Three Reasons Why The 2020 Green Bay Packers Are Better Than A Year Ago

The Green Bay Packers went 13-3 a year ago, won the NFC North and reached the conference championship game.

After a rough offseason, though, many were projecting a steep decline for Green Bay in 2020. Instead, it’s been just the opposite.

The Packers are 4-0 for just the fifth time since 1998. Green Bay leads the NFC North and is one of just six undefeated teams left in the NFL.

Here are three reasons why the 2020 Packers are much better than Green Bay’s 2019 team.

1. Point differential

This is a vital statistic is determining just how dominant a team is.

Green Bay currently has the best net point differential in football at plus-51. That means the Packers are outscoring their foes by an average of 12.75 per game.

Kansas City (4-0) and Indianapolis (3-1) are second at plus-47, while Seattle (+33) is fourth.

A year ago, Green Bay’s point differential was plus-63 or 3.94 points per game. That means most weeks the Packers were sneaking out wins instead of dominating foes.

Green Bay already has two wins of at least 14 points this season. Last year, the Packers had just two wins of 14 points, or more, all season.

2. Aaron Rodgers

Maybe it’s his comfortability in the second year of Matt LaFleur’s offense. Maybe it’s being in a better place personally. Or maybe it’s an inner rage stemming from the Packers drafting his probable replacement.

Whatever the reason, Aaron Rodgers is playing some of the best football of his career.

Rodgers had had to survive with a makeshift group of receivers and changing parts on the offensive line. Still, he’s thrown 13 touchdowns and zero interceptions. Rodgers has completed 70.5% of his passes, is averaging 8.7 yards per pass attempt and has a quarterback rating of 128.4.

That comes after a three-year stretch in which Rodgers wasn’t playing near his MVP form of past seasons, which led to Green Bay drafting quarterback Jordan Love in the first round in April.

“I do feel really good in the offense,” Rodgers said after Green Bay defeated Atlanta, 30-16, Monday. “I feel like Matt and I are really on the same page — not that we weren’t last year, I just feel like we’re doing so much more. The creativity and the aggressive nature has been really good.

“We’ve known when to push, when to pull back and I think as a team you never know what the team’s going to look like. Every year, you kind of have to have a new rallying cry, new mantras, new slogans, new sayings, new things that happen … but I like the way we’re starting out.”

3. Dynamic duo

Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams have been a solid backfield in Green Bay since entering the league together in 2017. This year, they’ve been the NFL’s best running back duo.

Jones is second in the league with 374 rushing yards and tied for second in total touchdowns with six. In addition, he’s second on the team with 15 receptions and second with 23 targets.

Williams is tied for third on the team with 13 catches and led the Packers Monday night with eight catches. He’s also added 108 rushing yards.

In addition to being high-level rushers, both players are terrific in the passing game, tough as nails in pass protection and true three-down running backs.

“Those … two backs are pretty versatile,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Jones and Williams. “Whether it’s running the football or making plays in the passing game, that is a luxury I feel like very few teams have.

“And I know our quarterback has a lot of faith in those guys. He’s ripping hole-dots to ‘em, and they’re delivering. And those weren’t easy catches. So it’s a great credit to those players and it’s a great credit to everybody involved in this thing.”