Packers: Slow starts and offensive miscues must be corrected

4. Running back time share

Perhaps the most talked about complaint among Packers fans regarding McCarthy’s offensive scheme is the running back’s snap distribution. We are lucky to have a very capable stable of backs in Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams, and Ty Montgomery, and each back brings their own strengths to the game.

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The issue is that the clear best running back on the the team, Aaron Jones, is only getting about one third of the running back snaps, even while averaging six yards per carry.

The highest percentage of snaps Jones has had in a game this season is 38 percent, in Week 4 against the Bills. That same week is the only time Jones has been given double-digit carries, which he turned into 65 yards and a touchdown, while averaging 5.9 yards per carry.

The running back who receives the most snaps, Jamaal Williams, is only averaging 3.8 yards per carry this season, with his longest run only going for 11 yards. Williams is an excellent pass-blocker, which earns him more time on the field, while Jones has gotten better at pass-blocking, but it is still remains to be one of his weaknesses.

I am also of the belief that you put your best players on the field, and there is no doubt Jones should be on the field much more often. Many of the times Williams or Montgomery are given snaps over Jones, the running back does not even stay in to block on those plays.

Jones is more than capable of excelling in the receiving game, and this is just another way to get the ball into the hands of a major playmaker.

At Detroit, Jones had a good first half running the ball; he had seven carries for 40 yards (5.7 yards per carry), then did not get a carry for the rest of the game, while both Williams and Montgomery received multiple carries in the second half.

Jones did not see the ball at all in the second half until a screen pass with about 30 seconds left in the game, which he turned into a 12-yard gain. Needing big plays in the second half of that game and leaving your big-play running back on the bench and giving him zero carries in the second half is not only a confusing move by McCarthy, it is also a coaching failure.

In the only two games last season where Jones received 15-plus carries, he managed to rush for 131 yards and 125 yards, while averaging 7.7 yards per carry and 6.6 yards per carry respectively.

McCarthy absolutely needs to get Jones’ snap count up and take measures to get the ball into his hands early and often. Jones is the most effective running back the Packers have and he gives the team the best chance of having a more balanced and explosive offense.

He will need to be used as a key component in the coming weeks for this offense to score the type of points needed to compete against high-powered offenses, such as the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots.