The Green Bay Packers will unveil their new offense with Aaron Rodgers under center for the first time when the season kicks off in Chicago on Thursday.
With the excitement building towards the Packers-Bears opener being billed as a new offense versus one of the top defensive units in the NFL, Rodgers tapped the breaks a bit. The veteran quarterback underscored that the offense the Packers will employ Thursday night in the Windy City won't be the final version we see in 2019.
"I think everybody needs to understand this is going to be the first iteration of our offense, and because it's a new scheme and there are new pieces, this is going to grow from this point," Rodgers said Sunday, via ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "I'm excited about the stuff we have in and the stuff we've been working on in camp. There's going to be even more.
"I think that's the exciting part. I like the foundational start for this offense. I think it could be tough to stop because of the stress it puts on defense with their eye control and pattern-reading and reading the alignments. But we have a lot of room to grow from what we put on the field on Thursday."
Rodgers reining in expectations isn't a surprise. Most good teams aren't displaying their entire potential in Week 1, but rather building towards a crescendo that will have them at full-force heading into January.
Yet, with Rodgers not participating at all in preseason action -- after sitting out Week 2 of the preseason due to back soreness -- it's fair for fans to anticipate what the offense could be this season.
After spending his entire career with Mike McCarthy calling plays, Rodgers will now helm Matt LaFleur's offense, which will include more presnap motion and different route concepts.
"We're throwing new things at them with personnel groupings and motions and alignments and movement and adjustments that they haven't seen from us," Rodgers said. "So I'm excited for the opportunity. I'm obviously really hopeful that we're going to go out and play really well, but I do really feel like this is just the beginning for this offense and there will be a lot of room to grow regardless of our performance on Thursday. Which, for myself and our squad, I expect us to play really well. But I think there's going to be a lot of room for growth within the scheme as we go on in the season."
If the Packers don't look like a well-oiled machine Thursday night against Chicago, don't panic -- he writes, knowing full well Packer fans will be at DEFCON 1 if they fall to a division rival.
