Thursday, November 28, 2013

Be Thankful If You Didn't Watch The Packers Lose 40-10

And the game wasn't even as close as the score indicated. The Lions repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with four turnovers, a missed chip-shot field goal, and two kickoffs out of bounds. The Packers responded with 126 yards of total offense on 42 plays.
I wasn't expecting much from the defense and they got ran over for 241 yards on the ground. QB Matthew Stafford had one of the quietest 330 yard games I can remember; it didn't matter that he piled up the yards because the defense wasn't going to do to stop them one way or another. It was like they were playing without any linebackers; once the Lions got past the line of scrimmage they always had room to run. Also NT Ryan Pickett looks done and I'm not sure CB Davon House could have been less impressive. But they did force four turnovers and scored the Packers' only touchdown of the game, so at least they were better than the offense.

It was an epic offensive performance of staggering incompetence in every way. Having said that, this was a Top 5 offense with QB Aaron Rodgers and it will return to that level of play shortly after his return. This was only one game. But it will probably be the last time you ever seen OL Marshall Newhouse, who was benched after he gave a little wave to DT Ndamukong Suh while he was on his way to sack QB Matt Flynn for a safety.

As for Flynn: he showed every Packer fan why the Raiders cut him. He doesn't adjust when the rest of the offense is struggling. FOX had a shot of QB Aaron Rodgers throwing the playbook to the ground, and it looked like he threw it pre-snap, as if Flynn failed to adjust to the defense. I'm not sure he ever called an audible, which might have been due to the fact that he's only been back with the team for a couple weeks. He also seemed to focus on one receiver and never looked for his second option, most notably on a pass he threw into tight coverage on WR Jordy Nelson while TE Andrew Quarless was running wide open a few feet to his right. Maybe he just wanted QB Scott Tolzien to have another chance. And he had this bad game against a secondary that's been awful this season. Adjusting for opponent, this might have been the worst game for any quarterback this season.

I wasn't expecting them to win this game so it doesn't really matter how badly they lost it. It's just one loss in the loss column. With the defense in shambles, it didn't look like they would have made much of a run this season even if Rodgers had stayed healthy. I'm just looking forward to Rodgers's return, and their next win, before thinking about an unlikely playoff run or what they can do to fix the team next season.

2 comments:

PackFaninFl said...

I'm not even angry at the defense. I remember this same defense containing Detroit earlier and doing half way decent job (for 3 1/2 quarters) against the Vikings earlier in the year.

But when your offense is continuously 3 and out, and after the defense played SO MUCH on the field last week against the Vikings, I'm not surprised they got "run over" as you put it.

It's very simple, the defense more or less worked and we were all predicting anywhere from an 11-5 to 14-2 finish because the combination of Rodgers and Lacy and their long drives was enough to give the defense a break.

I don't want to hear about the defense and Capers. If your offense can't carry it's water, and after such a short week, forget it.

All on the offensive ineptitude.

But I'm hesitant to throw it all on Flynn. Yeah he missed some guys. But our offensive line was utterly destroyed. We really miss Bulaga and a healthy Sherrod or something. Marshall Newhouse is an utter monstrosity.

Brandon said...

The offense was a complete failure but you've got to throw some blame towards the defense. They allowed 150 yards in the first quarter (almost 600 for the game) and the Lions didn't punt until mid-third quarter. Bad offense can wear out a good defense, but they were playing bad D from the start. The turnovers were kept them close early, but the defense didn't show any ability to stop the Lions.