Simply looking at the Green Bay Packers’ record of 10-4 you’d never guess there were many bumps in the road for the NFC North leaders heading into week 16.
A closer examination shows inconsistencies with a team riding a modest two-game win streak heading into their key showdown against the Cardinals Sunday in Glendale. Elite quarterback Aaron Rodgers has struggled to click with his wide receivers after star Jordy Nelson was lost for the season with a torn ACL back in late August. The Packers rank a jaw-dropping 26th in the NFL in passing offense.
“This is not a happy man right now,” SI.com Senior NFL Writer Peter King said of Rodgers during his weekly interview with Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat. “This is not a team…even though Aaron Rodgers wants to throw it deep…that part of their game…just hasn’t been there.”
Green Bay, despite being a top 10 rushing team, can’t seem to find consistent downfield threats in the passing attack. Rodgers weapons are either inexperienced and still “finding their way” like Stanford rookie Ty Montgomery or simply underachieving as is the case with Randall Cobb who enters the weekend with 777 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Those numbers are a far cry from his 1,287 yards and 12 scores in 2014.
“Cobb has had some drop issues,” King told Cesmat. “[Davante] Adams had dropped some balls. [Rodgers] just doesn’t have the faith in them, it appears to me, that he had a year ago.”
The Cards will do their best to continue that trend this weekend but will have to do it without star safety Tyrann Mathieu. Statistically, Arizona is 16th in the league in pass defense.
Eric Sorenson
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