Well, Green Bay fans, that was a little more than disappointing, wasn’t it? The Packers end their trip to Jacksonville, Florida over the weekend with a loss and little to highlight as far as positives about the game. If that weren’t enough, this is the first time under the direction of Matt LaFleur that the Packer squad failed to score a touchdown in a game.
So, what exactly went wrong? The defense, like many predicted, fell flat, portraying a Green Bay defense reminiscent of past ones. On the bright side, this was only the first week of the season so there’s definitely room for improvement; however, there weren’t all that many signs of potential. Rookie corner Eric Stokes played only 8 snaps total. Fellow corner Kevin King played 56 defensive snaps and walked away with just one tackle. As bad as the defense looked, the offense might even have been worse as Aaron Rodgers uncharacteristically threw for two interceptions and only 133 yards.
A silver lining: this type of play execution on the first week rollout isn’t an unprecedented pattern put forth by Green Bay. For the past three seasons, under the direction of LaFleur, the Packers have seemed to debut with a manhandled offensive line, only to throw the script out the window and come with a different game plan the following week. After last year’s blowout loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Packers pulled out an impressive 35-20 win against the Houston Texans.
As nauseating as Week One felt, there’s hope for this week as Aaron Rodgers and the squad prepare to take on NFC North rival Detroit Lions. Perhaps the statistics demonstrate all we need to know: the Packers remain undefeated against the Lions the past two years, and LaFleur has yet to record two straight losses in the same season. Rodgers has a solid history of bouncing back strong after a loss, recording a total of 759 yard and 8 touchdown passes following the team’s last three blowout losses. The Packers will look to strengthen the presence of their run game, looking to better utilize running back Aaron Jones who only had five carries for nine yards in the game against New Orleans.
A win in Week Two would help Green Bay avoid a seriously upsetting start to the 2021-2022 season. Win or lose, this Packers team will surely be under a microscope all year long. They have much work to do to prove they will be a true contender for success in the upcoming weeks.
