Sunday was not pretty for the Packers. On multiple fronts. The team once again came out flat in the first half. They let a lesser opponent stay in it, and were ultimately doomed by more special teams miscues. Stop me if that all sounds familiar.
Regardless of the how or why, what matters now is what comes next. Green Bay for the first time in three chances gets the Eagles at home. The same Eagles that darkened the beginning of last season and the same Eagles that ended the Packers season. With injuries piling up and consistency elusive, do the Packers have a chance at righting the ship on Monday night?
Here are three things Green Bay will need to do to finally tag Philly back in what has been a fairly one sided matchup recently.
The Packers Offense Needs to Evolve
The thing that stuck out most from Sundays disaster was how often the Panthers seemed ready for certain play calls. The one that sticks out the most is the pass to Wilson that got blown up for a loss of five yards and ended a shot at a touchdown. It seems like teams around the league have gotten wise to what MLF wants to do, and if the team wants to win on Monday that as to change.
The Green Bay Packers as currently constructed cannot run the ball well enough. It’s also probably something they can’t fix in season. The issue is and has been all season the offensive line. It isn’t getting the kind of push to run the sort of offense LaFleur wants to. But that doesn’t mean the season is over if he is willing to shift the offense to what it can do well. What is that? It’s letting Jordan Love attack down the field.
With Tucker Kraft done for the season, and the adjustments to the line not playing out how Green Bay would’ve liked, the Packers should lean into a quarterback playing as well as anyone right now. Its honestly what they should’ve done weeks ago.
If you want to find the smallest sliver of a silver lining to the Kraft injury, it’s that it may leave LaFleur with no choice but to pivot to this without Kraft being available as a run blocker.
Despite the success Philly found in the early rounds of the draft last year, it’s still a secondary that can be attacked through the air. If Green Bay want’s to get back on solid ground they have to be willing to change how they play.
The Packers Defense Needs to Get Off The Field
It would be easy to look at the final score Sunday and say the defense did it’s job. It held Bryce Young to just over 100 yards passing and the entire Panthers offense to just 265 total yards. On it’s face that’s a good day. Look a little deeper though and there are some concerning things, especially with a team like the Eagles on deck.
Last year saw the Packers run defense take a big step forward, but in recent weeks that simply hasn’t been the case. On Sunday Rico Dowdle had a stellar day averaging over 5 yards a carry and keeping the Panthers in plus situations all day.
You would expect the Eagles to try and do more of the same. Saquan Barkley wasn’t able to finish the Eagles previous game but by all accounts should be ready for Monday night. If the Packers play the way they did against the Panthers, it won’t matter what the offense does because they won’t see the field.
I expect the Packers to try and load the box and make Jalen Hurts beat them. He’s done it before. But if you can get after him with the blitz he doesn’t seem to have the same answers he did a year ago. The Philly passing game has had its own problems this season, and getting them into obvious passing situations is going to be huge for the Packers to come out with a win.
Special Teams Just Stop, Please.
Special teams have been an adventure the past several years, and this year has unfortunately been no exception. Coming into the season fans at least felt that the kicker position had finally been resolved, only for the same position to have arguably cost the Packers in every single one of their losses.
Blocked kicks in the Browns and Cowboys games turned wins in to ties and losses. Missed field goals put the Packers in a hole against the Steelers and ultimately cost the team the win against the Panthers.
At the moment LaFleur says Green Bay intends to stick with McManus. One of the biggest criticisms against this Packers coaching staff is that they have a level of stubbornness that can be detrimental to success. We talked about it with how the offense is being called and it seems to be applying to the kicker situation. If McManus misses even a single kick on Monday expect the calls for a replacement to get even louder.
Final Prediction
This is the first game all season that I come into feeling like the Packers are the underdog (the Packers are 2.5 pt favorites). While I think they can certainly win this game, the loss to Carolina and the stacking injuries have me concerned.
Everything the Panthers did to the Packers last week, Philly can do better. Green Bay is going to need a complete game to come out with a win and they haven’t shown that since week 2.
Here’s hoping for a reverse jynx.
Eagles 27 – Packers 20
