Why Tom Clements Will Be a Successful Play-Caller for Packers Offense

In a press conference given on Thursday, Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy announced that, among other coaching staff changes, he was ceding play-calling duties to Tom Clements, who was promoted from offensive coordinator to associate head coach (offense).

McCarthy said that he would be splitting his time equally now between offense, defense and special teams, something he wasn't able to do with play-calling responsibilities. 

"I felt that the play-calling was something that I could still be able to do, but the commitment you have to make Monday through Saturday, I didn't think it fit," McCarthy said. "I didn't think it would work as good as I know it will work now with Tom, who's basically taking the responsibilities on offense that I've had in the past."

In early February, I explored how McCarthy giving up play-calling responsibilities could benefit Green Bay's offense as a whole. There are multiple facets of game management that a head coach simply can't follow in-game when he's calling plays, in addition to the time during the week (as McCarthy noted in his presser) taken away from other aspects of game-planning. 

Freeing up McCarthy to manage the big picture could provide an immediate benefit to Green Bay's offense, but he didn't hand play-calling duties to just anyone.

Clements, who has been part of McCarthy's staff since he arrived in 2006 (quarterbacks coach from 2006-12 and offensive coordinator from 2013-14), is primed to succeed in the role. 

Let's take a look at Clements' past successes as a play-caller, as well as his unique role in the Packers organization and his relationship with Aaron Rodgers. 

Buffalo Bills: 2004-05 (Offensive Coordinator)

Clements hasn't called plays since he was the offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Prior to Clements' arrival in Buffalo in 2004, the Bills hadn't had a winning season since 1999.

In Clements' first season calling plays and quarterback Drew Bledsoe's final one with Buffalo, however, the Bills improved to 9-7 and just barely missed the playoffs. In fact, according to Football Outsiders, the 2004 Bills are the highest-rated team by DVOA ever to miss the playoffs.

Buffalo went 0-4 to start its 2004 campaign but lost three of its first four games by three points or less. But then, as Aaron Schatz notes in his Football Outsiders piece, the Bills won six straight games by 30 points or more. Bledsoe threw 20 touchdowns that season, the fifth-most of his 14-season career.

It was the only season in which the Bills would have a winning record throughout the 2000s. 

Bledsoe was released by the Bills after the 2004 season, and the team wasn't as successful in 2005, finishing 5-11. Clements was let go the following offseason as part of a front-office reconfiguration, and he was hired by McCarthy for the 2006 season.

Green Bay Packers: 2006-12 (QBs Coach), 2013-14 (Offensive Coordinator)

When he was hired by the Green Bay Packers on January 29, 2006, Clements entered at a pivotal moment in Packers history. As quarterbacks coach, he at once was able to begin working with future Packers Hall of Famer Brett Favre while simultaneously developing 2005 first-round draft pick Aaron Rodgers. 

After reducing his interceptions from 29 (a career high) to just 18 in his first year working with Clements, Favre's 2007 season was one of the best of his career. He posted his second-highest completion percentage ever (66.5) and threw for the fourth-most yards in any season (4,155). 

Mel Evans/Associated Press

He also averaged 7.8 yards per attempt, the second-most of his career. His interception percentage dropped to 2.8, the lowest it had been since 2000. 

Moreover, Clements was able to help Favre reach those kinds of numbers without necessarily requiring him to give up his gunslinging ways. In fact, Favre had 49 passes of 20-plus yards and 16 of 40-plus in 2007, the latter being the most in any season of his career. 

Clements helped Favre become a more refined passer while also letting him be more of a gunslinger than he had been at any other point in his career. Under Clements, Favre didn't have to sacrifice letting the ball fly, but his decision-making in such situations improved. 

However, it is in his development of and relationship with Rodgers that Clements has been most successful. This New York Times piece by Greg Bishop does a fantastic job tracing Rodgers' early development.

When Rodgers was first drafted by the Packers in 2005, he toiled on the scout team. When McCarthy and Clements arrived in 2006, however, everything changed. 

McCarthy's Quarterback School is well-known, but many people don't realize that in his first year working with McCarthy and Clements, Rodgers' whole game changed. Per Bishop, he "concentrated on tuning his fine motor skills: hand-eye coordination, finger dexterity, mechanics. He also lowered where he held the ball for a smoother, more consistent motion."

The development was rapid.

"By the end of Rodgers' second year," Bishop wrote, "McCarthy and [Ted] Thompson saw him as a starter who happened not to start. With his quarterback coach, Tom Clements, Rodgers studied every play from the Packers’ previous season."

Per Bishop, when Favre retired in 2008 and Rodgers' turn at the helm was set to begin, Clements had Rodgers study "every pass Tom Brady threw in his record-setting 2007 season."

He already knew the Packers offense in and out; now, he learned how to read defenses. He was ready. 

With Clements behind him every step of the way, Rodgers became the only quarterback in NFL history to have a passer rating of 100.0 or higher for six consecutive seasons, per Packers.com. 

More on Clements' offensive accomplishments from the team's site:

"

In [Clements'] nine seasons with the team, the Packers have finished in the top 10 in the NFL in total offense eight times and in the top 10 in scoring eight times. Clements has helped the Green Bay offense record the three highest single-season point totals in franchise history: 560 in 2011, 486 in 2014 and 461 in 2009.

"

Now, however, he has the opportunity to really shine, drawing back on his past play-calling experience and taking a more active role for the Packers on game day. 

2015 and Beyond

McCarthy emphasized in his Thursday press conference that he would not have handed over the reins to just anyone when it comes to calling plays. And Clements' longtime relationship with Rodgers is key to the move.

“The relationship between the play-caller and Aaron Rodgers is of critical importance," McCarthy said. "That’s a big part of the decision. Aaron has an excellent working relationship with Tom. The fit with Aaron is the highest priority.”

Indeed, as much as McCarthy trusts Clements, this move would not have happened without a veteran like Rodgers at the helm. Per Paul Imig of Fox Sports:

Clements noted in his interview on Thursday that the ideas from plays often come from Rodgers, and it's no secret how much freedom Rodgers is given to audible at the line of scrimmage.

But the likeness of mind between the two coaches, in addition to Clements' role in Rodgers' development, is what led McCarthy to promote him to associate head coach.  

“I think we see the game the same way, approach the game the same way,” Clements told the media on Thursday after McCarthy's announcement. “A lot of times, I’m thinking, ‘I wish he’d call this,’ and he calls it. Hopefully it works in reverse this time.”

On Thursday, McCarthy also cited Clements' 12 years of calling plays in the CFL, as well as his two years with the Bills, as reasons for his confidence in the change. 

Clements will also probably move down from the box to the sideline, according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "so that he could relay calls directly to Rodgers and not slow down the no-huddle offense."

The move is a win-win for the Packers. McCarthy is freed up to spend as much time with special teams and the defense as he does with the offense, and to become a better game manager.

Clements, on the other hand, will work closely again with the quarterback he helped develop into an elite player, a partnership that has already proven to be more successful than anyone could have predicted.