Raves
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6-0 enough said~
This was another game where the offense did just enough to pull out a win. Aaron Rodgers completed 16 of 29 passes for 255 yards, two touchdowns, which may not be what we all expect from the MVP QB but making key passes at the right time was the difference this game. One of those passes was a 43 yard bomb to Jeff Janis giving him his first catch this year and then a pitch and run of 33 yards in the fourth quarter which was enough to get praise from Rodgers in the post game interview. Another first catch went to Justin Perillo who made a diving catch to sustain a drive. James Jones had a quiet game but caught a back shoulder toss for a TD at the end of the third quarter to give the pack the lead 24-17 and it would be the last one scored by either team, the Chargers came back the next drive to kick a FG to make it 24-20 but the Pack came right back to score a FG of their own to make it 27-20 and it would be enough for the win. The hero of this game in my opinion is James Starks who had 112 yards and 2 TD’s his 65 yard one was the longest of his career. With James running hot this game Lacy didn’t see a lot of action and when asked after the game he basically said the same thing – when a runner gets hot you try to keep him rolling and Starks was doing just that. Eddie also stated his ankle is fine which is a good thing now that he and the other banged up players have two weeks to get back to 100 percent.
Without BJ Raji, Nick Perry and Morgan Burnett the defense looked flat this game, but like the offense they made key plays when it counted and the biggest coming at the end when the rookie Damarious Randall made a outstanding play on 4th and goal by knocking down a pass to secure the win. I also have to give props to the run defense which held budding star rookie Melvin Gordon to 29 yards on 7 carries and forcing a fumble before he left the game.
Rants
It’s hard to rant about a win but I have to write a few words about the pass defense this game, ” It was Awful “ Rivers passed for 503 yards with most of them coming on short crossing routes to Keenan Allen and when the defense tried to cover those Rivers hit them with deep plays, it wasn’t until he left the game with a hip injury and Capers put Matthews back outside to put pressure on Rivers that the secondary seemed to cover better. Bottom line – they will need to look at the film hard and get a better game plan in place because you know Denver has seen what Rivers did and Manning will be trying to do the same thing in two weeks.
The Packer will need to look deep at who will replace Ty Montgomery if he is going to miss any games for period of time. Hopefully, Adams will be ready after the bye but it still leaves a vacancy for a 4th wide out. Janis showed flashes but he is still raw with his routes, maybe Abbrederis is waiting in the wing to be used more, all we can hope for is at least one of these guys steps up their game for the second phase of the year.
Well like I said I don’t want to rant about a win to much the Packers are undefeated going into the bye so let us know your thoughts on the Facebook Fanpage or in the comments section below.
Thanks, Jeff
#GoPackGo
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#1 GET HEALTHY EVERYONE! Going to need it! I think one of my favorite moments wasn’t a play, but hearing Rivers screaming “MONSTER 52…. MONSTER 52” And the announcers had fun with that one too. Your reputation precedes you Clay! Unfortunately I had to watch the majority of the game on my computer. Felt like one of the VERY few in the nation that had to do that. But, that’s ok, I find a way to watch EVERY game from here in W.Va. GO PACK GO!!!
I agree about Starks playing well. He had 2 big plays, both of which he was hit in the backfield, broke tackles, and ran away from where the play was designed to go. Lacy doesn’t make those plays. I’m glad we didn’t try to force more run plays, as it obviously wasn’t working.
We shouldn’t read more into this than was there. SD used a perfect game plan on both sides of the ball. They still couldn’t put enough points on the board, and that’s due to our D playing well in the red zone and preventing big plays, and our offense doing barely enough.
Rivers (who’s one of the best in the game when he’s hot), was on fire. He threw extremely accurate passes all game long against perfect coverage. Not many NFL QBs throughout history have been able to maintain that kind of accuracy for an entire game. He identified pre-snap, and took advantage of their mismatches consistently. He earned his 500+ passing yards. And every time he was slightly off target or hesitated, our D made plays on the ball and/or receivers. He minimized our pass rush and protected his extremely banged up O-line with quick timing routes. But we still left at least 2 turnovers on the field (by Shields) – great CBs don’t leave those plays on the field.
On D their pass rushers stayed in their lanes, which prevented Rodgers from leaving the pocket. They exposed our O-line, which Rodgers makes look better than they really are at pass protection. We have 2 great OGs, the rest of the O-line is mediocre.
Rodgers could learn a thing or 2 from Rivers. Trust the receivers that coaches put on the field to make plays, and get the ball to the best match up. Too often Rodgers ignores receivers who have a step on their defender in timing routes, which leads to a sack or throwing the ball away when he can’t extend plays with his feet. We had receivers running with a step or more of separation on almost every play, and he ignored them. Separation is not the problem, trust in his receivers and his accuracy is the problem.
For me the best news is that once again, these are the types of games we’ve always lost in the past as our D has worn down with lopsided times of possession and our offense plays down to opponents. But the D played well for this entire game, and the offense found another gear when the game was tied. This is how championship teams win, and I’m more confident about our post season success with every one of these “ugly” wins. Go Pack go!