Last year the Green Bay Packers‘ offense sunk to its lowest level ever in the Mike McCarthy era. It was a shocking turn of fortune for an offense that has been one of the league’s best the last 10 years. Injuries obviously played a major part of that decline but by no means was the only reason.
The Packers lost their best receiver in the preseason when Jordy Nelson went down and along with him they lost their big play ability. They brought in the aging James Jones because he was able to play right away and while he did lead the team in receiving yards, he disappeared for long stretches and was never a consistent threat.
Injuries to Randall Cobb and Ty Montgomery also played a role even though Cobb didn’t miss any time because of the shoulder injury he suffered early in the season. Montgomery got hurt in week six, suffered several setbacks before finally ending up on IR. By not replacing him earlier the Packers played shorthanded for much of the season.
Receiver was not the only problem area. The Packers simply don’t have a tight end who can put the fear of God in anyone. Richard Rodgers is average at best and did not make the second year leap that McCarthy always preaches about. He did have the play of the year but has not proved to be any kind of receiving threat.
The Packers were also banged up on the offensive line and in turn we found out that general manager Ted Thompson has failed that position miserably. The guys he thought could back up the first team simply couldn’t play. It got so bad the Packers started guard Josh Sitton at left tackle late in the season. Sitton is a good player but gets hurt getting out of bed in the morning. He doesn’t miss much time but is never healthy.
Finally, a key piece of the offense let his team down in a big way, pun intended, when running back Eddie Lacy reported to camp looking more like 405 pound Baylor tight end LaQuan McGowan than the guy who won rookie of the year and rushed for over a thousand yards his first two seasons. Lacy was fat and also had to be disciplined for missing curfew before the Packers’ game in Detroit.
The biggest blunder might have been made by McCarthy when he gave up play calling duties to assistant head coach Tom Clements. That move was an abject failure and I give McCarthy credit for taking it back for the last four games of the season. While the change back to McCarthy didn’t make a huge difference in the short term, I think it will be a key factor this year. Clements was not able to adjust to the adversity that hit the Packers early on and the damage was already done when McCarthy took over.
I think with McCarthy in charge of the offense again it will automatically be better this year. The return of Nelson is obviously a huge factor and early signs are that Eddie Lacy is getting back into shape with the help of P90X. In fact he almost looks skinny.
Couple that with the development of young receivers Montgomery, Jeff Janis and Jared Abbrederis, and the Packers should have enough weapons to get back to the top 10 on offense where they belong. Of course, the straw that stirs the drink, Aaron Rodgers, needs to bounce back as well. The two-time MVP had an off year by his standards and seemed upset with coaching for much of the year.
There were a lot reasons for the decline and there are a lot of reasons to believe they will be better this year. I believe they will bounce back. The captain is back on deck.