Packers Notebook (Jan. 3)

High praise for Adams

Davante Adams is having one of the greatest seasons by a receiver in NFL history. After another dominating performance against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday night, Aaron Rodgers compared him to a future Hall of Fame teammate.

“I wrote him a real long message and just let him know how important he is to me and how much I value his friendship and I appreciate the way that he inspires me and our team,” Rodgers said after throwing three touchdown passes to Adams in the Green Bay Packers’ 40-14 romp. “I just can’t say enough great things about the kind of person he is. And when you have the talent and the ability to go out there and dominate the way he has.

“You know, I’ve said for so long that Charles (Woodson) was the best player that I played with. And Charles could dominate in a way that I’ve never seen a nickel corner dominate before. (But) it’s probably time to start putting Davante in that conversation. Because he is that type of player. He’s a special player.”

Despite missing about two-and-a-half games early in the season with an injured hamstring, Adams has 109 receptions for 1,328 yards and 17 touchdowns. He’s three receptions and one touchdown short of Sterling Sharpe’s franchise records. Sharpe’s 18-touchdown season in 1994 is tied for the third-most in NFL history.

What’s particularly impressive is how the ball hasn’t been forced to Adams. When Adams caught 111 passes in 2018, he was targeted 169 times. Heading into Sunday, Adams has two fewer receptions on 26 fewer targets.

Pro Football Reference has catch percentage data dating to 1992. Since then, 107 receivers have caught at least 100 passes. Adams’ catch rate of 76.2 percent ranks fourth in that group. So, while Adams is sixth with 143 targets this season, Rodgers hasn’t necessarily been forcing him the football.

“When we design plays, I would say the majority of the time he is the focal point where he’s going to be No. 1 in the progression,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “If the coverage dictates that that’s where the ball should go, then he ends up getting the football. Certainly, there’s some of the things that we do in our run game where we throw those run alerts out to him and he’s made big plays off of those, so that’s something that we’ll continue to emphasize and look for, and when defenses give us those looks, we’re going to take them.”

Rodgers moves to No. 1 in MVP odds

Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes entered the season as the betting favorite to win MVP. Early in the season, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson moved in front. When Wilson stumbled, Mahomes surged back to the front.

All along, Rodgers lingered in the background. Finally, after Sunday’s games, Rodgers became the betting favorite.

Rodgers won MVP honors in 2011 and 2014. Only Peyton Manning (five), Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre and Tom Brady (three apiece) won the award at least three times.

Three-headed monster

Because of the presence of veterans Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams and then a battle with COVID-19 that cost him five games, rookie running back AJ Dillon entered Sunday night having not carried the ball more than five times or playing more than 14 snaps in a game.

With Williams out with an injured thigh, Dillon got his chance and took full advantage. In 38 snaps, he carried 21 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns and caught one pass for 5 yards.

“Just kind of feeling the camaraderie we have here, that gives you that willpower to come back,” Dillon said. “I don’t think of it as a huge comeback story or anything like that, but to get back out there and be with my brothers and be with the guys I go to work with every day and grind with, that was an awesome feeling. I would say that feeling of having the whole team here and being able to help out the team, that overcomes all personal adversity of whatever I’m feeling.”

How LaFleur can reincorporate Williams while not phasing out Dillon will be the nice-to-have challenge.

“That’s something that we talked about as a staff this morning,” LaFleur said. “What possibilities are out there and how we can get creative to use them but within the framework of what we’re trying to get done? We’ve got to stay committed to what’s gotten us to this point. I think our process is really good in terms of how we game plan and what we present to our players, and then just their ability to take whatever that is and go out there and execute. You can come up with some cool stuff but if the guys can’t do it, then you’re wasting your time.”

With Dillon and Jones leading the charge, the Packers rushed for 234 yards. Along with their 259-yard rushing day against Detroit in week 2, they’ve recorded their top two single-game rushing performances since 2004.

Encore

While Green Bay’s rushing attack has been a strength for most of the season, its rushing defense has been a frequent source of consternation. However, that group rose to the occasion against the Titans. While Tennessee rushed for 156 yards, 45 yards came on quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s touchdown run.

In its big battle against Derrick Henry, Green Bay scored a clear victory. Henry entered the game with nine consecutive 100-yard performances in road games. The Packers held him to 98 yards with a long run of just 10.

“I think our guys were dialed in, focused, ready to go,” LaFleur said. “I felt we played really physical football. I thought Preston Smith did an outstanding job of setting the edge. You could tell early on they were going to run right at him, and he answered the bell and he set good edges. I thought our guys were swarming on defense where there were multiple hats at the ball. I thought our young linebackers really stepped up, played well. It was really a total team effort in every phase, and that’s what it takes when you’re playing great teams like the Tennessee Titans.”

Up next is Chicago’s David Montgomery, who topped 100 rushing yards against the Packers last month and is fifth in the league with 1,001 rushing yards.

Finishing strong

If defense wins championships, can the Packers win the Super Bowl?

“Yeah, that was championship-style defense,” Rodgers said. “I felt like they played with a lot more confidence than maybe they have at any point this season.”

Green Bay has risen to seventh in the NFL in total defense (332.5 yards per game) and 15th with 23.5 points allowed per game. That’s not great but at least it’s trending the right direction. Its five-game winning streak started with a 41-25 thumping of Chicago that included two cosmetic touchdowns by the Bears in the fourth quarter. The last four weeks, Green Bay has allowed 16, 24, 16 and 14 points.

“I think it’s been a collective effort,” LaFleur said, “starting with (defensive coordinator Mike Pettine) and going through all the other assistant coaches, and then our guys on the defensive side really buying in to playing team ball and not taking any plays off. And that’s what gets me so excited: When I see guys playing physical, when I see guys playing fast, when I guys running to the football, getting excited to play football.”