It was a surprise to nobody that in the Packers’ 13-10 loss to the 49ers in the divisional round, Aaron Rodgers targeted receiver Davante Adams more than he targeted anybody else, and certainly more than any other receiver. When you have the NFL’s best receiver on your side, you don’t make it a secret. Adams was targeted 11 times, catching nine passes for 90 yards, but there were no touchdowns to be had — the only Packers touchdown in that loss came from a six-yard run from A.J. Dillon on Green Bay’s first drive.
After that, it was crickets in the end zone for the NFL’s second-best passing offense (behind only the Buccaneers, per DVOA) throughout the regular season. As my Touchdown Wire colleague Mark Schofield detailed on Sunday morning, the 49ers and defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans did a brilliant job of limiting Adams’ options with creative brackets, allowing them to keep Adams in check even when they played single-high coverage — usually a cheat code for both Rodgers and Adams.
Rodgers’ response to this was odd. He didn’t avail himself of his other receivers, which he usually does when restricted by coverage concepts that make things more difficult for Adams. Allen Lazard had one catch on one target for six yards. Randall Cobb, Rodgers’ best buddy, had no catches on one target. Rodgers will probably bring this up in the offseason to augment his belief that Green Bay’s front office needs to get him better receivers behind Adams, but Rodgers was the one at fault more often than not when you analyze how this all broke down.
