Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers looks for an open receiver in the first half during the Packers-Philadelphia Eagles game. Credit: Rick Wood

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Green Bay — It's not just that the Green Bay Packers have outscored their opponents, 208-95, in the first half or 107-44 in the first quarter or gone 5-1 when they score on their opening drive.

That is the total of their recent first-half dominance.

The cause requires looking a little deeper, such as to the excellence of the team's quarterback and receivers, the coach's offensive system and the opposition's decision how to defend it all.

How dangerous are the Packers the first few times they touch the ball? Let's take a look:

■ Quarterback Aaron Rodgers' passer rating on his first 10 pass attempts of each game is 132.8.

■ He has completed 73% of those passes for 1,038 yards and eight touchdowns with no interceptions. He has completed 13 passes of 20 or more yards and averaged a whopping 10.4 yards per attempt.

■ The rating has him on pace to finish well ahead of his most valuable player season total in 2011 (126.7 rating), which blew away his previous season high of 112.9 in the Super Bowl year of 2010.

■ And it has him well ahead of the quarterback with the next highest passer rating on his first 10 attempts, San Diego's Philip Rivers (115.9). Denver's Peyton Manning (106.9) and New England's Tom Brady (99.5) can't touch him.

It's easy to cherry-pick statistics, but in this case it certainly reflects the reality that the Packers have one of the quickest-starting offenses in the NFL. And it has everything to do with the Rodgers-led passing game coming out of the tunnel with the end zone on their mind.

"When we get going, it gets the crowd into it and we get the juice flowing; it's contagious," rookie receiver Davante Adams said. "(On the road) we'll have to generate our own juice and trust our training we did during the week."

Rodgers' passing ability accounts for a good portion of the early success, but his growth in coach Mike McCarthy's "best play" offense might be the biggest factor. In the McCarthy system, Rodgers has the freedom to change a play at the line of scrimmage if he thinks the one that is called isn't as good.

All week long, he works with McCarthy and offensive coordinator Tom Clements on identifying instances where a change at the line of scrimmage could put the offense in the best play possible against that particular defensive look.

When asked if he considered balance between run and pass plays early in the game, McCarthy said no. But it's not because he doesn't care, it's that the object is to get the offense into the best play possible. If Rodgers changes 10 called running plays into passing plays and the ball is being moved up and down the field, who cares?

"Intent is something that doesn't show up on the statistics sheet," he said, referring to the number of run plays that might be called. "That's something we pay close attention to. Result is obviously the most important.

"The original play call and the final play call is a process that I think we do an outstanding job (of adjusting) and that's definitely the benefit of (having) Aaron Rodgers and our veteran players."

When you combine Rodgers' ability to identify weaknesses in the defense with the recent trend of opposing defenses not varying from their tendencies, you probably have an answer why the Packers are scoring so often so early.

The Philadelphia Eagles played the Packers with a single-high safety most of the game, which to some seemed foolish given it would create one-on-one matchups for receivers Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb.

But consider their plight. If they're in a defense they aren't used to playing, they're not going to give Rodgers their best. Maybe the New England Patriots can switch up defensive schemes in a week — which the Packers may get a taste of Nov. 30 — but few others can do something drastic with three days of practice.

"In the back of our head (we) expect maybe a two-high game eventually," Nelson said of a classic defense every team runs. "If not at the beginning of the game, maybe an adjustment throughout the game, and we haven't really gotten that. I think New Orleans did a little bit of it.

"But besides that, teams have just been playing their defense, which, I understand that, because that's what they do well, and they can't completely change when they just face us."

So, with Rodgers getting a lot of the looks he's expecting, it's no wonder he's had so much success right out of the gate. He has planned all week how to attack that scheme and for the first couple of series knows what he's going to get.

It's evident in the huge plays he has connected on over the past couple of weeks.

On his first 10 pass attempts against Philadelphia in a 53-20 victory, four of his seven completions went for 64, 28, 24 and 22 yards. The 64-yarder to Nelson was a simple case of getting a one-on-one matchup on the outside and taking advantage of it.

The week before against Chicago, he got the standard two-high look and took what the Bears gave him, completing 9 of his first 10 passes for 73 yards and two touchdowns. Against the Saints before the bye, he saw they weren't going to blitz and completed 8 of 10 passes for 208 yards and a touchdown on his first 10.

This week, the Packers travel to Minnesota, a team they clobbered, 42-10, at Lambeau Field on Oct. 2. Coach Mike Zimmer chose not to blitz at the start, and Rodgers hit him with two touchdowns, including a 66-yarder to Nelson on his fifth pass of the game.

Lately, the Vikings have been playing defense a little differently. That's probably the defense the Packers will expect Sunday.

"He does a lot of great things with the pressure package and makes it difficult for the quarterback and the protection," Rodgers said of Zimmer. "You have to try and figure out who's coming (blitzing). I expect them to play their defense. They're very well-coached.

"They played us pretty well at home. We just had a couple big plays and then had some turnovers that we turned into points."

The Packers also have a system that Rodgers seems to take to another level the moment he steps on the field.

FAST STARTERS

Here are the top five quarterbacks in their first 10 pass attempts in each of the first 10 games:

Player Rating

Comp.

Pct.

Yards

TDs

INTs

Avg.

20-plus Aaron Rodgers 132.8 73 73.0 1,038 8 0 10.4 13 Philip Rivers 115.9 71 71.0 851 7 1 8.51 14 Peyton Manning 106.9 74 74.0 815 4 1 8.15 9 Colin Kaepernick 106.5 61 61.0 807 6 0 8.07 13 Alex Smith 105.4 72 72.0 800 3 0 8.0 9

HOT OUT OF THE GATE

Here's how Rodgers has fared on his first 10 passing attempts in the last three games:

Opponent Rating

Comp.

Pct. Yds.

TDs

INTs

Avg.

20-plus Philadelphia 112.5 7 70.0 133 0 0 13.3 4 Chicago 136.7 9 90.0 73 2 0 7.30 1 New Orleans 152.1 8 80.0 208 1 0 20.8 3