How Can Packers Get Struggling AJ Dillon Going Against Raiders?

The Packers’ AJ Dillon, aka “Quadzilla,” has gone from a tackle-breaking, pile-moving runner to one of the least-effective ball-carriers in the NFL. How can they get him going?

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers and Las Vegas Raiders enter Monday night’s game with two of the slowest-starting running games and running backs in the NFL.

Through four games, 48 players have run the ball at least 24 times. In terms of yards per rushing attempt, the Jets’ Dalvin Cook is last with 2.47, the Raiders’ Josh Jacobs is 47th with 2.677 and the Packers’ AJ Dillon is 46th with 2.682.

While Green Bay’s beleaguered run defense will have to deal with Jacobs, who in 2022 led the NFL with 1,653 rushing yards and was 15th with a 4.86 average, Packers coach Matt LaFleur has to figure out how to get Dillon out of first gear.

“I think we have not seen his best ball this year,” LaFleur said after Friday’s practice. “I’m confident that he’s working hard and that we’re going to see that eventually, hopefully sooner than later. I haven’t lost confidence in him.”

Once quarterbacks are taken out of the equation, there are 45 running backs with at least 24 carries. According to Sports Info Solutions, Dillon ranks 41st in that group with 2.0 yards after contact per carry. That’s a woeful number for a player with the nickname of “Quadzilla.”

Dillon averaged 5.3 yards per carry on minimal opportunities behind Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams as a rookie in 2020. With a bigger role in 2021, he rushed for 803 yards and broke 31 tackles out of 194 attempts, according to Pro Football Focus. That’s a broken-tackle rate of 16.6 percent. In 2022, Dillon rushed for a similar number of yards (769) but forced 23 missed tackles for a rate of 12.4 percent.

This year, despite an offseason emphasis on pad level to get Dillon back to his tackle-breaking and pile-moving best, he’s broken three tackles out of 44 carries for a rate of just 6.8 percent.

“There has been a couple of times where he’s done what we’ve asked him to do from that standpoint,” running backs coach Ben Sirmans said this week. “I think the biggest thing is making sure he’s not pressing to try to play a certain way so, but I do think he’ll be fine.”

But how?

“I think the biggest thing is just making sure that he’s not overthinking when he’s out there,” Sirmans replied. “Even looking at different games that he’s had last year, he’s looked like his old self. There’s been runs this year where he’s looked that way. I think for him it’s just a matter of not trying to press, to try to be something and be great. Just let the game do more of a coming to him. And when he relaxes and does that, he’ll be fine.”

Packers RB AJ Dillon gets stopped at Atlanta :: Photo by Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports Images

When the Packers needed Dillon in a late-season game against Tennessee as a rookie, he carried 21 times for 124 yards.

“He looked like he was going to be a different type of dude,” Sirmans said.

While he’s had his moments – he had back-to-back games last season of eight carries for 64 yards and a touchdown at Philadelphia and 18 carries for 93 yards at Chicago – the Tennessee game remains the only 100-yard performance of his career.

This year, his only run of 10-plus yards was a 14-yarder against New Orleans on a backward pass. His missed-tackle rate is the third-lowest in the NFL, a confounding number. So preoccupied with his pad level, he ran top-heavy during the Week 2 loss against Atlanta. Still, despite stumbling over his own feet on some key runs, he averaged a season-high 3.7 yards per carry that day. He averaged 3.0 vs. New Orleans and 2.2 vs. Detroit.

For Dillon, who is in his final year under contract, the key to powering defenders out of his way will be getting out of his own head and letting his natural power come into play. 

For the Packers, it’s a team-wide issue as they rank 29th with 3.27 yards per carry. So, it’s not as if the blame falls singularly on Dillon. The bad running game is a team-wide issue. Too often, Dillon hasn’t had a prayer.

“We’re going to continue to look at some of the things we ask him to do and try to put him in the best possible position,” LaFleur said. “Too many times, the microscope gets on one guy, when in reality it takes 11 guys out there doing their job to give each individual the best chance at success.

“So, I do think there’s a lot of things we can do, whether it’s the offensive line, whether it’s our tight ends or receivers, whether it’s myself as a play-caller, putting our guys in position where they can really showcase what they can do.”

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