Cheesehead
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- Mar 19, 2019
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The offense has been at its best so far when it has run through running backs Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams first, and top receiver Davante Adams is closer to getting back to full strength after returning from his toe injury for two games and then resting over the bye week.
From there it’s anyone’s guess, though that’s turned into a blessing for the 8-2 Packers. Production from some regulars has been up and down, but that’s led to contributions coming from here, there and everywhere.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling has been playing through ankle and knee injuries and has just one catch for four yards since his 74-yard TD vs. Oakland in Week 7, but Allen Lazard has picked up some of the slack with 18 catches for 220 yards over the last five games.
Tight end Jimmy Graham hasn’t had a touchdown in the previous three games but turned in his biggest play of the season with a 48-yard catch and run in the last contest vs. Carolina. Adams, with double-digit touchdowns each of the last three years, has yet to find the end zone in 2019, while Williams, a running back, leads the team with five receiving TDs.
That list goes on as well.
“We’ve been finding a way to win, different ways,” Rodgers said. “I think great teams understand their roles and embrace them and make it more about the team.”
The task for all is to protect the ball from a San Francisco defense that has 22 takeaways through 10 games, not only third in the league but more than triple the 49ers’ paltry total of seven for all of last season.
Rodgers points directly to the pass rush for the change, with sacks causing plenty of fumbles and coverage players keeping vision to the ball and knowing it’s coming out quickly with the pressure the front is bringing.
To that end, patience and poise go hand in hand because offenses trying to push things too much have only dug themselves deeper holes.
“Games like this sometimes you just have to take what they give you in the beginning, and let those come,” Adams said of potential big plays. “The more you go chasing them, you’re just going to get frustrated, and you may waste downs even doing that, trying to beat them on certain ones they’re ready for. You gather information throughout the game, so hopefully we can do that early and find a way to hit them on one.”
Some of the game within the game will feature LaFleur calling plays against one of his best friends, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, and Adams matching up a decent chunk of the time against three-time first-team All-Pro corner Richard Sherman.