An Underachieving Defense and an Unsung Hero

real12thmanIn a prime-time game loaded with playoff implications, the Packers let it get closer than it should have. Aaron Rodgers put on a clinic, but the defense gave up way too many points in the second half. 

Offense:

San Francisco 49ers v Green Bay PackersWhat can I say…Aaron Rodgers is quickly cementing himself as a Lambeau Legend and one of the best at the craft of quarterback. Aaron distributed the ball and particularly to Eddie Lacy out of the backfield. Randall Cobb had a very important third and long catch for conversion before Jordy Nelson’s 60 yard TD. The offense sputtered at times in the second half and seemed to take their foot off the gas a little but the Jordy TD was a big spark.

The unsung hero of the offense was James Starks, not just for strong running during the game but especially for the run to the two yard line with 1:37 to go in the game. Starks took the outside and managed to stay in bounds a hair’s breadth from the sideline, forcing Atlanta to call timeout.

Defense:

Wow…just wow! Why did Packernation have to watch Julio Jones run up 250 yards, never being adjusted to. We didn’t roll a safety over the top, we didn’t make sure he had under and over…we just did nothing. Thanks to a “meeting of the Joneses” where Julio Jones met Datone and Brad Jones, Julio was not able to come back in the game. NOT a good showing by our defensive backfield and it started with the fact that their was very little pressure up front.

The Packers defense is going to have to make some corrections if they are going to be good enough going down the stretch. Can’t give up that many points.

A win is a win

All in all though, a win is a win. This Atlanta team is a team with offensive weapons as we have said here. The Packers come away with a very important win at Lambeau and continue their stay atop the NFC North. It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it.

 

 

 

An Underachieving Defense and an Unsung Hero

One thought on “An Underachieving Defense and an Unsung Hero

  • December 9, 2014 at 11:30 am
    Permalink

    I agree that the failure to put a S over the top or give some help on Julio Jones was mind boggling. And that’s why I say Capers has to go, and my opinion doesn’t change if we win the SB this year. Way too much talent on our D to let 1 player walk all over us, and he doesn’t seem capable of making positive adjustments when his schemes aren’t working. But even after Jones left the game, the Falcons didn’t seem to miss a beat on offense. White and company just took over.

    As I’ve said before, we never know if we’ll get Jekyll or Hyde from our D. Today we got both, the tale of 2 halves. Shields was more of a liability than a boost to our D, late to react to the play starting and beaten badly even when he was ready for the snap. When Brad Jones and Hawk came on the field, we looked pedestrian on D and the Falcons capitalized upon their presence. And it wasn’t just the D – the home town crowd was loud in the first half, and disappeared in the 2nd half. Ryan enjoyed complete silence in the 2nd half to call and change plays at the line. Our offense put up 20 1st downs in the first half, and 2 in the 2nd half (before adding 2 more on the final drive). Rodgers spread the ball around to Lacy, Starks, Adams, and Quarless early on, then they all disappeared from the passing game. Rodgers had 270 yards in the first half, and ended with 320 (take that one play by Nelson out and he had nothing in the 2nd half). Is that Rodgers having tunnel vision, or “everyone” failing to get open? Either way, that’s where our offense seems to stop working completely.

    It’s games like this that lead me to believe we’re still a one and done playoff team. When an offense does to our D what we do to every D with the hurry up, our guys look like they’re spent at the beginning of the 4th quarter. If this game goes to OT, our D can’t finish the game. Our strength and conditioning is a joke. I’d have the entire team running wind sprints and 3 miles at the start and end of every day to build some stamina.

    While ST did a good job of limiting Hester’s impact, they got an extra point blocked and failed to line up correctly for our 1st punt. For a while late, it looked as though that extra point could be the difference in the game.

    Overall we played only 1 half of football, and a few minutes on offense at the end. Home field advantage was lost in the 2nd half. Our offense made the worst overall D in the NFL look pretty good, and our D made a decent Falcons offense look great. Honestly, the Falcons remind me more of the 2010 Packers than the Packers do. They’ve overcome heaps of injuries and are peaking at the right time.

    My game ball goes to House. He made some mistakes, but he was the only player to slow Jones down at all with a couple of key plays. I’d give a shout out to Nelson, Lacy, and Rodgers’ legs for making critical plays on offense (who’d have guessed we’d need to score more than 37 points at home to beat the Falcons?!).

    I know this much; next game is at Buffalo where we’ve never won a game, against a vastly better overall team than the Falcons. Lots to fix if we’re to have a chance at a W in Buffalo. This game could be similar to the Dolphins game – and who wants another nail biter at the end? This time we may not recover Rodgers’ fumble. Go Pack go!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *