Jimmy Graham helping Packers’ offense find its groove

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“New offense obviously, we’ve been getting better and better each week,” Graham said. “Obviously ‘12’ has been getting more and more comfortable each and every week with the system. As you can see he’s dangerous.


“Hopefully we can keep improving each and every week. Really, that’s our goal, to be better than last week and to keep finding our groove in this offense.”


LaFleur has talked several times about finding more ways to get Graham involved in the offense. While the 10th-year veteran isn’t saying no to opportunities, Graham enjoys the role he’s filling in both the offense and the tight end room.


Having built a friendship with both Lewis and Tonyan, Graham points to some of his favorite moments as cheering on Lewis whenever he makes a pancake block and congratulating Tonyan on a big play in the passing game.


Confident in his relationship with Rodgers, Graham has stayed the course and was rewarded with his targets against Oakland.


“I know my time will come,” Graham said. “Last week we were able to connect on some of those times. Hopefully we can just kind of keep building on that and I take hold of those opportunities when those opportunities present themselves. But I play tight end, man. That’s how it is. Just trying to do my best to just stand there and not get ‘12’ hit.”


Asked about his own individual performance and how it compares to his first year in Green Bay, Graham points to the Packers’ 6-1 record as his greatest source of validation.


At this point, Graham feels this team can be special and vows to do everything “to best of my ability.” It doesn’t matter if it’s as a pass-catcher or blocker staying back to help protect Rodgers.


Coming off the best statistical performance of his 15-year NFL career, Rodgers knows the Packers are going to need more big catches and plays from Graham to keep the offense trending upwards.


“He got some opportunities and made guys miss. That’s got to give him more confidence going forward,” Rodgers said. “Jimmy has super-high expectations for himself and a lot of great confidence. We’ve got to keep finding ways to get him the ball.”