Wide receiver Greg Jennings tends to draw the ire of fans for sharing his opinion, as he did in our conversation for this Bleacher Report story a few years back.
Looking back, his final point was freakishly spot on.
The Packers in 2019, of course, had just hired Matt LaFleur as their head coach and nobody was sure how this would play out after Rodgers ran Mike McCarthy out of town.
“Now it's, OK, are you willing to swallow all the sense of entitlement? All your pride?" Jennings said. "You don't even have to swallow all of it. But are you willing to suppress most of it and say, 'You know what, whatever it takes, I'm willing to do'?
“Just as much as he is a part of the problem, he's a big part of the solution.”
Rodgers did not respect McCarthy as a playcaller — at all — and changed plays at the line of scrimmage all of the time. He decided long ago that McCarthy was an inferior offensive mind and that his own freelancing gave the Packers their best chance to win. He might’ve been right, too.
LaFleur, however, is not McCarthy. He brought a new scheme built to win in the winter at Lambeau Field. He made it clear, from Day 1, that the running game needed to be a integral part of this offense because LaFleur realizes how difficult it is for any humans to get off blocks and tackle a 250-pound hammer like AJ Dillon in 7-degree conditions. If Rodgers started audibling to passes nonstop, the Packers would’ve had quite a problem. But what we’re seeing now in Green Bay is a perfect marriage of play styles and proof to all 32 teams that it is possible to play with both power and finesse.
Anyone sitting back in lighter coverages pays the price with Dillon. He’s up to 875 total yards on the season. When needed, these Packers stick with four yards and a cloud of dust. They’ll win ugly. Yet Rodgers can still turn it on, too. In Sunday night’s 45-30 win, he torched the Bears for 341 yards on 29-of-37 passing with four touchdowns.
Maybe the quarterback still thinks Jennings is “irrelevant,” but his Super Bowl teammate was right.
https://www.golongtd.com/p/why-coaching-still-matters-in-the
Tyler Dunne wrote: