GREEN BAY — In the catalog of all things confounding about the Green Bay Packers' offense this season, perhaps no play stands out more than third-and-5 inside the red zone at Seattle.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers took a shotgun snap and immediately looked right. A Seahawks defender covered tight end Marcedes Lewis, so Rodgers quickly snapped his head to the left. He had a trio of receivers on that side, each running routes past the first-down marker.
More than two seconds after the snap, the deepest route — an in-breaker run by rookie receiver Equanimeous St. Brown — opened for a potential touchdown. By then, Rodgers was already preparing to scramble. His left, lead leg was anchored, right leg in front — opposite of the right-handed quarterback’s passing stance — as Rodgers pushed off and tried to escape the pocket.
The resulting sack that forced a field goal would have been frustrating enough. The bigger issue: Aaron Jones, the Packers' most dynamic ball carrier, stood all alone near the line of scrimmage. No Seahawks defender was within 10 yards of him.
If Jones wouldn’t have gotten six points, he at least had an easy first down.
It’s far from the only time an open receiver hasn’t been thrown to this season. For all the gripes about Rodgers’ fundamentals, and all the outrage over coach Mike McCarthy’s play design, the biggest problem might be much simpler: The Packers have regularly ignored open receivers underneath in pursuit of the big play.
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