Friday, August 30, 2013

Vince Young Sinks As The Packers Lose In Kansas City

With the exception of 2010 and 2011, when it was clear that QB Matt Flynn would do a good job when needed, there's been a concern that the Green Bay Packers offense would stink without QB Aaron Rodgers. But I can't think of a time when it's been this bad, and Bob McGinn confirms that it hasn't been this bad in a long while.
As Werder says, it is "depending on who becomes available." I don't think they'll make another change for the sake of making a change, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them kick the tires on a couple QBs. It really was that bad for Young.

His fumbles are the big problem. If he can throw the ball a little and give the running game some teeth with the occasional scramble, then the Packers could play a field position game and let their defense shoulder more of the burden. That's not a successful formula, but it can give them the chance to win some close games. However, they can't win the field position battle when they're turning the ball over. A team with no offense and a lot of turnovers will lose games by a score of 30-8.

The other stat that stood out was their awful 3rd down efficiency: 2 for 15. However, most of those happened on third and long, so it wasn't a matter of them struggled on third down, but that their offense was so bad that they kept finding themselves in third and long. It's a sign of a bigger problem and not a problem in itself.

I still don't think they missed the boat with QB Graham Harrell. He was committing turnovers and unable to throw the ball downfield just as badly as Young. GM Ted Thompson is fantastic at assembling a roster through the draft and with rookie free agents, but he should have done more this offseason than sign undrafted free agent QB Matt Brown (since released). Here's to hoping someone good appears on the waiver wire in the next few days.

2 comments:

Jack Niemuth said...

What a waste of a ticket. I don't care about preseason losses, but this was awful. Every single play was a run up the middle. This team will never learn that their running game is terrible. And so is their defense. Last night, the Chiefs scored at will.

Brandon said...

I was wondering if you were at the game.

It was more that they scored at will on CB Brandon Smith. Every Chiefs receiver with a touchdown reception had it while Smith "covered" them. It didn't help that the offense couldn't keep it competitive, and it's not surprising to see so many of the offensive players who struggled were among the first players released.