Packers, Rodgers Keep Rolling at Home, Beat Chiefs

The Green Bay Packers whipped the Kansas City Chiefs 38 – 28 on Monday Night Football at Lambeau Field, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score.

The formula remained the same for the Packers at Lambeau: combine a fast-starting offense led by a near-perfect Aaron Rodgers with an aggressive defense to build an early lead. Once again the Packers led a home game at half by at least three scores, going into half with a 24-7 lead.

Obviously aware that the Chiefs’ best chance to stop the Packer offense lay in the hands of their All Pro outside linebackers, the Packers began the game with a plan designed to minimize their impact and blunt their pass rush. After the Packers started with an infamous three and out, the offense moved the ball efficiently for the remainder of the first half. A screen to Eddie Lacy went for 26 yards on the second drive of the game, and even an end around to Randall Cobb picked up 12 yards and jump-started the offense.

The offense went on to score four times on their five remaining first half possessions. The scores were a field goal and three touchdown passes by Aaron Rodgers: one each to Ty Montgomery, Randall Cobb and James Jones. Rodgers was up to his usual tricks, catching the Chiefs with too many men on the field twice, and twice taking big advantage of free plays. One free play went for a touchdown to James Jones right before half, and the other went to Jones on a back shoulder for 52  yards that keyed the Packers’ final touchdown drive of the game.

The Packer defense was dominant through most the first three quarters of the game. The Chiefs started both halves with three consecutive three-and-outs and ended the game with eight three-and-outs altogether. The Packers were aggressive on defense until the Chiefs’ final drive of the game, collecting seven sacks on the night. Clay Matthews saw more time at outside linebacker than he had in the first two games combined. He responded with numerous big plays and two sacks. He could have had 5 sacks if he didn’t let Alex Smith juke him a bunch of times. Mike Daniels was also dominant on the defensive line. He helped stifle Jamaal Charles, who never got going and finished with just 49 yards rushing. Daniels also got after Smith repeatedly and finished with 1.5 sacks.

The surprise of the night was the resurrected Joe Thomas, who after just being plucked off the Dallas Cowboy practice squad, suddenly found himself as the Packers’ lone inside linebacker in the dime package, which allowed Clay Matthews to line up at outside linebacker on passing downs. Thomas joined the sack bandwagon by getting one and joined with Nate Palmer in making numerous plays.

Sam Shields also flat-balled and was probably the one person in the Packer secondary to distinguish himself. He finished with six tackles, including one for a 12 yard loss, and got an interception that set up an easy touchdown for the Packers in the third quarter. After a rough opening game in Chicago, Shields has pretty much done nothing wrong for the last two games, and teams have mostly stayed away from him.

The Chiefs were thrown off their game early because they couldn’t run the football, and as usual, when relied upon and facing a rush, Alex Smith couldn’t make enough plays to keep the offense moving.

The Chiefs did score touchdowns on three straight drives to end the game, which made the score closer and even briefly gave the Chiefs a possible score-onside kick-score for a tie scenario that gave them a slim chance. However, after being over aggressive on the two previous drives, the Packers played more conservatively on the Chiefs’ last scoring drive. The Chiefs scored but took too much time doing so, running the clock down to 1:30 left in the game, and when they failed to convert the two point conversion, the game was over.

The bottom-line here again is that Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field is on a roll. He is playing as well as anyone who has ever played on that field. All the other pieces on offense almost seem interchangeable when Rodgers is playing this well. The Packers on both sides of the ball rolled through their depth chart, which is great experience for many of their young players.

The defense just needs to come out fired up, get some early stops, get some sacks and maybe a turnover or two, and the game is won. Rodgers will take it from there. As long as Rodgers keeps playing anywhere near this level, I don’t see the Packers losing at home anytime soon.