How Packers Will Use Patriots, Bill Belichick As Gauge For Young Offense

The Packers got an up-close look at the Patriots last fall, but when the two teams meet for joint practices this week in Green Bay, things will look a lot different on both sides.

Green Bay barely held on and eventually beat New England last season in a Week 4 overtime thriller at Lambeau Field. The Aaron Rodgers-led Packers struggled at times — most notably with Rodgers throwing a pick-six to Jack Jones — but were still able to put up 27 points. The Patriots, you might recall, went toe to toe with Rodgers and the Pack despite the fact that starting QB Mac Jones missed that game with an ankle injury. Brian Hoyer then left early with a concussion, and the legend of Bailey Zappe was born.

So, yeah, things are a little different this time around. Rodgers is now a New York Jet, and Jones has reassumed his title as the starter in Foxboro … for now, at least.

And when the two teams take the practice fields in the shadow of Lambeau Field on Wednesday, it will present a new-look Packers offsense with a formidable test. Jordan Love is the new starter in Green Bay, and the jury is still very much out on the 2020 first-round pick tabbed to be Rodgers’ successor.

While there are major questions about the Patriots’ own offense, the defense is still talented, stout and most importantly, the product of Bill Belichick’s brilliant football mind. The Packers know that and are trying to take full advantage of a chance to gauge their own progress to this point against an NFL legend.

“They bring pressure from everywhere,” Packers running back Aaron Jones said, per PackersNews.com. “They’re rarely out of gaps, they disguise a lot, the look like they can bring it from one way, get you to flip your protection from there, and then hit you on the other side. They get you out of your offense. So to be able to pick that up, and if we’re able to do it fast, we just keep contuing to play our game, you’re not guessing what they’re doing pretty much.”

Obviously, not even the most spirited joint practices can fully replicate the game experience. The two teams will play a preseason game Saturday night, and Love will probably play, so they’ll get a chance to test themselves there, too. But there are still plenty of opportunities to fine-tune the process in these joint practices that have taken on an even greater significance in recent years.

“I think this will be huge, just in terms of getting lined up, recognizing the different formations, different blitzes coming, using the hot reads, different things like that,” Green Bay running back A.J. Dillon said, per PackersNews.com. “Even the blocking schem, you get different defenses and the way it’s blocked up might change. So just the communication in that, I think, is going to be huge for us.”

In the same regard, it could be a valuable few days for the Patriots, who are undergoing their own offensive overhaul. While Joe Barry’s defense might not come with the same reputation as Belichick’s group, Green Bay has some talent in the secondary led by Jaire Alexander and up front where Kenny Clark is a game-wrecker.