The New York Jets welcome Aaron Rodgers into MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Here the key numbers on the Green Bay Packers.
Green Bay Road Woes
- The Packers are 0-7 on the road this season. Aaron Rodgers has started all of those games and is set to start in the Meadowlands as well. If Rodgers fails to defeat the Jets, he’ll become only the fourth quarterback of the 21st century to go 0-8 on the road in a season, joining Derek Carr (2014), David Carr (2005), and Joey Harrington (2003).
- In those road games, the Packers have yielded the third-worst opposing passer rating in the league (113.0). That includes an insanely bad 15:1 touchdown to interception ratio.
- The lowest passer rating the Packers have allowed on the road this season goes to one Tom Brady — with a 99.0.
Aaron Rodgers' Decline?
- Rodgers has a 97.2. passer rating this year. That gives him a passer rating index (relative to league average, with 100 being average in any given season) of 109 this year. That’s the second-worst mark of his 11 years as a starter, surpassing only 201 when he posted a 105.
- Rodgers has thrown a touchdown pass on 4.3 percent of his attempts this season, which is the lowest mark of his career. His touchdown percentage index is a 98, the first time he has been below average in his career.
- Since heading to the locker room, returning, and defeating the Bears in Week 1, Rodgers has struggled to defeat quality competition. Following that game, Rodgers has gone 0-5-1 against teams currently in playoff position. He’s 4-3 against the rest of his opponents over that span.
What's Going On At The Skill Positions?
- Graham has scored only two touchdowns this season. That would tie his first season in Seattle, in 2015, for the lowest season total of his career. Since Graham has played more games in 2018 (14) than he did in 2015 (11), he is on track to set a career low for touchdowns per game.
- Second-year Packers back Aaron Jones leads all qualified running backs in yards per carry at 5.5. As a team, the Packers are third in rushing yards per attempt. Yet, Green Bay sits at 30th in rushing attempts compared to fourth in passing attempts. The failure to commit to the ground game has drawn a lot of heat towards the Packers coaching staff this season — most notably, the now-unemployed Mike McCarthy.
- Davante Adams leads the Packers with twelve receiving touchdowns. No other Packer has more than two.
Numbers on the Packers Defense Sam Darnold Will See
- Green Bay owns very average-ish numbers across the board on defense, ranking 19th in points per drive, 17th in rushing yards allowed per attempt, 16th in red zone defense, 12th in net passing yards allowed per attempt, 10th in yards per drive, and eighth in third-down defense. However, they’ve faced the league’s fourth-easiest slate of opposing offenses, according to DVOA. Because of that, they rank 24th in overall defensive DVOA.
- The Packers defense has an interception percentage of 1.5 percent this season, sixth-lowest in the NFL.
- They’ve done a nice job picking up sacks though, as their 8.4 percent sack rate ties for fourth-best in the NFL. Kyler Fackrell leads Green Bay with 8.5 sacks.
The Jets own an 8-4 all-time record against the Packers, but they’ve lost two in a row, with their last victory coming in 2006 when Chad Pennington was under center. At home, the Jets own a 4-1 all-time record against Green Bay. Their lone loss was their last and only meeting with the Cheeseheads at MetLife Stadium, a 9-0 loss in 2010.
Can Sam Darnold pick up a head-to-head victory against a future Hall-of-Fame quarterback?
