The Packers’ 38-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs proved something to me. We all know that Aaron Rodgers is the best in the business. We all know that the Packers’ receiver corps…even banged up…is still better than many in this game. But if you were like me, you wanted to see how the defense would perform, particularly against another great running back in Jamaal Charles. The Packers had allowed Matt Forte to run up 141 yards and a long of 23, then against the Seahawks, they turned it around, holding Marshawn Lynch to just 41 yards. So I was taking a “wait and see” approach.
While the Packers allowed Jamaal Charles into the endzone 3 times, two of those scores came in the fourth quarter. I’m not sure I would call it “garbage time” but the Packers held Charles to 49 yards on 11 carries. This is what I wanted to see and did not expect. I thought that if the Packers could hold Charles under 100 yards, that they would win the game but the defense did one better than that. We polled Packernation the week before the game and the rest of Packernation tended to agree with 78% of respondents saying that Charles would get in the 50-100 yard range. Only 13% thought the Packers would hold him to 50 or less yards. Well, the believers prevailed and the Packers defense delivered in that category.
At the same time, one has to wonder if the Chiefs would have fared better if they had run Charles more. After all, he got in the endzone 3 times. I think the fast start that the Packers got off to forced the Chiefs to throw the ball (Charles was also the third leading receiver with 5 catches for 33 yards and a long of 13) and only allowed them to close out drives with Jamaal Charles, which worked to the tune of 28 points but was not enough against the Aaron Rodgers led offense. And though the strength of the Kansas City team is its defense, remember this is a team who scored 27 points against the Texans and 24 against the Broncos in a game that they should have won.
So the Packers’ defense continues to improve in the number of yards it gives up against very good NFL running backs. The points against could be better but if this defense can hold high scoring offenses to the low twenties, the Packers’ offense will often score enough to win the game. If the defense can stay healthy, it can improve on those numbers, like it did last year. And if the defense improves…watch out NFL.
Go Pack!
With all the bobbled drops by Maclin, it’s hard to imagine Charles not having a bigger impact with more carries. 11 carries for Charles is very low, and the main reason he didn’t get more yards. He still had a 4.4 yard average, which isn’t bad at all.
And I think the bulk of KC’s late 3rd and entire 4th quarter yards and scores were a result of Capers going to dime and prevent which gave up big chunks of yardage in bunches. Even a mediocre dink and dunk QB like Smith exploits us when there is no pass rush. Matthews hasn’t been very effective on the outside since ’13. I’d like to see Elliott get more playing time to help take some pressure off Matthews on the other side, Peppers seems to have lost a step now.
And Raji is a huge improvement over Guion in the middle, which helps Datone, Daniels, and Neal make plays. Raji is constantly drawing double teams, where Guion never did. I think Raji is by far the biggest improvement on our D this year, and he’s gotten my game ball for the last 2 weeks. Go Pack go!