Win starved Packer fans have reason to celebrate this week. In a statistical gem of a defensive showing, the Packers shut down the Ram offense and the Green and Gold’s offense put together enough plays to put 20 points on the Jumbotron.
Now, were the Packers helped by the Rams missing their star quarterback, Matthew Stafford? You bet your bratwurst they were. Stafford’s replacement, Brett Rypien, beat Jordan Love twice in college, but he couldn’t make enough plays to keep the Rams on the field.
Green Bay’s defense played without three starters, Safety Darnell Savage, linebacker Quay Walker, and Safety Rudy Ford. Add on the traded Rasul Douglass and Kenny Clark’s early departure and the built in excuse for a poor defensive showing was available. But this Packer team got outstanding performances from every substitute on defense.
Isaiah McDuffie had multiple tackles for loss, one that got the defense off the field on third and short and had multiple additional tackles at or near the line of scrimmage. McDuffie played the game we have been hoping to see Quay Walker produce. Jonathon Owens and Anthony Johnson both created a turnover, and Carrington Valentine had three passes defensed and brought great energy.
Even though the offense gave L.A. great field position on fumbles by Aaron Jones and Dontayvion Wicks in back-to-back series to open the second half, the defense kept the Rams out of the end zone. Jaire Alexander finally looked healthy and was back to his disruptive self.
The offense? Well, it improved from last week. They scored a touchdown on their second possession after getting a short field thanks to Jonathon Owens strip-sack of Rypien. This offense was able to establish a consistent running game that was not producing big plays (Jones long run was his 9-yard fumble and Dillon’s long run was 12) but they helped move the chains and kept the defense honest.
Jordan Love is still struggling with an accurate long ball, missing a wide-open Christian Watson that would have opened the game up and given the home team a 14-point lead.
Watson did contribute later in the game when Love threw another jump ball deep pass, but this time Watson used all of his athleticism to climb the ladder and nab the ball at the high point, above Rams safety Russ Yeast. The 37-yard completion on third and twelve was the play the Packers have not made in weeks prior. It led to the game icing touchdown making the score 20-3.
The Ugly Side of Packers’ Win Over Rams
For fans who would rather focus on the frustrating, the Packers supplied enough to get your ulcer aching. Three fumbles, two lost. Eight penalties, two of them on third and short after the Packers had made the first down. Rashan Gary’s two back-to-back penalties on the Rams second possession in past games led to points, but Gary was bailed out after his 20-yard gifts by Jonathon Owens forced fumble recovered by Campbell.
The Packers offense has much room to grow, but there were signs of hope for the future. The offensive line battled in the run game. Even much aligned Sean Rhyan played significant snaps at right guard and held his own against Aaron Donald.
The offense put up 184 rushing yards and held the Rams to 68. Jordan Love had a QBR of 115. Aaron Jones looks healthy again and the young pass catchers are playing with a bit more consistency. The dropped passes of weeks prior were reduced and except for the controversial offside penalties that killed two drives, the offense seemed to have a game plan they could execute.
Next week brings an away game test in Pittsburgh against the 5-3 Steelers. Hopefully, the Packers can continue to improve and start a winning streak for the first time this season.
Thank you Paul.
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As you mention – Jordan Love is still struggling with an accurate long ball. These next several games need to be a determination of how much is on him and how much is on the receivers in that regard. Sometimes it seems kind of obvious it is on him. On some other opportunities it seems like the receiver is not running through the play or accurately tracking the ball in space to get the best catch position on the pass. I would put Musgrave and Watson a bit into that category.
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Musgrave shows a lot of promise. His size, speed, and athleticism are obviously there. The fact that he really didn’t actually play a whole lot of college ball is evident sometimes though. If he could track a pass to where he could catch on the run it could be a real cool thing to see. Someone actually needs to show him what a stiff arm looks like and how to employ it as well. Maybe then some YAC yardage would happen and he wouldn’t be folding on first contact. It was great to see the kid get his first NFL TD though.
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Watson as well. As of right now the better combination on the field for WR is Doubs/Reed/Wicks. Watson as of now is better situational. Until that long ball combination develops better. The long one he caught contested was not the most perfectly timed leap and grab on his end but he made it. Then he came down hurting everything except his hamstring.
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The part that is on Love might be for being a little more risk averse now. After getting picked off a few times now he seems to have started to wait a little longer to be sure of an open target on deeper routes. Those long passes have to be launched when the receiver is on the fly and it might not look like a sure thing. Developing that timing with all these new receivers and no veteran presence was not a great thing to stick him with.
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Yesterday I called the game ugly. For the better part of it, it was. The slickness of the drizzle and a Rams backup QB had a lot to do with that. GB got away with a lot that they wouldn’t have against a better team. It was good to see some of those younger players, especially on defense, have some very good plays to build on. Hey, Joe Barry’s D held them to 3. It’s a win.
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So what do they have now? Well, out of the remaining games there is the Giants, Panthers, and Bears again. That’s three legitimate possibilities for wins and there could be one more. No more talk about drafting in the top five at this point. Forget about the blue chip QBs or Harrison at WR. Offensive line will likely get the first pick and then some. They really need it.
This game was the way management envisioned the season to go. Play defense, run the ball, and have your young skilled players make just enough plays on offense to keep opposing defenses honest. You can win a lot of games with such a strategy.
The defense by and large has lived up to the bargain. The offense not so much. With Aaron Jones and Christian Watson now finally healthy, perhaps the offense can turn the corner. Over these last four games, Jordan Love has played much like his last year at Utah St. Without much help and trying to do too much, he hasn’t played well. Still, he shows you glimpses of what he could be and that’s exciting. But he never quite puts it all together.
This is going to be a difficult evaluation to make. Hard working and humble, never throwing his coaches or teammates under the bus. Jordan Love is the kind of young QB you want to succeed. You want to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Much has been said about Rodgers first years as starter. Having veterans Chad Clifton, Donald Driver, Greg Jennings and Ryan Grant. But Rodgers defense was never this good. Love’s skilled players are just as good as what Rodgers had. They’ve just got to stay healthy. We shall see…
Having a defense ranked in the bottom 3rd of the league is holding up the defenses end of the bargain? The defense has eight first round draft picks on it. In my book that’s not holding up their end of the bargain. It should be top ten at the least with the investment spent on it. But if you think that’s holding up it’s end of the bargain than ok.
How many points did we give up Sunday Arch? This defense held NO to 17, Vegas 17, Denver 19, Chicago 13 before a garbage TD on the last drive of the game. If the offense could’ve just moved the ball, forget scoring points, just got a few first downs, thereby keeping the defense off the field. We probably don’t give up 25 to Atlanta and 24 to Minnesota.
If Aaron Rodgers had this defense as a first year starter he wins 10 games. But that’s the trade off. Jordan Love has the defense but not the experienced, healthy skilled players Rodgers had. Aaron Rodgers won 6 games that first year as starter. Jordan Love will likewise win 6 or 7 games. But by all means, live in your stats, fire everyone and start over.
You need to take into account the offenses they were playing against Tom. Some of the worst offenses playing in the NFL right now. What did the Lions who have one of the better offenses do to them? Enough said. With eight first round draft picks on the defense you should expect to be a top 10 defense at minimum. That’s a lot of draft capital for a bottom third defense. Is it that the coaching is bad, the players aren’t anywhere near as talented as their draft status would indicate or a combination of the two? Who cares if you only gave up 19 points to Denver. Make a few stops on 3rd and long or 3rd and short and maybe you win that game even if the offense stinks. I’ve never said fire every one and start over. But someone needs to be held accountable for the consistently under performing defense. So who should that be Tom?
Since the loss to the Lions. A span of 4 games. The Packers defense is giving up on average 15.7 points per game. So of course you want to fire Joe Barry. Oh, but the level of competition you say. Every team in the NFC North, besides playing each other, has to play the NFC South and the AFC West. We don’t make the schedule, we just have to show up and play the games. I’m not going to apologize for the perceived level of competition. None of these games are easy.
We go into Pittsburgh on Sunday. It’s not inconceivable for us to win that game provided we play like we did against the Rams. But you might say Arch, sure, we could win but there’s nothing special about Kenny Pickett. And you’d be right. Jordan Love is physically more talented than Pickett, but he still has to go on the road and get it done. It won’t be an easy task.
This is a very young team trying to get healthy and find its identity. What I saw Sunday was a team that hasn’t given up, still believes in each other, and with a lot of fight still in them. Just because you’ve given up and want to start over doesn’t mean they have.
Tom, you didn’t answer my simple question. Who or what is responsible for the Packers continual underperforming defense? You can talk all you want about average points given up (a statistic by the way which you always claim means nothing) but the eye test says there is something fundamentally wrong with this defense. So what is it? Bad coaching, bad scheme, poor play, players not as talented as draft position would have you believe? Should someone be held responsible or should everyone just accept it and say oh well, it is what it is? Come on Tom, fill us all in with your superlative football knowledge and help us understand what’s going on.
I did answer your question Arch, but let’s try this again. You’re ultimately judged on wins and losses and not individual stats. The number of points per game your defense gives up is in direct correlation to how many points your offensive has to score in order to win. Therefore if your defense is only giving up an averaging 16 points per game you only have to average a mere 17 to win. Conversely if your defense is giving up 24 a game, you’ve got to score 25. Much much harder.
This defense Arch, has kept us in every game. And as I’ve said before, if we had got just average QB play, we’d be at least 5-3 right now not 3-5. Now, it hasn’t been all Jordan Love’s fault. He’s has virtually no run game until the Ram game and he’s had a number of dropped balls as you would expect from his young WR’s. Nevertheless Love hasn’t played consistently and he has to take ownership of that and he has.
If the defense continues to average 15 to 18 points per game for the remainder of the season Joe Barry will not be fired no matter how much you disapprove of his “stats.”
Tom, you didn’t answer the question. I can use the same argument. If your offense scores 14 points than your defense only needs to hold the other team to 13 and you win by one point. See how that works. Sounds like you’re blaming Jordan Love for the defensive failures of this team. Forget about stats, forget about points allowed etc. The Packers current defense does not pass the “eye” test for a good defense. Read up on it. The average fan, football analysts and football journalist all comment on this. Maybe you might learn something. Based upon the teams the Packers have faced and are facing the rest of the season, if the defense doesn’t hold those teams to 18 points or less per game than that would be justification for moving on from some of the current defensive coaching staff whoever that may be.
Arch, my friend, you cannot consistently win in the NFL if your offense only scores 14 points a game. You cannot win in the NFL being consistently shut out the first half of games. Always playing from behind is a recipe to lose every week. If the Packers were losing 40-10, then I’d agree with you. But that’s not the case. Games scores of 17-13, 19-17, 18-17, giving up just a FG to the Rams. While offensive turnovers have contributed to scores in the 20’s. Defense is the absolute least of this teams worries.
It was Jaire Alexander who said after the Raider loss, “ I guess we can’t give up any TD’s if we want to win.” That’s totally unrealistic. The 85 Bears or the 00 Ravens defenses weren’t that good. I don’t know what “eye test” you’re using, but my eye test tells me with better QB play and we win those low scoring contested games. A decent QB can win a lot of games with this defense.
It’s absolutely Jordan Love’s fault. I’ve been saying for a month now he has to play better or his days are numbered. He finally had a run game on Sunday. Along with the play of the defense, it’s no coincidence then he had his best game of the season. If that continues going forward then we’ll be in every game for the remainder of the season. Not saying we win them all. Just that we’ll be competitive. The best way to evaluate Jordan Love is to have a run game and play defense. The defense is doing its job. Now if Aaron Jones can just stay healthy….
Tom, let’s see how the defense does against the Chargers, Lions and Chiefs the next few weeks. They hold those teams under 20 points and maybe they have something. We’ll see.
What I want to see Arch, is growth and development from Jordan Love. I want Love to tell me, don’t worry about QB, I got this covered.
When I look at the remaining 9 games, I see three losses, Chargers, Chiefs, Lions. I see three wins, Giants, Panthers, Bears. Then I see three games where we could steal a victory out of one of the three. The Steelers, Bucs, Vikings. That puts us at 7 wins. Out of the top ten in the draft and well out of the Drake Maye sweepstakes.
I don’t think you draft JJ McCarthy or someone like him at 12 overall. More than likely you draft a LT and convince yourself to give Jordan Love another year. Maybe draft a second tier QB in the second round with one of your two picks in that round. That’s what Ted did when he drafted Brian Brohm. Even if you decide to go with Jordan Love next year, you’ll need to hedge you bet. Not convinced Sean Clifford is a real option.
Had Stafford played the defense would have given up 28+ They went against garbage in Betherd. Pittsburgh O sucks, see if they can duplicate it?? Mahomes will hang over 30 on them, those are the games u need Defense most. Packers haven’t had a great D since Reggie White days!
And if Aaron Jones doesn’t miss 4 games with a hamstring injury, how many of those games do we win Carlos? The saw cuts both ways. Everyone has injuries.
The Packers were without starters David Bakhtiari, Kenny Clark, Quay Walker, Darnell Savage, and Rasul Douglas. Moreover, QB Mark Rypien beat Jordan Love twice in college. Going against a defense that Arch finds so statistically disgusting, he demands someone be held accountable. The Rams weren’t about to roll over just because Stafford was out of the lineup. They thought they could win. And for three quarters they were still in it.
If you all want to minimize the win, go ahead. However, if we can run the ball and play defense like we did against the Rams. Where we don’t have to put everything on our young QB to win the game. We’ll be competitive and win some games. You give Jordan Love a clean pocket and time to see the field, he can read defenses and throw the football. For Love it’s about consistency. Playing defense and running the ball will only help.