I’ve been unable to watch a bunch of games live this season, so I’ve taken to following the live-streaming that takes place on the Acme Packing blog. They have a dozen or so established Packer pundits who submit instant written comments about what’s occurring on the field.
Here’s a sampling from Sunday’s game – all rendered before the end of the first quarter:
For the first time this season, the Packers fail to score on their opening drive. – Matt Schneidman
Packers look…flat. In the cold with no fans in the stands. – Zach Kruse
Between the wind and the penalty calls on Jack and Turner on that drive, I am prepared for this game to be among the worst of the year. – JR Radcliffe
What a sluggish start for the Packers offense and defense. – Dave Schroeder
The Packers have to find a way to jumpstart this offense immediately. The longer you allow Jacksonville to feel like they have a chance… – Dave Schroeder
#Packers at their own 4-yard line. Now would be an opportune time for them to stop hitting snooze.. – Ryan Wood
And the snooze button liveth on. – Ryan Wood
Another three-and-out for the Packers. On three possessions, the Packers have 38 yards of total offense. – Olivia Reiner
Yea… this game is shaping up to be as troublesome as I feared. – Dave Schroeder
Packers offense to start the drive at their own nine. Let’s see if they can find the juice somewhere. – Olivia Reiner
(Sarcastically) The Green Bay Packers have converted on third down. – Olivia Reiner
The belabored point? From the git-go, Green Bay came out on Sunday uninspired and unspirited – much the same as they did in their two previous losses on the year, and much the same as they did on two of their three regular-season losses in 2019. The pundits instantly recognized it; you and I recognized it; hell, all Packer Nation knew almost right from the start on Sunday that the Packers were going to struggle mightily to keep the league’s second worst team’s 7-game losing streak intact.
In a nutshell, the worse the competition, the more mentally unprepared are these Packers to play football. Houston, we have a problem. It’s one of the few challenges that second-year head coach Matt LaFleur has yet to respond well to.
It’s Intense
Call it what you will, the Packers came out flat and pretty much remained that way throughout the matchup with the Jags. I’d frame it as a team-wide lack of intensity, effort, and commitment.
This is a problem that I addressed one month ago (here – Keeping the Powder Dry Sub-heading). At that time I described it as a failure to get revved up for games, to “pull out all the stops.” Here we are a month later, and we still have yet to see this team get emotionally revved up for more than a few plays.
Yes, the offense got it going with the 7-play 75-yard drive that gave them the winning margin, and the woeful defense saved the day by shutting down the Jags on their final four offensive snaps of the game. What this really illustrates, however, is how little intensity Green Bay showed when the outcome of the game wasn’t on the line.
The next game, in which the Packers are an underdog against the Colts, would be a great time for an “emotional explosion” from LaFleur’s charges.
Every player is personally responsible for his own degree of intensity. But there’s also a group dynamic in play here. There remains a lack of leadership on the current team. Especially at critical times, and in critical games, Green Bay needs to cultivate the kind of intensity and momentum that spreads around, and rubs off on, the entire squad. The Packers need to create a group effort that spreads like a wildfire in a windstorm.
Is it LaFleur’s job to create such intensity? I think so. I watched most of the Rams-Seahawks game on Sunday, which I believe featured the league’s youngest and oldest head coaches. Both teams were hyped from start to finish. Emotions were high, tackling was fierce, skirmishes were frequent, the play was fast and crisp, and players went all out, throughout. It looked like a postseason game, whereas Packers-Jags resembled a preseason affair.
I’ve praised Matt LaFleur for his many fine attributes – among them level-headedness and organization. When it comes to instilling intensity, however, these very qualities work against him and his team. Intensity implies a certain lack of control and restraint. Maybe Matt will get there in time, but I doubt he’ll ever achieve the level of intensity of a Pete Carroll or a Sean McVay. On the other hand Bill Belichick churns out high-intensity teams despite his withdrawn and undemonstrative manner.
How about a boost of intensity from some of LaFleur’s twenty or so assistant coaches? From 2009 through 2013, Green Bay’s outside linebackers coach was Kevin Greene. Both as a coach and a player, Kevin’s intensity was infectious. The Super Bowl winning 2010 team wasn’t as talented as some others, but Kevin Greene saw to it that they did not lack for intensity. I believe Kevin was last in the NFL as a coach for the Jets in 2018 – he’d be a great balance to our button-downed head coach.
As for players, the Packers have not in recent times been blessed with many guys whose intensity could light a fire among their teammates. On that 2010 team, one of the (several) catalysts was actually a spirited rookie: Clay Matthews. Since Clay’s heyday, the Pack has been short of the kind of leadership I’m talking about. For examples, Jordy Nelson didn’t, and Davante Adams doesn’t, possess such a personality.
On the other hand, Brett Favre had the ability to inspire his entire team. Going back further, Reggie White was a model of intensity for the Packers from 1993 through 1998 – it’s no accident that the Pack went to two Super Bowls, and won one, during Reggie’s time in Green Bay.
Aaron Rodgers is of course in the perfect position to rally the troops, but he doesn’t possess the special traits of, say, a Tom Brady or a Russell Wilson. Za’Darius Smith might be the closest we’ve got on the current roster.
Unless one or more people connected with this team emerges who can lead, inspire, or shame an otherwise pretty solid group of athletes into playing up to their full abilities, week in and week out, Packer fans will have to endure many more games like Sunday’s. As of now, the team’s intensity level seems to vary according to their opponent’s ability.
A healthy dose of pride wouldn’t hurt either. I believe that Sunday’s game was about the sixth in the brief LaFleur era in which a rookie QB gave the Packers all they could handle. That shouldn’t be happening.
Unless the Packers quickly raise their intensity level, Philip Rivers and the Colts are going to administer a drubbing on Sunday. Rivers is the veteran QB who most recently faced Green Bay on November 3 of last year. He was then with the Chargers, and the 26-11 final score doesn’t begin to tell how badly the Packers were beaten by a team who finished the year at 5-11, and in last place in their division.