers wanted to do, but it happened somewhat often when the Packers were trying to keep up when teams put up points in a hurry. But all in all for the Packers offense to be successful this year, the running game needs to be front and center, which I believe it will.
“When do we actually think that Rashan Gary will make it back?? #RG play maker” Nyoutdoors and more
In all honesty it’s very hard to know until the Packers give us some kind of update. Typically ACL tears take 9-12 months for a full recovery but sometimes there are unforeseen setbacks as we witnessed with David Bakhtiari over the past couple years.
Considering his ACL injury took place in early November, the start of the season in September will put him at about 10 months since the injury. Technically there’s a chance he is ready for week 1, but right now we just don’t know. He also has a chance at missing the first part of the season.
You also have to factor in how much time it will take for him to shake the rust off. It could take him a few games once he returns to get back into peak form. Luckily the Packers added Lukas Van Ness in the first round which gives them safety in the case that Gary’s recovery takes longer than expected.
“Do you have some Packers Jerseys, if so from which players? 🧀👍🏼” bucki97
In total I probably have a little more than 20 jerseys. A majority of them don’t fit.
Ever since I was 6 or 7 I got jerseys often for Christmas and Birthdays, so it added up! My most recent jersey is Christian Watson which I got last summer. I’m planning on buying a Jordan Love jersey before the season starts.
“Who will take over at LT if Dave isn't healthy?” Matt Knee
It would likely be Zach Tom or Yosh Nijman.
Last year in Tom’s rookie season he played 295 snaps at LT and allowed 0 sacks. He played lights out. Yosh Nijman played 200 snaps at LT last season and also allowed 0 sacks at LT. With Bakhtiari healthy it’ll probably be Nijman or Tom that starts at RT.
Hopefully David Bakhtari’s knee injury doesn’t flare up again this season. It seems like later last season the knee became a non issue, but it will be something to keep an eye on. Luckily the Packers do have some options in the unfortunate scenario of his injury becoming a problem.
“The most interesting position to watch and I am also interested to see how good Jordan Love’s accuracy is now.” Packno1
I would say safety will be the most interesting position to watch simply because it’s the least certain of all positions. With Adrian Amos out the door it opens up a spot for someone to take.
The Packers sound very certain that Darnell Savage will be one of the starters.
Personally if I were the Packers I wouldn’t mind starting someone else over him if they look better in camp.
Last year Savage was graded as the 87th best safety by PFF out of 88 total safeties. He will be playing on his 5th year option this season which means he has every reason to want to take his game to the next level if he wants to get a big contract after this season.
Personally if I had to guess who would start with Savage come September I’d go Rudy Ford. He played 443 snaps at safety and was graded by PFF as the 17th best safety out of 88 in 2022.
A few other safeties to watch that will try to push to start are recent signing Jonathan Owens form Houston, Tarvarious Moore who we signed from the 49ers, and Packers 7th round draft pick Anthony Johnson.
It’s possible one of these guys plays great in training camp and pushes their way into the starting lineup.
When it comes to Jordan Love’s accuracy, we won’t really know until the preseason and season starts. We may get some kind of idea from training camp, but camp is much different than a live game scenario. He’s taken massive strides forward over the past couple years.
In his limited snaps in the game vs Philly last year his accuracy was on point. Lots of it comes down to footwork and timing and hitting the receiver in stride. He’s taken big steps forward in every aspect of his game. Let’s hope it all comes together when September comes around.
Thanks for reading! I’ll be out with OTA updates later today. Feel free to subscribe to you don’t miss them.
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