The Green Bay Packers are planning to play faster on offense this season, which means less substitutions and more plays, according to Rob Demovsky.
We’d point to Chip Kelly’s Philadelphia Eagles as the model for such an offense, but despite all of the hullaballoo about Kelly’s offensive genius, the Eagles did not run the most plays in the NFL last year. You get the picture though.
The Packers are harping on the fact that they want their skill position players to be three-down guys. That will limit the need for subs and allow the offense to keep the pressure on opposing defenses. It will also allow the Packers to run more no-huddle.
“I’ve always been of the belief of getting as many shots as you can, so we’ve always emphasized playing as fast as you can. When you have as many three-down players as you can possibly have, obviously your substitution patterns are cleaner. You’re not subbing because you have to, you’re subbing just when you need to,” McCarthy said.
That’s great for the offense and will probably make for some really fun games to watch. What no one seems to be talking about is what affect that’s going to have on the Packers defense.
Last season, that unit couldn’t get off the field when it needed to. If the offense is running faster, they’ll spend less time on the field. The defense will be on the field more, unless they can stop teams quickly and we don’t have a lot of faith in that happening.
That makes for a tired defense at the end of games. And unless the Packers are up by 30 points, that’s likely to be a problem.
We’re sure there will be adjustments. The Packers can always go back to pounding the ball with Eddie Lacy to eat clock if this fast break offense doesn’t work.
If it does, the Packers could very much start to resemble the New England Patriots or dare we say, the Denver Broncos.