Rodgers Rewarded for Deep Thoughts
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Chicks dig the long ball, went the old Major League Baseball saying.
Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are digging the long ball, too.
Rodgers hasn’t been a great deep-ball passer in years. According to Pro Football Focus, Rodgers completed only 33.8 percent of his passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield over the previous five seasons.
After ripping the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday, Rodgers is up to 42.0 percent this season on passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield. According to Next Gen Stats, which are made possible from Zebra Technologies’ RFID-based player-tracking technology, Rodgers completed 4-of-6 deep passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns vs. the 49ers.
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As noted by John Pollard, the vice president of business development for Zebra Sports, Rodgers’ 52-yard touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling in Week 9 traveled 60.3 yards in the air, the fifth-longest completion by any quarterback this season. It was also Rodgers’ longest completion by air distance since Week 11 of the 2018 season.
“That was a designed play,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Monday. “Now, it just depends on how the coverage dictates where Aaron would go with the football. They were trying to disguise a single-safety look, and on the snap of the ball they went to two-high, and MVS ran a great route, we had awesome protection up front to allow Aaron to let that play develop, and then he connected on the throw. It was just kind of a perfect storm. It was great to see Marquez rebound from a disappointing drop on that third down. You never want them, but in particular when you get them in those critical situations on a third down to extend a drive. But it’s always awesome to see guys bounce back from that, and that’s exactly what happened.”
According to Zebra, Rodgers leads the NFL in deep completions (20) and yards on deep completions (774). According to PFF, Rodgers ranks third with 17.9 percent of his attempts going deep. His 128.8 passer rating on deep passes ranks fourth in the NFL.
A few more notes from Zebra:
▪ Davante Adams and teammate Valdes-Scantling have accounted for roughly 58 percent of the Packers’ targeted air yards this season.
▪ Valdes-Scantling is second in the league in average targeted air yards at 17.7 yards.
▪ Za’Darius Smith had six pressures – including a sack and forced turnover on one of his pressures – on 19 pass rushes. His pressure rate of 31.6 percent was his highest of the season and the first game this season better than 20 percent.
▪ The Packers defense pressured Niners quarterback Nick Mullens on 15 dropbacks, good for a season high 41.7 percent pressure rate. Entering Week 9, Green Bay was last in pressure rate at 19.1 percent.
