It’s not just about offense any more for the Cheeseheads.
That was the point that the Green Bay Packers tried to attend to in the offseason when they signed veteran pass rusher Julius Peppers away from the Chicago Bears and drafted safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix in the first round.
Make no mistake about it, Aaron Rodgers is still the best player on the team, but the Packers are no longer focused on winning games by simply lighting up the scoreboard.
That was the case in 2011, you’ll remember. That was the year that the Packers went 15-1 and scored a league-high 560 points in the process. The Packers, Saints, and Patriots all scored 500 points or more that season, and when the playoffs began, those three teams appeared to be the best in the league.
The running game didn’t matter that year and neither did defense. It was all about scoring as many points as possible and doing it as fast as was humanly possible for those three teams.
But while the philosophy was turning into an NFL mantra, a funny thing happened. None of those teams won the Super Bowl. The Saints lost a divisional playoff game to the San Francisco 49ers, while the Packers dropped a home playoff game to the New York Giants.
Those same Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Packers’ head coach Mike McCarthy took notice of the Giants’ success. While they had been just good enough to make the playoffs in the regular season with a 9-7 record, they dominated in the postseason with a well-rounded offense and a punishing defense.
McCarthy knew his high-powered passing game had put his team at the top of the NFL ladder in the regular-season, but it wasn’t good enough to win the championship.
The Packers drafted power running back Eddie Lacy in 2013, and made the Peppers and Clinton-Dix moves during the last offseason.
The idea was to take some of the burden off of Rodgers, and let the rest of the team carry its responsibility.
The Packers started off slowly this year, going 1-2 through the first three games. That’s nothing new for Green Bay, because the Packers have been slow starters throughout the McCarthy-Rodgers regime in nearly every season besides ’11.
The Packers woke up when they went to Chicago to face the Bears in Week Four, and they continued their turnaround with a one-sided 42-10 Thursday night victory over the Minnesota Vikings last week.
Based on their performance in the last two games, the Packers appear ready to function at a very high level the rest of the way.
Rodgers’ numbers are simply stellar, considering that the Packers offense was stuck in neutral for the first three games. He has completed 98-of-147 passes for 1,155 yards, but it is his 12-1 TD-interception ratio and his 7.86 yards per pass attempt that demonstrate how much better he is than the rest of the competition.
Lacy started the season with four subpar games, and he did not rush for more than 50 yards in any of them. However, Lacy was blasting through holes and running over linebackers against the Vikings, as he gained 105 yards and scored two touchdowns. That’s the way Lacy ran as a rookie last year, and that’s what the Packers are expecting the rest of the way.
However, it’s Peppers who came up with the exclamation point against the Vikings. He was named the NFC’s defensive player of the week after he registered three tackles, ½ of a sack, and, oh yes, came up with an interception that he returned 49 yards for a touchdown.
Peppers has been a brilliant athlete at the defensive end position throughout his NFL career. The Packers moved him to outside linebacker, and he is showing that he still has his speed and athleticism at the age of 34.
This is huge, because it means the Packers have two tremendous playmakers on defense between Peppers and Clay Matthews. Clinton-Dix could be the third in this group, but he is not there yet.
The Packers tend to hit their stride in October, and that may be the case again this year.
Even though they are tied for the lead in the NFC North at this point with the Detroit Lions, it is clear that they are the best team in the division.
However, their sights are set much higher. They are taking aim at the NFC title and they know that there is a very strong likelihood that they are going to have to confront the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks along the way.
It’s easy to write off the Packers because they got blown out in Week One by Pete Carroll’s team. That conclusion would be a mistake, because the season is just now beginning to take shape.
The Packers look like the one NFC team that has a legitimate chance to make the Seahawks sweat on their way back to the Super Bowl.
They have transformed from a one-dimensional passing team to a unit that can win with the running game and defensive big plays in addition to Rodgers’ powerful right arm.
It’s a show that is worth watching the rest of the way.
