A month ago, the Green Bay Packers lost to the Philadelphia Eagles to fall to 4-8 on the season.Aaron Rodgersleft the game with a rib injury, and in steppedJordan Love, who played splendidly in a small sample size. Chatter started as to whether or not Love should start the remainder of the season, given Green Bay’s record and the apparent unknowns of what they have in Love.
Since then, the Packers have ripped off three-straight wins, and the dominoes they’ve needed to fall around them have collapsed in almost-perfect sequence. Despite the recent win streak and the potential momentum, it still feels like an incomplete product in Green Bay.
In head coach Matt LaFleur’s first three seasons, protecting the rock has been a staple of the Packers’ success. It can be dated back to the Rodgers era taking off in 2008, with Green Bay’s quarterback boasting the best touchdown-to-interception ratio in NFL history at 4.55.
It hasn’t been the case this year or during the hot streak.
Rodgers has 11 interceptions this year, including one in each of the last two wins. His 11 interceptions this year are his most since 2010, when he also had 11.
Against the Miami Dolphins on Christmas, Rodgers tossed a pick on a deep shot — perhaps more accurately described as a prayer — that Dolphins cornerbackKader Kohoupicked off. It didn’t come at a meaningless juncture of the game. It came at the start of the fourth quarter in a 20-20 tie.
Running backA.J. Dillonhad put the ball on the turf earlier in the game with Green Bay driving inside the Miami 10-yard line; thankfully for the Packers, he could jump back on it.
The Packers have 20 turnovers this year, which is the most in the LaFleur era. It’s an issue that hasn’t gone away during the recent stretch of wins. In Green Bay’s win two weeks ago against the Los Angeles Rams, the Packers lost the turnover battle 2-1 but still got the win.
It’s not the only glaring issue for Green Bay that hasn’t gone away despite the wins piling up.
LaFleur and the Packers continually abandon the run game in critical parts of games, and it lacks any whiff of logic. Running backAaron Jonesis one of the more dynamic backs in the league, and Dillon has been a monster down the stretch. Still, they often opt to just air it out, for better or worse, and ride Rodgers’ arm.
It’s hard to convince some that taking the ball out of Rodgers’ hands and running the ball is the best method of success. However, for this team, it truly is. Green Bay is awfully young at wide receiver, and those growing pains have been present throughout the season. Jones and Dillon are two staples of the offense, and the offensive line, when healthy, can pave holes in the ground game with the best in the NFL.
Jones saw six carries in the nail-biter against Miami, with Dillon getting 11. Green Bay threw it 38 times and ran it just 24.
Following games where Green Bay kicks the running game to the curb, LaFleur has repeatedly been asked in press conferences why they do that. LaFleur always says some iteration of how they need to get the ball more to Jones. Yet a game pops up every few weeks on the radar, like the one in Miami where the Packers ignore Jones.
What’s most baffling about this issue is that it’s easily fixable. Cutting down on turnovers will take discipline, execution, and focus. Not abandoning the running game, or Jones at large, is as simple as just getting him the rock. They don’t need to construct a master plan. Just give him the ball.
In 2016, Rodgers had the famous “run the table” line after a 4-6 start to the season. Rodgers then echoed his beliefs that the Packers could run the table. They won their last six regular-season games that year and won a pair of playoff contests, advancing to the NFC Championship.
这个团队节奏下延伸。在final four games of the 2016 campaign, the Packers had point totals of 38, 30, 38, and 31. They scored more than 31 points twice in the first 10 weeks before that. The offense was humming entering the playoffs.
While Rodgers didn’t make any declarations with this team, the whispers from some outlets and on Packers Twitter are begging for this to be a repeat performance.
It just doesn’t feel the same.
As they did at the start of the year, Green Bay still has sloppy, careless turnover issues. They still go away from the strength of their offense, which is running the ball and forcing the opposition to stop the Jones and Dillon two-headed monster.
Even on the defensive side, it’s not rapidly improving in some areas that have stuck out like a sore thumb. Green Bay’s defense is playing more opportunistically, taking the ball away more during this streak. However, they’ve still struggled to stop or even contain opposing running games.
玩包装工队的时候,有一个明确blueprint for opposing teams: Run the ball early and run it often. Miami featured this strategy on their opening drive on Christmas to great success. For some reason, they didn’t go back to nearly as often during the remainder of the game.
Maybe this is a similar chapter to that of the 2016 team, and Green Bay will win their final two games and roll into the playoffs. The Minnesota Vikings are good but vulnerable, and the Detroit Lions are certainly beatable despite having a solid year underDan Campbell.
It’s not a crazy idea to suggest that the Packers will win their last two games (they’ll likely be favored in both). That’s not the point.
The point remains that glaring weaknesses remain despite the three wins trying as hard as they can to mask it. This isn’t a team hitting its stride at the end of the season. Instead, it’s a team sneaking out some gutsy — and, quite frankly, admirable — wins despite its lingering deficiencies.
Perhaps it changes in the final two weeks, but odds are this is just who the 2022 Packers are.
