The Green Bay Packers are 1-2 after dropping a 19-7 decision to the Detroit Lions — yes, the Detroit Lions! — on Sunday.
Just when the defense rounded into form and showed glimpses of being a top-notch unit, the offense demonstrated for the third time in three weeks that they are effectively punchless.
If someone isn’t having a career day, the Packers offense is total garbage.
So with that in mind, here are five more thoughts on the loss.
We told you relying too heavily on one guy would be a problem
After the Packers pulled out a win over the Jets in week 2 on the strength of Jordy Nelson’s career day, we pointed out the problems with that. Sure, it was great for Jordy, but he accounted for over half of the Packers total yards and almost two-thirds of Aaron Rodgers’ passing yards. On Sunday, the Lions had one primary goal defensively — stop Jordy Nelson.
After the game, Lions cornerback Darius Slay said, “Our thing was to stop Jordy.”
Well, they didn’t stop him completely, but they didn’t let him take over the game either. And where did that leave the Packers? With seven points. The offense is entirely reliant on Jordy Nelson right now. The Packers can’t win games like that, unless Aaron Rodgers plays at an elite level and he’s pretty far from that right now.
Letting James Jones walk was a mistake
The receivers behind Jordy Nelson have been a joke so far this year and we’re including Randall Cobb. The Packers receivers should have owned Detroit’s secondary on Sunday. That secondary is not good to begin with, but they had four defensive backs out with injuries on top of that. Still, it was rare that anyone got open and with Rodgers having completely lost his accuracy, that left the Packers with less than 200 yards passing.
James Jones signed a three-year, $10 million deal with the Raiders in the offseason. The Packers could easily have afforded that, but they didn’t even make Jones an offer. He has 15 catches for 189 yards and two touchdowns this season in Oakland.
Cobb has 14 for 126. Jarrett Boykin has two for 17. Davante Adams has seven for 61. So basically, those three guys have produced as much as James Jones has this season. And James Jones has rookie Derek Carr throwing him the ball.
As usual, good work, Ted.
Is Don Barclay the difference maker?
It’s no secret that the Packers running game is also garbage this season. They’re averaging 78.7 yards per game, which is currently 27th in the league. They have the same running backs and same guy calling the plays as last season. The offensive line is the only thing that’s different. The Packers have two new starters — center Corey Linsley in place of Evan Dietrich-Smith and right tackle Bryan Bulaga (and Derek Sherrod) in place of Don Barclay.
Barclay was just above serviceable in pass protection, but he was a goddam road grader when it came to run blocking. Last season, the Packers regularly ran to his side and it usually worked out pretty well. This year, when they run to the right, those runs usually go nowhere.
Barclay is out for the season with a torn ACL, so we can’t really stir up any controversy about who should be starting. That being said, the Packers just handed that job to Bulaga when he came back and it’s starting to look like Barclay would have been the better option. And it appears he clearly would have been the better option if anyone gives a shit about getting the running game going.
Speaking of running backs
Eddie Lacy has done shit this year. Sure, he can obviously still run guys over, gain yards after contact and turn nothing into something. He’s also made some really obvious, shitty decisions when it comes to choosing running lanes. Lacy, for some reason, seems to want to bounce it outside all of the time this year instead of just running up the middle. And usually there’s no room to run outside because by the time he gets there, the pursuit is already waiting for him.
Lacy needs to wake the fuck up. It’s not as if no one can gain yards on the ground. While Lacy has averaged 3.1 yards per carry through three games (36 carries for 113 yards), James Starks is turning in his usual 5.0 per carry (15 carries for 75 yards).
I know we don’t bench anyone in Green Bay ever, but give Starks the fucking ball already!
Hey, how about that defense?
The defense finally playing well only made it all the more obvious that the Packers offense is dog shit. However, we’re pretty happy with the D for a change.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix had his first NFL interception on Sunday. Davon House had his second very solid game in a row and frankly, looked better covering Megatron than Sam Shields did. His height certainly helps against a guy who’s 6-5. Julius Peppers — he doesn’t show up often, but when he does, look the fuck out! His strip sack and recovery was beastly and if the Packers offense wasn’t completely inept, may have been the turning point in the game. Jamari Lattimore had a team-leading nine tackles even though he missed some time with cramps. Fuck you Brad Jones. And lastly, my boy Mike Neal started the game because the Packers were in some odd-ass alignment, but he did not disappoint. Neal had a sack and was in Butterball’s face for most of the day. This guy’s an asset.
If the Packers had an offense and the defense kept playing like they did on Sunday, they might just have a hell of a team.