Monday, November 21, 2016

Packers (4-6) Keep Losing, Fourth Straight Loss, This Time Its the Redskins 42-24

In their first two losses of the season to the Vikings and Cowboys, turnovers by the offense doomed them. Then in their loss to the Colts, it was basically everything (offense, defense, special teams) coming out flat. And in three of their last four losses (Falcons, Titans, and now Redskins), the offense kept them in the game (their special teams have done nothing positive this season) but their pass defense has just collapsed.

The pass rush is part of the problem, though they usually get at least one big play per week from Julius Peppers, Nick Perry and Mike Daniels. But it's the secondary that has fallen apart. At the end of this loss to the Redskins, the only healthy cornerback on the field was LaDarius Gunter, and even he gave up a long touchdown reception. CB Quinten Rollins played in the past couple games, but he's still listed each week on the injury report and it's obvious he's playing through his groin injury. 
There's not much to hope for until DC Dom Capers finds some solution on defense. They aren't going to be great but they shouldn't be giving up 40+ points per game either. At least the offense has been playing well, despite the lack of any running game. The return of TE Jared Cook and the injury to RG Don Barclay (with rookie Jason Spriggs as his replacement) made the offense better this week.

They'll have an extra day next week (in Philadelphia on Monday night) to get ready, and QB Carson Wentz is the worst QB they've seen in a while. The Packers's secondary is obviously shaky and they've drawn the bad luck of facing five Top 10 pass offenses according to Football Outsiders (Falcons #2, Cowboys #3, Titans #6, Redskins #8, Lions #10) and having lost to four of them. They faced three of those teams during their four game losing streak. They still have the Seahawks (#9) and the Lions (#10) waiting to torch their secondary, but if there is a silver lining, most of their other remaining opponents are having trouble passing the ball (Eagles #23, Texans #32, Bears #21, Vikings #15). The NFC North title and the playoffs look out of reach for the first time since 2008, but I'd like to see them win again and get back to .500 for the season.

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