These articles keep getting tougher and tougher to write – not because there isn’t anything to talk about, but because it’s the same things each and every week for the Green Bay Packers. The same miscues, the same self-caused mistakes – that’s not to say they are easily fixable, but there should be signs of improvement.
Sunday’s matchup against the Denver Broncos was one of the few that Green Bay actually stood a chance in, and they couldn’t even score until the second half. As bad of a team as the Broncos are, at least they were able to put up a few field goals before halftime.
Matt LaFleur continues to show that he doesn’t want to make any strides towards improving this team, and so, they will remain near the bottom of the league. This year was marked as a rebuilding year once Jordan Love was handed the reigns, but
Offense
It was a welcomed addition having Aaron Jones back, and while he was never going to be earning a bellcow amount of touches in his first game back, he still should have seen more work. 11 touches (compared to AJ Dillon’s 17) is not enough, but he at least was worked into the offense in a few different ways.
For Love, he had a respectable showing, even after a dreadful first half. Going 21/31 for 180 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT is probably what should be expected from Love at the bare minimum, and while his stat line doesn’t feel like it, he did have an okay game.
Sunday’s loss marks the second consecutive game that a loss was caused by a Love interception – this outcome happened both against the Raiders and more recently against the Broncos.
It’s one thing to try and force the ball downfield because of the clock and score, but the third down that Love through the fateful interception had other options to go to instead. It was four-down territory, and Love had an out-breaking route towards the sideline that would have gotten about half of the 20 yards needed.
Making that fourth-down play more manageable would have been the better route to take, but these growing pains are to be expected with a first-time starter. But there is at least one good takeaway from his performance – the second TD throw to Jayden Reed showcased a very unique arm angle, a really sound adjustment on the fly from Love.
Injuries struck the offense, as both Luke Musgrave (ankle) and Christian Watson were knocked out of Sunday’s game at different points, and both were unable to return.
Defense
Without Jaire Alexander, the defense lost three more key players during the game – Darnell Savage, Devonte Wyatt, and Eric Stokes all were knocked out of the game due to injury and did not return.
The defense didn’t play all that bad – the unit held Russell Wilson under 200 passing yards and only allowed Denver to find the end zone once all game.
Rookie cornerback Carrington Valentine was targeted early and often by Wilson, especially when Courtland Sutton was matched up with the rookie. Joe Barry, again, showed no willingness to change up his coverage responsibilities, often leaving Valentine to fend for himself against the veteran Sutton.
The pass rush was only able to get home once, as Preston Smith brought Wilson down for the lone sack by either team. While there were plenty of collapsing pockets that Wilson had to deal with, his jersey looked quite orange and not green at the end of the game.
Not much can be said about this unit for Green Bay- they did alright as a whole, allowed a few scoring drives, but overall mostly did their job. Except when the offense is as inept as Green Bay’s is, then they have to be as close to perfect as possible.
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Mike Johrendt has been an avid fan of the Packers ever since he can remember. He is now a writer at PackersTalk and you can follow him on Twitter at @MJohrendt23
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