Why They Won: Green Bay Packers vs Philadelphia Eagles

Nov 16, 2014; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers running back Eddie Lacy (27) rushes for a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Green Bay won 53-20. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

The Power of Lacy

Something that has really helped this offense is that they have gotten production out of Eddie Lacy.

He still is getting a relatively small number of carries per week, but there are multiple things affecting that. His number of carries will never end up being that large with the type of pass-based offense Green Bay runs. The large number of blowouts lately also plays a part, seeing as other players like DuJuan Harris are allowed to grab up carries that would’ve gone Lacy’s way in a more competitive game.

Eddie Lacy is starting to make a huge impact.

Raymond T. Rivard photograph

The biggest piece of this probably relates to the fact that he now doesn’t especially need carries to be effective. He has been showing for three straight games a much larger ability to make plays in the passing game, yet again corralling a pass from Rodgers and finding a way into the endzone in impressive fashion.

This improved production out of Lacy since the start of the year goes beyond just statistics, though those have been improved at an impressive level; in the past three weeks, he has 14 catches for 236 yards and 2 TDs, while adding 50-plus rushing yards in five of the past six matchups.

His success and abilities have forced defenses to make a somewhat surprising choice, as shown by the Eagles this past weekend. Philadelphia decided to play with a single-high safety look for a decent portion of the day, showing that they would rather run the risk of Aaron Rodgers beating them deep than having Eddie Lacy gash a 7-man box.

That was shown to be the wrong answer by a mile, but in the case of playing this offense, is there really a right one? If teams do play with two high safeties, then that leaves them vulnerable to the power Eddie Lacy brings to the running game.

You would think that teams would rather force the ball out of the hands of Aaron Rodgers, but having someone of Lacy’s caliber apparently makes that a much more difficult choice than previously thought.

Great sign for Green Bay going forward … and a concerning one for the other teams left on their schedule.