WR Davante Adams' Return Key to Revving Up Green Bay Packers Offense

As the Green Bay Packers prepare to take on the league's best defense—and the best they have faced this season—in the Denver Broncos, they'll need to ensure their offense is ready for the challenge.

And what a challenge it will be.

Of the six teams the Packers have faced this season, two are currently ranked in the top 10 in total defense: Chicago and Seattle. So while the Packers have faced legitimate defensive opposition so far in 2015—and have emerged triumphantly every time—they haven't encountered a team quite like Denver just yet.

Denver is first in the league in total defense, allowing an average of 281.3 yards per game. It's also second in the NFL in scoring defense (behind the Packers), allowing opponents 17 points per game.

The Packers will look to start out fast, something the Broncos have not been allowing opponents to do, as Weston Hodkiewicz of the Green Bay Press-Gazette pointed out:

When it comes to playmakers, Denver's got them in spades. Up front, Aaron Rodgers will be dealing with the pass-rushing presence of outside linebackers DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller, two key components of a unit that leads the league in sacks with 26.

In the defensive backfield, cornerbacks Chris Harris Jr. and Aqib Talib have preyed on quarterbacks all season, coming away with five interceptions between the two of them and all three of the defense's touchdowns scored on picks.

David Bruton, Bradley Roby and Darian Stewart have brought the team's total interceptions to nine.

If the Packers want to lessen the impact of Denver's pass rush, they have two options: Rely on quick-strike passes and run the ball.

Green Bay will have to get the ball out of Rodgers' hands in only a couple seconds to prevent the Broncos' pass-rushers from getting into the backfield.

Running an uptempo offense out of the no-huddle could also exhaust and potentially confuse Denver's defense, though it operates at a very high level.

Rodgers will also need to have open weapons in order to release the ball that quickly. With receiver Davante Adams injured (ankle), Randall Cobb—who so often runs the hot route—faced double coverage and couldn't connect with Rodgers.

That's why the passer must be elated to know that head coach Mike McCarthy expects Adams to return in Week 8 from an ankle injury that has kept him out for nearly four weeks, per Packers Nation:

Part of the reason Green Bay's offense has been pedestrian this season is that Rodgers simply doesn't have a dynamic place to go with the ball on any given play.

"We've got to run routes a little bit better, and we have to be able to get open outside better," Rodgers said after the Week 5 game against the Rams, per ESPN's Rob Demovsky.

Adams has certainly been a much-missed factor in that aspect of the game, especially by his quarterback. "It'll be great to get Davante back because he adds another dimension outside with his quick-twitch ability," Rodgers said, per Demovsky.

Though the Packers can't come close to replacing Jordy Nelson (torn ACL) this season, Adams was at least supposed to run his routes outside the numbers. Though he's no Nelson, he's talented in his own right.

But losing Adams for almost four weeks has only made the loss of Nelson that much more obvious, as now Rodgers has lost his two top targets outside the numbers. That's really simplified the offense and made it easier for defenders to both slow it down and take away Rodgers' hot read.

Mike Roemer/Associated Press

However, the field should really open up for Rodgers with the return of Adams, in terms of both catching passes and impacting Cobb and James Jones—namely by opening them up and decreasing the instances of Cobb being double-covered.

In his second year on the team, Adams has been making an impression on his teammates. In his absence, it seems his talent has only become more appreciated.

According to Hodkiewicz, cornerback Casey Hayward had high praise for Adams:

"

He has a lot of potential. He can get out of his hips so well. He can run the route tree. I think that’s another element with him coming back that will help our offense. ... He was a starter for a reason. When he comes back, it should evaluate our offense a little bit more—and not just our offense, but our team.

"

As has become obvious in the games he's missed, Adams' importance to the offense is about much more than what shows up on the stat sheet. In the first two complete games he played this season, he totaled 92 yards and no touchdowns.

Those aren't earth-shattering numbers, but this one is: Rodgers targeted him an average of seven times per game, and so it's clear how much the offense has changed when a player with that much involvement disappears.

Seven of Adams' targets, or 50 percent, were also out of the slot, and he caught all of them. He has also gained the 13th-most yards out of 136 receivers who have caught passes from the slot this season.

This slot usage is important because if Adams is lining up in the primary slot, it allows the Packers to move Cobb elsewhere around the field—lined up in the backfield, for example.

Green Bay can also line Cobb and Adams up in both slots, with Jones and either Jeff Janis or Ty Montgomery (who is still recovering from an ankle injury) on the outside, to find more favorable matchups.

With Adams back in the lineup in Week 8, the Packers would have a chance to successfully beat Denver's stout defense.

Advanced statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.