As I write this, I sit in the afterglow of the 49ers defeating the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game. All told, the Packers had a good season. They went 13-3, secured the #2 seed, and went to the NFC Championship Game, after all. Somehow, they managed to do this while having just one fantasy football player that went the whole year without making you want to tear your hair out.
What to Remember from the 2019 Green Bay Packers Season
- While Aaron Rodgers depends on Davante Adams, do not give him a pass for Adams missing time with a turf toe injury. In the four games without Adams, Rodgers threw for 313.8 yards, 2.5 touchdowns, and 0.3 interceptions per game. If you divide the season into four four-game chunks, it was Rodgers’ best, by far. He scored 99.6, fantasy points, and ranked as QB4 in that time frame. His second-best season quarter came in weeks 1-4, where he ranked eleventh.
- Davante Adams struggled to start the season, averaging 66 yards per game with no touchdowns in the first three games of the season. He broke out on Thursday Night Football against Philadelphia but struggled when returning from his turf toe injury. He finished the season in classic Davante Adams style, averaging 122 yards and scoring four touchdowns in five games. Once Adams healed, and gained mastery of the new offense, it was off to the races.
- This is a Davante Adams twofer, as he had just five touchdowns this year. This tied Jamaal Williams for the most receiving touchdowns on the team. It’s a far cry from his 35 touchdowns scored between 2016 and 2018. Expect a massive bounceback for Adams, as his 997 yards surpasses his 2017 yardage total, and matches his 2016 total. Adams also had between 12 and 15 red-zone targets in his massive touchdown seasons and had 12 in 2019. In short, he did not get fewer opportunities to score touchdowns, he merely didn’t convert those opportunities in 2019.
- On paper, Aaron Jones created an unsustainable amount of touchdowns. He scored 19 TDs on 285 touches this season, more than double his 2018 production. He scored a touchdown every 15 touches and every 82 yards. While that’s very high, it’s not too far off his career rate. In his first two seasons, Aaron Jones had a touchdown every 19.8 touches, and every 108 yards. If he scored at those rates this season, he would have ended with between 14 and 15 touchdowns. Since 2010, only 20 running back seasons ended with 1,500+ yards and 14+ touchdowns.
- We tried all season long to figure out which secondary wide receiver on the Packers would have a huge game and be “The Man.” Unfortunately for all of us, none of them grabbed that title. Allen Lazard, Geronimo Allison, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Jake Kumerow combined for 16 top-30 weeks. Unfortunately, none of them had more than 6 (Marques Valdez-Scantling). Those four guys also combined for five top-fifteen weeks, two top-10, and just one top-5 week. Congratulations to Marquez Valdes-Scantling and his 133 receiving yards for that finish. Maybe we stop trying to play this game every year?
Check out the rest of the What to Remember series as it develops!
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