Tuesday, November 05, 2013

Offensive Review: Packers Lose To Bears, 27-20

This game didn't hurt as bad a loss as either of their last two playoff losses, but otherwise it was their worst regular season loss in the last four years. Losing to the Bears was bad enough but it was the way they lost it.
I'm a little surprised it's a collarbone injury. When CB Charles Woodson broke his collarbone, he stood on the sidelines with a sling and his shoulder was sore to the touch. Rodgers didn't look in that much pain on the sidelines and he wasn't wearing a sling. So now we know and it's time to look at what's going to happen over the next couple weeks.

QB Seneca Wallace. I've watched him a decent amount over the years so I think what we saw on Monday night is pretty much what he is. He's not very accurate (career completion percentage under 60 percent) and he can't throw it deep. In that regard, he's exactly the worst fit at quarterback for their current team. They need a deep threat to keep the safety out of the box against RB Eddie Lacy and Wallace doesn't provide that sort of threat. As an added negative, Wallace seemed to have zero pocket awareness. The Bears didn't provide that much of a pass rush, but he kept running into the oncoming defenders and he didn't step up to avoid the rush. He'll get a little better after a week of reps with the first team offense, but not by much.

QB Scott Tolzien and QB Matt Flynn. They just gave Tolzien a raise, so they obviously like him. However, he's not much of a deep passer either. There are no NFL highlights to watch, but here's Tolzien against Ohio State in 2010. The video doesn't have every pass attempt, but I only saw one pass attempt of greater than 20 yards. He's probably the same type of player as Wallace with the hope that he's actually better, but I doubt he'll be named the starter.

Signing Flynn seems like an obvious move; he was great in 2010-2011 and he knows the offense. But that might as well have been a life time ago. Since then he's been battling injuries and now he's been released by two NFL teams (Buffalo and Oakland) this season after getting beaten out by undrafted rookies. The Packers could sign Flynn to provide them with three weeks of depth. Still, the current competition at quarterback is so weak that I wouldn't rule anything out.

The saving grace is that the next three games, assuming Rodgers is out for only three games, are all winnable without him. If QB Nick Foles brings his record setting day from Oakland to Green Bay, they'd have a tough game anyway, but the Eagles have been all over the place (they have the highest variance from week-to-week of any NFL team on offense) so it's just as likely they'll tank next week. Then they have two games against two of the worst teams in the NFL (at Giants, home for Vikings). There's so little margin for error now that they could lose all three of those games, but it's definitely the easy part of their schedule.

2 comments:

PackFaninFl said...

I wouldn't touch Matt Flynn. I actually tuned in for some Oakland games and I am absolutely convinced he's playing with an injured arm or something. Perhaps even has a dead arm. Flynn can't even throw the ball 20 yards without it fluttering real bad, it seems.

I'd stick with Seneca Wallace. Let's see what he does with a full week of reps with the number 1 team. Let's how Mike tweaks the offense and take it from there. I'm willing to stick with SW for this week.

Jack Niemuth said...

So much for me guaranteeing a win