Getty Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has no intention of reining in Aaron Rodgers' audible decisions at the line.
The Green Bay Packers had trouble getting their offense going against the Minnesota Vikings during their Week 1 loss, and head coach Matt LaFleur has conceded that at least some of the problem was his inability to get regular touches for running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon out of the backfield.
The Packers ran the ball just 18 times against the Vikings over their 61 offensive plays with Jones — a two-time 1,000-yard rusher — getting just five carries despite averaging 9.8 yards per attempt. Dillon got a bigger slice of the pie with 10 carries for 45 yards and a touchdown while each of them was targetted at least five times in the passing game, but it still felt inadequate given how effective both backs have proved to be.
“When two of your best players are your running backs and get [23] total touches, that’s not good enough,” LaFleur said. “We need to get them the ball more, especially in the run game. I thought we were running the ball pretty efficiently. We had a couple of explosive runs. … I love the energy and effort they bring and certainly want to get them more involved and, quite frankly, take a little bit of pressure off everybody else.”
A better gameplan could fix the issue if LaFleur and the other Packers offensive coaches make a concerted effort to get Jones and Dillon more involved. Then again, it can be difficult to ensure that every run called stays a run on the field when there is a veteran quarterback at the helm of the offense changing plays at his discretion at the line.
LaFleur Will ‘Never’ Second-Guess Rodgers’ Control
Rodgers has long been granted the freedom to call audibles in his Green Bay offense and make adjustments he feels are necessary based on the defensive coverage he is seeing on the field. It is a privilege he has earned over his first 14 seasons as a starting quarterback and one that has proven effective for the Packers time and time again.
Would the Packers ever consider reining in Rodgers’ control over the offense to avoid having their run game dry up, though, as it did against Minnesota in Week 1?
Here’s an insightful exchange on that subject between LaFleur and Packers insider Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal after the fourth-year head coach said during his press conference on September 12 that he wanted to get his backs more involved:
Wilde: Can you do that when you run an offense, though, that has RPOs, that has can plays where your quarterback has all kinds of freedom [to change the call at the line]. You can tell me if I’m wrong, but I’m guessing there were probably some plays that started out as runs that ended up as passes during the game, too.
LaFleur: Yeah, but that’s always the case for us. And certainly, we’ve got the utmost confidence in Aaron — why wouldn’t you? — to make the right decisions. He’s been pretty good over our time, so we’ll never sit here and second-guess that. I think that’s an element of our offense that makes it a little bit more difficult to defend. Bottom line is we’ve got to put our players in better positions, and that always starts with me, whether it’s offense, defense, special teams — it doesn’t matter.
Jones & Dillon Not Stressing About Total Carries
LaFleur blames himself for not finding ways to make both Jones and Dillon a bigger part of their offense in Week 1, but he won’t be hearing any complaints out of his team-first running backs as they build toward Week 2’s showdown with the Chicago Bears.
Counting Sunday’s performance against the Vikings, Jones has only been limited to five carries on three occasions since his breakout season in 2019. One of those instances was their blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints in their 2021 season opener — in which the Packers also ran the ball just 15 times with their running backs — while the other came against the Chicago Bears in Week 14 last season with Dillon stepping up as the lead back for that matchup.
Jones, however, doesn’t get frustrated when the game plan results in him getting a lower volume of touches.
“No sir, I’m not frustrated,” Jones told reporters on September 12. “I just do what I can when my number is called and make the most of every opportunity I get. It doesn’t matter how many times I’m touching the ball as long as I’m out there contributing to help my team.