The Green Bay Packers season is currently hanging in the balance and their MVP has been ruled out. The Packers defense played OK, but fill in QB Scott Tolzien turned the ball over too many times and bogged down in the red zone. The Packers rush offense made it clear that they aren’t quite to the level of being able to run the ball with success against a loaded box. That’s understandable. The improvement in the running game was to be acceptable against the 6 and 7 man boxes defenses play against Aaron Rodgers and the passing attack.
Tolzien was able to put up a lot of yards but his 3 INTs and inability to get the offense in to the end zone allowed the Giants to play from ahead for the entire game, and in turn the Giants were able to play mistake free football, which is something they had found it almost impossible to do previously. The losses of Casey Hayward and Nick Perry were certainly felt, but the defense has not been able to create turnovers at any point this season.
3 up:
1. Tramon Williams- Tramon quietly had a good game against the Giants. He was solid with 8 solo tackles, a TFL and a pass defensed. For as much as I think Tramon is going to be released at the end of the season and as much as people are giving him a hard time, he’s playing pretty good for never having been a slot receiver before.
2. Jordy Nelson- Nelson truly is an elite WR in this league. It is certainly true that Aaron Rodgers makes everyone on this offense better, but it’s clear that Nelson is capable of carrying a passing offense, even with shoddy play at QB. He’s on one of the most team friendly deals in the entire NFL and that will change soon.
3. Jarrett Boykin- Boykin continues to show that he can be an effective player in this league even without Aaron Rodgers. It’s nice to know that the Packers are clearly equipped to go 4 wide when everybody (Jones, Nelson, Cobb, Boykin) is healthy.
3 down:
1. Scott Tolzien- the 339 yards are fine and all, but the fact is that the Giants were playing a bazillion guys in the box and those throws were easy. The difference/problem with this performance is the 0 TD and 3 INT. It’s almost impossible to win a ballgame like that. It’s definitely impossible to win a ballgame like that with a defense that’s struggling as much as the Packers.
2. Running game- I’m going to put this one on the line more than anything. Eddie Lacy has proven that he is an effective ballcarrier. I believe in Eddie Lacy and his talent. I do not, however, believe that the Packers, especially with Marshall Newhouse in the game, are able to run the ball with 8 in the box.
3. Defense- I get that they only gave up 20 points. That’s usually enough to win in this league. That’s definitely usually enough to win if you are the Packers. The problem is that at this point in the season, without their leader, the Packers have needed the defense to go out and win them a game and they’re just not able to do it.
Bottom Line: the Packers can not get to 7 losses before Rodgers comes back. If they can’t get up off the mat and get a win over a terrible, terrible Vikings team at home they probably don’t deserve to go to the playoffs this season, Rodgers or not.
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Ross Uglem is a writer at PackersTalk.com.
You can follow Ross on twitter at RossUglem
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