Packers OC admits Aaron Rodgers ran own plays, says communication is better

“Half of the time when you get done with a drive sometimes, in past years, you’re just trying to figure out what play was called.”

On Wednesday, Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich had his weekly press conference with the local media as his team prepares for a Divisional Round matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. Typically, he doesn’t make many headlines, par for the course for this coaching staff, but this week’s appearance was different for Stenavich: He admitted that the coaching staff didn’t know what plays quarterback Aaron Rodgers was running when he was under center.

Earlier this week, San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa said that current Packers quarterback Jordan Love “does what he’s coached to do” compared to Rodgers, who “kind of went outside the realm of coaching.” When Stenavich was asked about those comments, he responded, “There definitely is a value to that, because half of the time when you get done with a drive sometimes, in past years, you’re just trying to figure out what play was called.”

Green Bay’s offensive coordinator later added, “With Aaron, he would see stuff and make checks and all that that you didn’t exactly know what was happening at the time.” So if you had any doubts that there was a difference between “Matt LaFleur’s offense” and what Rodgers was executing on the field during their time together, there’s your official ruling.

Stenavich made it clear to say that this wasn’t a criticism of Rodgers, though, as the quarterback was able to win back-to-back Most Valuable Player Awards by freelancing on some plays. “We’re all kinda on the same page and going. Not to say that way wasn’t good because we had great results with it, but this is nice because at least you can kind of build an offense around it. Build plays off of plays, as the game progresses, hey we did this, now we’re going to do this, now we’re going to do this.”

Still, Stenavich sees at least some benefit in Love simply doing what he’s being told. “I think our communication on the sideline has been better, just from that aspect,” he said. “That is a huge advantage this year.”

If Love is working within the guardrails of the system, the system is pretty good and Love is still executing at a high level. From Week 11 on, Love has thrown for 21 touchdowns and just one interception, easily the best ratio in the league.