By Tom Silverstein, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel –
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The offense the Green Bay Packers ran Sunday against Minnesota isn’t the offense that coach Mike McCarthy wants to run every week.
At least not based on what he has done before.
Keeping tight ends and running backs in to help the offensive line block has been far less common than McCarthy spreading out four or five receivers and going for broke. A good part of his success has been taking advantage of the talent he has at receiver and tight end and counting on his line to handle all the protection.
Since losing right tackle Bryan Bulaga to a season-ending hip injury, leaks in the shield around quarterback Aaron Rodgers have gotten bigger and after back-to-back games against the top-flight defensive lines of the New York Giants and Detroit Lions, McCarthy and his staff did more Sunday to help the offensive line.
In the Packers’ 23-14, come-from-behind victory over the Vikings, McCarthy didn’t use a single empty backfield all day long. Other than a couple of screens, his backs didn’t go out on many passes, staying in to offer the line help when needed.
Sometimes, McCarthy kept in a back and a tight end to help with protection. That became more common after right tackle T.J. Lang suffered a right ankle sprain and rookie Don Barclay had to fill his spot.
The result was that Rodgers only got sacked twice and knocked to the ground two or three other times. He scrambled quite a bit, but some of that was a function of only having two or three receivers out on routes.
“A lot of times when Aaron moved out of the pocket it wasn’t necessarily because of pressure, it was because they were doing some line stunts and they left an area open that he exploited,” offensive coordinator Tom Clements said Monday. “Other times there was a little bit of leakage and that’s going to happen during the course of a game. Nothing is going to be 100 percent.
“But we ended up with two sacks for minus-3 yards and really one of the sacks was on a scramble where Aaron got out of bounds before he got back to the line of scrimmage, so the line did a good job in the pass game and the run game.”
Rodgers threw for just one touchdown and completed only three passes of 20 or more yards. And the offense scored just 23 points, which on many days can be a 30-minute output for a McCarthy team.
But this is where the Packers are right now.
The need for help might only grow should Lang miss action and Barclay have to fill in. McCarthy did not discount moving Lang back to his left guard position if healthy this week and inserting Barclay at right tackle.
In that scenario, Lang would be able to play his best position and offer stability between left tackle Marshall Newhouse and center Jeff Saturday, both of whom seem to have suffered not having Lang there. It would mean McCarthy would have to focus mostly on helping out Barclay.
“Don Barclay, I thought he did a nice job,” McCarthy said. “He went into the game, we tried to protect him a little bit there in the 2-minute drive. Then really at halftime we made some protection adjustments — not really adjustments — (but) which way we were going to lean (the help) in the second half.
“I thought in the run game he was physical. That’s a trait that we really like in Don. I thought the pass protection, a lot of his (mistakes) were technical. I thought he did a solid job.”
Barclay had two of the five holding calls charged to the offensive line but one was offset by a Vikings penalty and the other was declined. On his first play, he got beat badly in pass protection, but eventually he settled down.
McCarthy did not have to commit more help than he was already giving his offensive line.
“When a rookie comes in for his first time in game action and you’re able to keep playing throughout your game plan, I think that’s a big credit to him,” McCarthy said.
Still, McCarthy and Clements have made the decision that they’re not going to let what happened against the Giants — five sacks and 10 points — happen to them again while they’re in a dead heat with Chicago for the NFC North lead. They understand the trade-off, which is fewer receivers on the field against Cover-2 zones that flood the field with defensive backs.
What saved them against the Vikings was the fact they were able to run the ball for 152 yards behind the tandem of James Starks (15 carries for 66 yards) and Alex Green (12 for 58). If they aren’t able to run the ball like that against Detroit or Chicago in the next two weeks, then they have to decide whether to keep helping the line.
“We’ve got an excellent perimeter group and anytime we can let them stress out a coverage unit it will play to our favor,” McCarthy said.
Against the Vikings, Clements said, it was more important to keep Rodgers from taking hits than it was to send out an extra receiver. In being asked whether it was counterproductive to the offense he and McCarthy want to run, Clements said it depends on how you look at things.
“Anytime you can keep the quarterback upright and completing passes, I wouldn’t say that’s counterproductive,” he said.
The Packers haven’t had a lot of luck beating Cover-2 defenses for long plays this season, so throwing the ball for shorter gains while keeping in more blockers might not be a bad idea. With two good defensive lines awaiting them the next two weeks and the potential to face the Giants and San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs, this might be something fans are going to have to get used to.
But as Clements pointed out, every offensive line has to stand on its own two feet at some point. Even the prospect of receiving help isn’t guaranteed because if a team decides to blitz, the back or tight end left in to block has to pick up the extra rusher.
Then it’s back to one-on-one.
“Getting help is a bonus for them,” Clements said. “They have to win their individual matchup.”
