The Packers offense has been pretty offensive this year, and there might be a reason for that.
In the closing minutes of the Packers' "Monday Night Football" win over the Rams, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman let viewers in on a small peek behind Green Bay's offensive curtain: Green Bay wasn't watching offensive practice film together throughout the season. Connecting the dots, that may have contributed to the disconnect between Aaron Rodgers and his young wide receiver corps.
On Tuesday, Matt LaFleur seemed to confirm the inefficiencies in the Packers' meeting habits, confirming the Buck and Aikman story from Monday night:
LaFleur's response to the MNF broadcast reporting that the offense was not watching practice film all together as a unit until some point this season. He would not say when that changed and was very vague about the details here. https://t.co/ksN8mLxbYW pic.twitter.com/YvlIV7em7h
— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) December 20, 2022
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From The Athletic's Kalyn Kahler:
Yeah that’s something that just thinking back in previous years, we had done that, most of the time together and then after that first year, again we had a more veteran group of wideouts and we allowed it to, just from an efficiency standpoint and a detail standpoint, allowed the position groups to meet independently of one another in some instances. Now, I would say, I can’t remember what week it was, but we decided to start watching … every practice together as a whole unit.
While there's no hard-and-fast rule for position groups meeting during game week, it would certainly make sense for Rodgers to have met with Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs more frequently. The two rookie wide receivers have figured big into Green Bay's offense this year, especially so in the wake of Davante Adams' departure.
Rodgers' dissatisfaction with the rookies was pretty apparent throughout the preseason. Maybe hammering out those details in the meeting room would have helped alleviate some issues this year.
