Ty Montgomery
When Montgomery touched the ball he made the most of the opportunity. Montgomery picked up 53 yards on 7 carries on the ground (good enough for 7.6 yards per carry) and added 3 receptions on 4 targets for 38 yards. He continues to add a wrinkle to an otherwise stale offense.
Haha Clinton-Dix
Clinton-Dix looked electric against the Colts, picking off Andrew Luck twice and coming up with a big sack on third down in the second half. In a game where the Packers were totally beat in every possible way, however, even the Packers’ best were not without fault. Clinton-Dix was part of a secondary that looked pretty darn flat against Andrew Luck and company. Clinton-Dix also let Luck slip through his finger tips on a nice blitz late in the fourth quarter. Had he been able to wrap up and make the sack Rodgers and the offense would have been given one last shot to come in and win the game.
Jake Ryan
After a poor showing against Atlanta, Ryan was flying all over the field making tackles. Ryan finished with a whopping 12 solo tackles, 7 more than Blake Martinez, who finished second on the day in the category. Several of those plays were made in the open field where Ryan broke down and made the stop well. Ryan also played well in coverage, helping to defend against a touchdown pass in the first half.
Where do we even start? This team is like an amalgamation of every terrible habit that has ever plagued the Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson era Packers over the years. Aaron Rodgers and wide receivers not on the same page? Check. Wide receivers not getting open? Check. Rodgers missing guys when they are open? Check. Terrible third down defense? Check. Slocum-level special teams production? Injuries? Lack of energy? Check, check, and check.
The Packers have now dropped to .500 and third place in the NFC North. Let me ask you, if the Packers look this lost against a very poor Indianapolis Colts team at home, how will they fair with their remaining schedule? They still face away games at the 4-3-1 Washington Redskins, the 4-4 Philadelphia Eagles, and the 5-4 Detroit Lions. This is not to mention playing the 5-3 Houston Texans, 4-2-1 Seattle Seahawks, and 5-3 Minnesota Vikings at home. How many of those games should the Packers realistically be expected to win?
I think at this point that we are looking at an 8-8 team that misses the playoffs. Packer fans have been spoiled recently. We fully expect to make the playoffs year in and year out. In 2016, however, it looks like the 7 year streak of doing so will finally come to an end.
What is so frustrating with this team, however, is that the streak will not be broken due to a lack of talent. The Packers flash their usual greatness on offense for several drives most weeks. The defense, when healthy, actually looks to be the best that the Packers have fielded in several years. But none of this is ever put together into complete games. The energy is low. There is no consistency. Play-calling is baffling.
At the end of the day, McCarthy is ultimately responsible for routinely underachieving with a good team. It doesn’t take an expert to see that McCarthy’s offensive game plan has turned stale or that he doesn’t have this team prepared to come out and fight on Sundays. After the loss to the Colts, Aaron Rodgers admitted that the team came out with a total lack of energy. In his own press conference, McCarthy stated that the Packers had their “best week of preparation”. How that lead to this debacle, I don’t know, and it seems that McCarthy doesn’t either. To put it simply, I think he’s lost.
Clearly McCarthy isn’t currently taking this team in the right direction. He now has 8 more games to try and show that he can turn around the skid that started a year ago when the Packers traveled into Denver. If he can’t make a serious turnaround, then the front office at 1265 Lombardi needs to take a long and hard look at the future of this team. What’s clear right now, however, is that the Packers are at the rock bottom of the McCarthy/Thompson era.
——————Taylor O\'Neill is a Packer fan born and raised in Oshkosh, WI. He currently lives in Florida and is pursuing his PhD. Taylor is a writer with PackersTalk.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @TaylorONeill87 for more Packer news.
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2 responses to “The Best and the Wurst: Colts at Packers”
Just so happened I went to my orthopedic surgeon today. He said Jordy won’t be 100% recovered from the surgery he just had until next year. So I think he’s doing pretty well this year and look forward to seeing him in the pro bowl next year. I also would like to see some coaching changes for next year. It’s amazing what Jim Bob Cooter has done with Stafford and Detroit’s offense. Maybe Norv Turner would be able to help the Packers offense.
It’s more than just McCarthy’s inability to get some momentum on offense–they can’t keep drives going without some kind of run game and this O-line just doesn’t run block well, especially on the right side behind Lang and Bulaga. Mistake to let Sitton walk–some of best runs were behind him and Bakhtiari–though Sitton IS the better blocker. McCarthy runs schemes the fans can see coming–WHY would he think he fools defense? SPREAD the WR’s out more, where are the slants, screens, TE bubbles? On defense–ANY good high school/college team could take advantage of middle of Pack’s middle of field pass defense–holes so big GRANDMA could make catches back there. TOO much open area, TOO little defense. DEFENSE showed up in early games vs. run game–but they’re exposed by not being that good against better O-lines/RB’s as happened against Dallas. Dom Capers has been given more than 50+ new defensive players over past five years–as the opponent gets better, Capers defenses get worse–we’re seeing it down the schedule as season gets later. McCarthy had NO emotion, NO consistency on either side of the ball Sunday–and that was against a WEAK team, how’s he gonna inspire this team to play at playoff level just to qualify?