The Packers will have to play without their featured wide receiver, and they’re on the road against a good defense. You would think that would derail their offense. But Green Bay has played without Davante Adams many times in the past, and the decline hasn’t been as severe as you might think.

The Packers, in fact, are 6-0 in the games Adams has missed since Matt LaFleur showed up, and their offense has played well in every one of those games. That includes a win at New Orleans last year, and a win against a 3-1 Dallas team in 2019. Green Bay also won at Kansas City, but some of the shine came off that game when Patrick Mahomes missed it.

Nonetheless, there’s been way more offensive pop from the Packers in these games than you might expect. Aaron Rodgers has thrown at least 3 TDs in his last four such games.

RODGERS WITHOUT DAVANTE ADAMS
OppResultCmpAttYdsTDInt
at Dall.W 34-24223423800
Det.W 23-22243928321
Oak.W 42-24253142950
at K.C.W 31-24233330530
at N.O.W 37-30213228330
Atl.W 30-16273332740

Aaron Jones has averaged 125 run-rec yards in these six games, with 9 TDs.

A.JONES WITHOUT DAVANTE ADAMS
OppResultRushingReceivingYardsTD
at Dall.W 34-2419-107-47-75-01824
Det.W 23-2211-47-04-13-0600
Oak.W 42-2412-50-04-33-1831
at K.C.W 31-2413-67-07-159-22262
at N.O.W 37-3016-69-12-17-0861
Atl.W 30-1615-71-05-40-11111

The results haven’t been as good with the wide receivers. Allen Lazard has had the two best games, but he’s not playing either this week.

BEST WIDE RECEIVERS WITHOUT DAVANTE ADAMS
OppResultPlayerNoYardsTD
at Dall.W 34-24Geronimo Allison2280
Det.W 23-22Allen Lazard4651
Oak.W 42-24M. Valdes-Scantling21331
at K.C.W 31-24Allen Lazard5420
at N.O.W 37-30Allen Lazard61461
Atl.W 30-16M. Valdes-Scantling4450

Every game is different, of course, and the degree of difficulty goes up a notch this time. It’s on the road on a short week, and Arizona has played well defensively, allowing the fewest points in the league. The Cardinals have played four notable offenses, and they’ve allowed only 2 TDs in all but one of those games (the Vikings scored 3 TDs at Arizona in Week 2, but just 2 TDs each for Titans, Browns and Rams). The Packers also have been trying to work their offensive line into shape.

For me, my preference would be to start players from other offenses. In general, I’m not excited about the Packers in this Thursday night game. But the numbers suggest one should be careful in being too quick to disregard them.

—Ian Allan