What Packers Have Learned from Seattle Loss Heading into NFC Championship Game

After each team earned a first-round bye, both the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks advanced through the divisional round and will face each other in the NFC Championship.

Seattle, the top seed in the conference, will host the game—recreating the season opener.

The first time around, the Packers struggled mightily against the Seahawks. Aaron Rodgers, the steering wheel of the offense, only averaged 5.7 yards per pass, nearly three yards below his 2014 average. He also recorded a 47.9 quarterback rating and 81.5 passer rating, much smaller numbers than his regular-season output of 82.6 and 112.2.

One reason for the uncharacteristically low production by the potential league MVP was Green Bay's approach regarding All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman.

Head coach Mike McCarthy sent Jarrett Boykin—almost as a decoy—to the boundary for Sherman to cover all game. Not once did a pass go his way, as ESPN's NFL Twitter account noted at the time.

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Richard Sherman hasn't been thrown at once tonight #GBvsSEA

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) September 5, 2014 "

Since Week 1, Boykin has been benched, only totaling three catches for 23 yards in his entire 2014 campaign. His replacement has been Davante Adams, a rookie second-round pick from Fresno State.

Against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, Adams put together the best game of his career, catching seven passes for 117 yards and a score. Earlier in the season, he was a key component to the Packers' 26-21 win against the New England Patriots, pulling in six balls for 121 yards.

To put it plainly, Green Bay used its third option at receiver as a dummy for Sherman to cover in September, but the team won't need to look away from the defensive back in January as it has three legitimate pass-catching threats with Adams, Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson.

Another reason the Packers fared so poorly against the Seahawks the first time around was their overall run game.

Running back Eddie Lacy, the 2013 Offensive Rookie of the Year, only strung together a 34-yard performance, his lowest of the year. In his past seven games, Lacy has rushed for 97 or more yards six times, a mark almost three times the number of his season-opening production.

One reason for this is the offensive line, which has since meshed together and returned a starter from injury. Here is a film assessment of the Packers run game after that first game against Seattle:

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Against Seattle, Green Bay's running game looking nothing more than average. Unless Packer linemen do a better job of getting on blocks quicker and sustaining them, it's hard to envision it getting much better in the short-term.

There weren't necessarily mental lapses, just subpar results. The team could take a jump when starters Bulaga returns to the lineup. Until then, watch for progression in Linsley and Derek Sherrod, who are the only question marks in the unit.

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Corey Linsley, the rookie center, had some miscommunication issues during the game but has since taken steps as a starter. He even had many Packers fans on social media discussing his potential as a Pro Bowl candidate.

Derek Sherrod, who entered the game as Bryan Bulaga's replacement when he went down, is now in Kansas City on a future contract, as he was cut by the Packers in late October.

The fact that Green Bay had Sherrod out as essentially the starting right tackle for the game then felt his value wasn't worth a roster spot within two months tells you how poor his play was. That looks bad without even taking into account that Bulaga, who might be the top tackle prospect on the free-agent market in 2015, was the man with his job prior.

With a season's worth of data to work with, rather than a one-game sample set, Pro Football Focus bumped the offensive line from 10th overall in its midseason rankings to fourth overall in its final rankings.

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4. Green Bay Packers (10th)

Pass Blocking Ranking: 1st, Run Blocking Ranking: 14th, Penalties Ranking: 8th

Stud: You could pick either guard, but we’re going for T.J. Lang because his work in the run game is more impressive.

Dud: He’s no longer with the team but it was a disaster whenever Derek Sherrod got on the field. A -10.1 grade over 142 snaps is terrible.

Breakdown: The tackles are both strong with their pass blocking, but the highlight of this unit is the interior where they create movement in the running game and are as consistent as any time in pass protection.

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Overall, it seems pretty evident the offense as a whole has been better from Week 2 to now—the Seattle matchup was a fairly stark outlier.

With an improved receiving corps, run game and offensive line, the only question now is if McCarthy will avoid Sherman's side of the field like the plague, as he did the first time around. If he opens up the offense a bit, it's not insane to predict the Packers offense will move the ball much more efficiently Sunday.