NFL Countdown #11: The Green Bay Packers were the most efficient office in 2020, leading the league in most per-drive stats while only giving up the ball 11 times.
The Green Bay Packers offense was reinvigorated throughout the 2020 season, in part due to the fire lit under Aaron Rodgers when his team decided to trade up and draft his replacement. We’ve all grown tired of the “Rodgers wants more weapons” narrative, but it’s worth mentioning when we talk about the ridiculous efficiency of his offense in 2020. Aaron Rodgers just had arguably the best season of his career at age 37, throwing for 48 touchdowns and claiming his first MVP award since 2014. While the offensive skill players in Green Bay were not up to Rodgers' standard, they were certainly good enough to secure the football and keep their quarterback's completion percentage at the top of the league. Packers players lost the ball via fumble just six times over the course of the 2020 season (tied for second in NFL), while Rodgers cashed in his fourth season of five or fewer interceptions.
Over the course of his career, Aaron Rodgers has been about as trustworthy as it comes with the football in his hands. Rodgers is the only quarterback in NFL history to stack up 400 passing touchdowns with fewer than 100 interceptions. Rodgers is also the only QB with 300 TDs and under 100 interceptions, but Russell Wilson (267 TD, 81 INT) seems poised to join him in that club if he gets back to cooking in the 2021 season. Among other records, Rodgers currently holds the NFL record for lowest interception rate, with just 1.4% of his 6587 career passing attempts caught by the opposing team.
The rest of the Packers matched Rodgers' refusal to cough up the football, and only fumbled twice on regular offensive plays. Among the six fumbles lost in 2020, two occurred on punt returns, one was lost by Rodgers as he was sacked, and another went to the other team after an errant snap. That leaves just two fumbles: one by Davante Adams and one by Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Not only was the Packers offense first in the league with ball security (turnover on 5.6% of drives), but they also managed to score the most points (509). The Packers scored on an absurd 49.7% of offensive drives over the course of the season. For reference, the Jets scored on just 26.3% of drives, giving them a league-low 243 points last season.
