Green Bay Packers: The offense needs to continue its roll

The Green Bay Packers started the 2014 season with a 1-2 record, losing to the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks and NFC North Division rival – the Detroit Lions – during that stretch.

the Packers have still won games, mostly because Aaron Rodgers is one of the best, if not the best in the entire league at his position.

Their lone win came against the New York Jets, another team with a strong defensive front.

Since then, after fans started pushing the panic button and Aaron Rodgers told everyone to R-E-L-A-X, the Packers have gone on a rampage with an offense that has been scoring almost at will and an ever-improving defense that has shut down the likes of Jay Cutler, Christian Ponder, Ryan Tannehill and Cam Newton.

Those guys aren’t the cream of the quarterback crop, but the Packers have still won games, mostly because Aaron Rodgers is one of the best, if not the best in the entire league at his position.

And though Green Bay has been averaging more than 35 points over that stretch, many are pointing to the fact that they haven’t been facing the toughest of defenses either.

Aaron Rodgers gestures at the line of scrimmage during the second quarter against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Weber-USA TODAY Sports photograph

Though Miami is ranked sixth in the league on the defensive side of the ball, the Bears are ranked 17th, the Vikings are 13th, and Carolina 27th.

Many will say that Aaron Rodgers – because he’s Aaron Rodgers – will give any defense fits if given the time. But defenses have shut him down in the past … well, at least the good defenses have.

Miami, before they finally wore down late in their matchup two weeks ago, gave him problems at various times; Minnesota, once their defense settled in, caused him problems; and even Chicago had its moments with him.

So whether the Packers are scoring an average of five TDs per-game is because of the lack of defense might be debatable, Josh Sitton isn’t taking things lightly and understands that the Packers will need to continue improvement down the road if they are going to be successful in the second half of the season.

Here’s what he told the press after Sunday’s game:

"“We were really, really good in 2011. I mean, we could do pretty much anything. We were putting up 40 points a game, I feel like. So it’s tough to match that. I feel like we couldn’t do anything wrong that year.“I think that the defenses that we’ve played in the past few games aren’t the best. Well, Miami in Miami, that was a good one. But I think it’ll be a test over the next few weeks to see where we’re at.”"

Could Sitton just be overly cautious at this point – not saying anything that might be construed as bulletin board material – especially with their road game against the always-dangerous New Orleans Saints next Sunday on the horizon?

Maybe.

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By the way, New Orleans’ defense is ranked 21st in the NFL.

Will the Packers offense continue to roll as it has been the past month?

As they head into late October, November and December, here is how the Packers opponents the rest of the way stack up:

• New Orleans – 21st

• Chicago – 17th,

• Philadelphia – 24th,

• Minnesota – 14th,

• New England – 12th,

• Atlanta – 30th,

• Buffalo – 11th,

• Tampa Bay – 32nd

• Detroit- first

With the exception of Atlanta and Tampa Bay and possibly even Philadelphia, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense will have their hands full the rest of the way.

The home games against Chicago, Philadelphia, New England, Detroit and Atlanta should help, but we all know that the Packers, if struggling to move the ball, can and will lose games at home.

Either way, Rodgers and Sitton would still probably tell fans to relax because though the offense may not match note-for-note with the 2011 Packers’ team, this is still a pretty good offense that should have no trouble matching up with the defenses they will face the last half of the season.