Have teams figured out Packers’ offense? Aaron Rodgers says ‘one out of five’ have

October 21, 2020
|In Packers
|By Zach Heilprin

The Green Bay Packers suffered their first loss of the season on Sunday, a 38-10 blowout at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While the loss itself wasn’t surprising, the way in which it happened was.

Green Bay’s offense, which had been the highest-scoring unit in the league, was overwhelmed by the Buccaneers defense. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was sacked four times after going down three times in the first four games combined, and his passer rating was the third-lowest of his starting career.

The performance led one reporter on Wednesday to wonder if teams had figured out the offense in year two under coach Matt LaFleur.

“One out of five,” Rodgers responded after a small delay and not expanding on the answer.

Rodgers had little interest in talking about the Tampa Bay game, especially this far into the week.

“At this point, we’ve moved on. We’re onto Houston,” Rodgers said. “We can’t be dwelling on the past game. Especially, we’re on Wednesday already. We’re on to the next opponent and moving on. We can’t be feeling ourselves too much when it’s going good and too down on ourselves or hanging our heads when we’re coming off a rough one. We’ve got to deal with each of them. The highs and the lows with a really even keeled mindset and good focus each week.”

The Buccaneers were the best defense the Packers had faced this year, ranking No. 1 in fewest yards allowed per game and No. 7 in fewest points allowed per game. Three of the other four teams they played rank in the bottom half of the league in both of those categories.

“The most important thing is to stick to the process and the plan and the routine,” Rodgers said. “We are creatures of habit and it’s time to move forward. By the time we watch the film on Monday, that’s in the can. We’re on to the next opponent. The last two days we’ve been watching Houston. We’ve been talking about Houston. We’re on to the next situation. The biggest thing we can do is focus on what got us here and this opponent.”

David Bakhtiari doesn’t practice

All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari did not practice Wednesday due to a chest injury suffered against the Buccaneers. Coach Matt LaFleur didn’t offer an update on his status and wouldn’t say how they would approach the position if he can’t play Sunday against Houston.

When Bakhtiari went down against Tampa Bay, Rick Wagner slid into this spot and struggled. Other options include moving left guard Elgton Jenkins. The second-year product started at right tackle in the season opener.

Along with his high level of play, Bakhtiari has been very durable over his career. Since he took over as the starter at left tackle in 2013, he’s missed just six regular season starts, and he’s working on a stretch of 50-straight protecting Rodgers’ blindside.

“There’s always a special relationship between left tackles and a quarterback,” Rodgers said. “A lot of trust goes into it being a right-handed quarterback. If (Bakhtiari) can’t go, then we’re going to have to see who is in there and make sure they feel comfortable from the first snap on.”