One of very few benefits to the Packers’ season opening match in Seattle two Thursdays ago was the extra time allowed to identify and correct issues that went wrong against the defending champs. A 21-3 deficit midway through the first half of Green Bay’s Week 2 game versus the Jets suggested that the game film from Seattle never actually made it back to the Packers practice facilities.
In a sloppy and somewhat-undeserved victory over New York, the Packers continued to commit familiar mistakes, ranging from simple miscommunication to unsportsmanlike conduct penalties to confusion on defensive personnel groups. The first half of the game saw many missed tackles by Packers defenders on New York’s good-but-not-great running back trio.
The September sleep-walking is nothing new for the Mike McCarthy Packers but is frustrating nonetheless. Play calling on offense remains an area of scrutiny, though McCarthy continues to do a good job of sticking with what works. The home opener was a quiet one for halfback Eddie Lacy, who picked up 43 yards on just 13 carries and was never able to establish much of a rhythm, with Green Bay playing from behind for three quarters.
The pass-heavy attack and use of Randall Cobb out of the backfield was an opportunity to keep the recently-concussed Lacy healthy, though more balance will be required in the coming weeks. Balance was achieved, however, from a pass distribution perspective as Aaron Rodgers ignited some chemistry with rookie wide out Davante Adams and Cobb found the end zone twice.
The real story in the receiving game was, of course, Jordy Nelson’s 209 yards receiving, including an 80-yarder that swung the game’s momentum in total favor of the Packers. With Rodgers slightly rusty to begin the game, Nelson put the offense on his back – just as Mike Daniels did on defense.
Daniels’ stellar play on D did not make up for the many other gaps that New York capitalized on during the first half. Poor play from the interior D-line and inside linebacker positions allowed the Jets to have their way in the ground game, though not quite to the degree of Week 1. Still bizarre is Ted Thompson’s reluctance to bring back veteran nose tackle Ryan Pickett with B.J. Raji out for the entire season.
Other minor observations include two great deflections by Davon House and Sam Shields’s struggles in coverage versus Eric Decker. And for maybe the fourth straight week, I continue to wonder why DuJuan Harris is still returning kicks (one return to the 40 doesn’t make up for the ten that didn’t make it to the 20, plus the inevitable fumbles).
At the end of the day, a win is a win but the Packers must play better in the upcoming string of divisional games.
You must not have been watching tge same game. 146 yds rushing total between 5 rushers and 60 yds to decker (albeit only playing 3 quarters). I aggree they still have a long way to go but this is light years better and trending up. The interior line played very well.
Just before the half we trended up. This was a tale of two halves plus about five minutes. “Sloppy” is exactly the term the coaches are using about this win. Aaron Rodgers is VERY dangerous outside the pocket and on the run but he was running for his life on six carries…that’s too many. And didn’t ANYONE else see Rodgers get buried in exactly the same way he was last year when he broke his collar bone? Gave up four sacks. We got better but you are absolutely right Mike that this team has to play four quarters to beat the Lions and the Bears put up 21 in a quarter last night. The unsung hero in this game was Mason Crosby, without him we lose this game. He was the only offense in the first half until there were less than five minutes left.
Yea idk what you saw because in the late 2nd quarter the defense showed up and only allowed 3 more points the whole game. Multiple sacks, one but almost 2/3 more interceptions. Do better at game analysis. And they earned that win… wth is this undeserved crap maybe last week but this one…. smh
If the just before the second half play was this defense coming together…then yeah, this is gonna be a team that can beat anyone. They need to show consistency.
I think this was the best analysis of the game that I’ve read, and I’ve read quite a few. We weren’t sharp on offense or defense until mid-way through the 2nd quarter. Our vanilla play calling frustrates me to no end. Luckily Rodgers audibled out of many plays, or we would not have won. That’s the only advantage I see so far to this up tempo offense – Rodgers can change the bad play calls at the line. We won’t win many games with play like that on either side of the ball.
I do think we deserved the win. The Jets basically did the same thing last week, stealing a game at the end from the Raiders after being dominated for most of the game. What comes around…
Had Decker not been injured, this game could have easily gone the other way. Hope it’s not serious, but glad we were able to take advantage of it.