Packers offense needs to improve in red zone in 2019

Throughout his career, Aaron Rodgers has been one of the most efficient red zone passers in the NFL. But as the Green Bay Packers struggled offensively last season, their numbers in the red zone also got worse.

According to Team Rankings, Green Bay scored a touchdown on 61.7 percent of its trips to the red zone, which ranked 14th in the NFL. That’s down from 61.9 percent the year before, which may not sound like much, but remember Rodgers missed over half the season with a broken collarbone.

In 2016, Rodgers led the league in red zone passing, completing over 63 percent of his passes with 33 touchdowns and zero interceptions, according to Pro Football Reference. That is quite incredible. And as a defense, how can you stop that?

Last season, Rodgers completed just over 42 percent of his passes in the red zone, finishing with 16 touchdowns and an interception. This was far off the league’s best — Patrick Mahomes had 35 red zone touchdowns with one interception, and Andrew Luck had 33 TDs to one INT.

It’s hard to explain, as the Packers offense also featured two of the most dominant red zone targets in football: Davante Adams and Jimmy Graham.

Adams still did dominate in the red zone. In fact, he led the league in receiving in the red zone with 149 yards and 12 touchdowns.

But outside of Adams, the Packers receivers did very little in the red zone. Jimmy Graham — who led the league with 10 red zone touchdowns for the Seattle Seahawks two years ago — only had four catches in the red zone all season, two for a touchdown.

This needs to improve in 2019.

Luckily, the Packers still have Rodgers, who protects the football so well in the red zone (and anywhere on the field, for that matter) and can also make the difficult throws. Adams is close to unstoppable in the red zone, which was evident last year, and Graham still has the size and receiving ability to be a mismatch.

But can new head coach Matt LaFleur help this offense get back on track inside the 20-yard line? And can anyone else on the team step up and make plays in the end zone and put up seven points instead of settling for three?

Perhaps this is why the Packers continue to add tight end talent to the roster.

New signing Michael Roberts, for example, may have only had nine catches in 2018 for the Detroit Lions, but three were for touchdowns and all three were in the red zone. Third-round pick Jace Sternberger had 10 touchdown catches for Texas A&M last year.

For this offense to get back on track in 2019, the Packers need to be able to score more frequently in the red zone. The good news is that Aaron Rodgers has been so good in the red zone throughout his career, and the Packers have the receiving talent to make the key plays.