While it came in a losing effort, Aaron Rodgers had arguably his best game of the 2016 season in Week 8’s contest against the Atlanta Falcons.
The quarterback was 28-for-38 with 246 yards passing with four touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 125.5 passer rating. Rodgers also thrived on the ground, carrying the ball six times for 60 yards, leading the team.
Rodgers’ mobility has long been one of his greatest assets. But according to Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy, we shouldn’t expect to see him continue to lead the team in rushing.
“We’re not going to make a living with Aaron Rodgers running the football,” McCarthy said, per Rob Demovsky, ESPN. “Let’s make that clear right now. We’re going to throw the ball, but we need to get our run game going because we’re not going back to last year. We’re going to run the football, we’re going to play-action pass game. We’re going to play to our quarterback.”
McCarthy is right. Much of the problem is injury related, but Green Bay has not developed a consistent running game this year.
Against Atlanta, the Packers attempted only 19 rushes, with 10 of those coming from Rodgers, usually in the scrambling role. That effort might have been good enough to beat most teams in the NFL.
Unfortunately, as good as Rodgers is that effort probably can’t be duplicated on a week in, week out basis. Additionally, even with that effort, the Falcons were a little too good on Sunday. For Green Bay to get back to the top, it will have to beat good teams like Atlanta.
For that to happen, McCarthy and company must find a way to establish a running game.