Packers beat Patriots in overtime, but Aaron Rodgers’ trust issues remain

By Carmen Vitali
FOX Sports NFC North Writer

It’s not hard to see: Aaron Rodgers still isn’t comfortable.

Green Bay hung on for a 27-24 overtime win over the New England Patriots Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field, but it was stressful. The Patriots were operating with their third-string rookie quarterback after Brian Hoyer exited the game with a concussion. Bailey Zappe took the reins and helped the team to 21 more points, at times even looking more at ease than his veteran counterpart.

“A win’s a win,” said Rodgers after the game. “Ugly first half. Good second half. I felt like we got into a rhythm in the second half with some of the play calls. I settled in and usually don’t have two terrible halves. I kind of returned to the form I expect for myself and we started moving the football.”

The first half Rodgers spoke of included actually helping the Patriots to seven of those 21 points thanks to just the fourth pick-six of his career. New England cornerback Jack Jones jumped a route on the outside and ran 40 yards to the house in the second quarter to cut a bonus possession for the Packers short. It had come after outside linebacker Rashan Gary strip-sacked Hoyer, knocking him out of the game and gifting Green Bay with possession. Rodgers’ pass on the next series was intended for de facto No. 1 receiver Allen Lazard, but it ended up as just the second pick six he’s ever thrown in front of his home crowd at Lambeau Field. Rodgers had a halftime passer rating of 11.2.

From there, things got a lot better for the Packers and their QB. The opening drive of the second half saw more passing yards from Rodgers than the two previous quarters combined. Green Bay drastically improved on third down, going from converting one of five attempts to five of nine in the second half. Even so, it wasn’t up to the caliber Rodgers and the Green Bay staff anticipate from a team expected to make a deep playoff run this season.

It speaks to the larger fact that Green Bay doesn’t know its offensive identity yet this season. There are a lot of moving and unsettled parts in this offense. Constant adjustments are needed, as we’re seeing.

Rodgers doesn’t quite trust rookie wideouts Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs. The Packers are still easing tight end Robert Tonyan back after his ACL injury last season. Left tackle David Bakhtiari is on a pitch count. And, uh, should Elgton Jenkins continue playing at right tackle?

If you need any more proof, just look at who Rodgers threw to when he absolutely needed a completion. It was Lazard, who had three catches for over 20 yards in the game. It was Randall Cobb, who converted two crucial third downs when the Packers needed them most. It wasn’t anyone without a few years of NFL experience, and experience with Rodgers in particular, under their belt.

Yes, Watson got his first NFL touchdown Sunday, but it didn’t come on a pass. It was on an end-around play, giving him the first rushing touchdown by a Packers receiver since 2016, predating Head Coach Matt LaFleur. Doubs caught his second touchdown of the season, which happened to be the 500th of Rodgers’ career. But when it came time for Doubs’ third? The 40-yard ball sailed beautifully from Rodgers right into Doubs’ hands, only for Doubs to lose the ball once it hit the ground in the end zone, resulting in an incomplete pass on third-and-8 in the fourth quarter. It could have been the game-winning, go-ahead touchdown. No overtime needed.

This is why Rodgers won’t go to his rookies. This is why he limits his own options. He’s just not comfortable.

And while Rodgers gets comfortable, Green Bay is in survival mode: play good defense and run the damn ball.

It’s working.

The defense, and Gary in particular, did their job and more against New England — especially considering they were missing cornerback Jaire Alexander and saw safety Adrian Amos get knocked out of the game early. Gary ended the night with two sacks, including that strip-sack, and seven combined tackles, including a tackle for loss. Defensive tackle Jarran Reed had yet another good game, recording a sack and actually leading the team in tackles. The Packers defense had five tackles for loss by halftime, keeping Green Bay in the game as the offense sputtered.

This Green Bay offense is leaning heavily on its running back tandem in Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon. Jones had his second game over 100 yards this season. Dillon carried the ball 17 times for 73 yards himself. The Packers seemingly ran the most plays with both Jones and Dillon on the field at the same time that they had all season, and Green Bay ended up with a total of 199 yards rushing on the day. Thirty-five of their 71 offensive plays were runs.

The approach was made more sustainable by the fact that they can use each back for something different. LaFleur said after the game they ran Dillon more at the end because they called a lot more downhill runs. Prior to that, they had been running more outside zone, which is where Jones thrives. They can diversify their run game within games and that is undoubtedly the strength of the team in its current iteration.

There are little flashes of improvement if you look hard enough too, even if they aren’t as tangible.

“I was proud of our guys,” LaFleur said after the game. “We talk about ‘how do you respond to adversity,’ and I thought there was a lot of adversity throughout the course of the game and our guys stuck together. They’re not always going to be pretty wins and I’m ok with that. You guys can criticize us, it’s cool, but (the) bottom line is we found a way to win.”

They found a way to win this week. They found a way to win last week, against perhaps their biggest NFC competitor in Tampa. And in finding ways to win each week, they may also find their offensive identity along the way.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.