Bad and Ugly...Where's the Good?

This appears to be ARodge's annual hissy fit when he has to deal with the fact that defenses are going to cover his BFFs, happened last year during the first month. Maybe Clements and McCarthy need to give him a time away with his favorite binky but no computer games until he learns to play nicely with the weird kids Janis and Abby.

When GB is forced to play backups due to injury, it's always a huge step back. Other teams have been able to use their backups against us with great success. The Broncos O-line plugged in different players and they were just fine. Same for San Diego. Are their second string players that much better? Coached better? Do they adapt better?

 

The MMQB article is interesting, but it's deja vu all over again.  I remember the same issue last year, WITH Jordy, where receivers were having trouble getting open.  Buffalo comes to mind, and it wasn't just one game.  Seattle 1 was the same.

 

The fact that this did not come across in self-scout during the bye week makes you wonder what the heck they did.

 

I'm hoping Clements is still growing as a play caller, but at this time, there seems to be no flow with the offense - very frenetic.  Way too much sub on our RBs - they can't get into a rhythm.  A running play with Lacy works well, then they immediately go with 5 straight passes.  They did do some bunch concepts, but only a handful of times.  Splitting out Justin Perillo and Richard Rodgers wide - two very slow TE's makes little sense.

 

 

I knew we would have trouble when I saw one of Packers sucking oxygen before the game started. A reminder that some don't deal well with thin air. 

Pos:

Good to see Eddie L put his head down and show some straight ahead steam again on the TD

 

Negs:

-  O-Line dominated by the ponies all night long. AR looked like his hair was on fire, not cool.

 - Payton this, Payton that, blah, blah, blah. Now I know why many non-Packer fans         were sick of Bert Farb

 

Agree this is the annual crap the bed game and that they're not as bad as they looked last night. But even if they're somewhere in-between, how good is that? 

QB's with half a brain like Rivers, P Manning will continue to feast on this green secondary. Don't see that changing.

What was most disturbing to me is the Broncos looked like they had someone in the Packer huddles. Like they knew what was coming on every play. Manning I sort of expect; that's been his bread and butter.

 

But the Broncos brought 11 men into the box on one occasion, as if they knew there was no way there would be a pass attempt. And there wasn't.

 

If not for a couple of penalties the Packers would have been shut out. This is supposedly one of the elite offenses.

I don't know if it's down and distance tendencies but I think they're tipping their pitches.

Heyward and Hyde aren't green.   Can we stop blaming Randall, only rookie who played, for any of that **** show last night, please. He had a decent game.

 

Those two had huge targets on their back all night.  Manning would come to the line, identify man coverage, see Heyward outside on Thomas and exploit him.   

 

Whitt \ Capers have got to get it through their heads that Hyde isn't an option at CB and Heyward is only useful in the slot.

 

Pros: No more great QBs left on the schedule. Maybe even in the NFC playoffs. Palmer and Romo could have success, but not to the tune of 500 yards.

 

Cons: Our vaunted defense from three weeks ago has been reduced to "well, at least we won't face any more great QBs!"

Well, since opponents have dissected McCarthy's offense, with DBs seemingly running routes with our receivers step-for-step because it's all so predictable, there's really just one answer.

 

Janis! Since he runs the wrong routes all the time he'll be wide open!

It's clear Rodgers doesn't trust Adams. He tried talking him up this summer, but it almost seems there's some behind the scenes stuff going on with that. If Janis and Abbrederis aren't good enough or prepared enough to play in that type of game why are they on the roster? The other teams double Cobb and bring the safety into the box because they don't respect our other WRs.

 

Even with all that, the offense could move the ball with a competent TE. Richard Rodgers is the slowest TE in the league and he can't block. Why is he even out there?

Because GB drafts and develops.

I think this is different from last year. Rodgers seems resigned to the fact that he doesn't have guys to throw to.

I think TT's refusal to supplement the roster via free agency is biting them. You can't tell me they didn't know the TE position was going to be a problem. At least Quarless can block, but if they are counting on him to be a savior for the offense, they're barking up the wrong tree. A guy like Owen Daniels (who signed for 3 years and 12 million with only 3 million guaranteed) would have been huge.

 

People are on Rodgers for not taking more chances with the ball, but who on the Packers would you expect to win a 50/50 ball at this point? Cobb is not that type of player. Maybe James Jones, but there's a reason he was cut by two teams this offseason. Adams seems to lack toughness at this point and Richard Rodgers lack of athleticism is startling. If an in-his-prime Favre played in that game last night instead of Rodgers it might have been a 45-21 type game. He'd have maybe thrown a TD or two, but would have probably given up at least one pick 6. Except for Cobb on the one play, there was literally no one open.

 

Of all the clear things out there...

 

Ugly: Rodgers has seemed off all year. He has not performed anywhere near how he can. There are times it looks like he has Stickum on his throwing hand because he sees a guy but won't let it go. Is he really that afraid of interceptions? Rodgers better learn to trust all his receivers because he can't both throw it and catch it. 

 

Yes, sometimes his receivers have trouble getting separation, but last night they showed guys who had a step or two on the DB but Rodgers wouldn't pull the trigger. It was a bit surprising to hear last night that GB had the 22nd-ranked offense -- and today it's gotta be worse.

 

Nothing like pulling a Najeh Davenport on national TV.  

Is it possible Ted makes a trade before the deadline? Could help.

I'm inclined to let this one go. They completely stunk. Rodgers is faltering in big games. McCarthy has to come through now, as a complete HC, and right this ship.

Our defense is limited with Casey Hayward and Micah Hyde. Time to change them out for youth with better instincts and speed.

And, SOMEBODY has to hold our front 7 accountable. How do they not sack and old statue like Manning? That was a piss poor performance. Same for our OL. Piss poor.

Let's see if McCarthy has any real power as a HC. This is his to fix. This stinking pile of ****. We are better than this. Gotta employ the right players who can get the job done.

The Packers got punched in the mouth and took a standing 8-count in the 1st round... and they never really recovered.

 

Out-physicaled.

 

 

I'm usually one of the first to question Capers, but I think he gets a bit of a pass last night. Losing your best CB and top backup CB on the first series makes it hard to adjust. They gave up 27 points. 7 of those were on the long running play where if Matthews isn't out there is no way its a TD. Even if you give up 27 points under those circumstances, you don't expect to be out the game by the beginning of the 4th quarter with our offense.

 

The offense is the problem. Our defense isn't built to win games on it's own. It's designed to put up enough resistance to let the offense win them. It's like Rodgers has entered the phase where Favre got pissed off having to throw to WRs like Billy Schroeder. He needs to take some more chances, but he has a bunch of 1st and 2nd year receivers who he doesn't feel are ready. Maybe he's wrong, but it sure didn't look like there were many openings downfield last night.

 

It's clear as day that Rodgers is now overrated and soft.

— JS Comments (@JSComments) November 2, 2015

 

last nite we saw what adjustments over the season and thru the bye week can do.  Denver was going nowhere on O with Kubiaks system. After a couple of putrid weeks Mr Elway and Peyton went to him and said perhaps we should go back to Peyton running the show from the shotgun.  GB said we will put a bit of that in, they looked a bit better. During the bye week he decided to go all in and we all saw the result.

 

So kubiak adjusted, gave up his precious system which I am sure was not easy for him.  We shall see if it continues to work when down the road when rcvers are actually covered and he faces a pass rush.  But adjustment were made. 

 

The ball is now in MM court 

Clements needs to come in for some serious scrutiny after that mish-mash of a game plan last night. Our Oline was getting whupped and yet it seemed like every pass play was designed to go downfield. Once Denver scored right off the bat (the first time all year they did that early in the game), it seemed like Clements was scrambling to match.

 

These two need to see the bench.  This is not a knee jerk reaction to one game, it's been a problem throughout the season.  Hayward I get since he has shown he can play slot CB but Hyde has struggled to cover TEs and RBs all season.  If a DB can't cover TEs and RBs, they shouldn't see the field.  Let Rollins, Gunter and Randall see the field before Hyde.

 

In addition to the secondary disaster, it was very disheartening to see the front 7 put no pressure on Manning b/c the Broncos o-line has been atrocious all year.  

 

I think this loss just highlights what a few of us "negative nancies" have been saying all year, only to be rebuffed with "well we won what else do you want??".  This team has glaring issues that they were able to cover up against bad teams.  The Broncos were the first good team they played and the Packers were completely dismantled on both sides of the ball.  I'd like to say "on to Carolina" and in a sense, I will move on.  But this game showed many weaknesses of this team, weaknesses that will cause an early playoff exit unless they're fixed.  

Can't get pressure on a QB that gets the ball out as quick as Manning does.  And he has somewhere to throw that quickly because our D is still soft in the middle, and the rest life is so hard.  I can almost guarantee Manning will not look that good again for the rest of the season.  Somehow our D often provides the cure for what ails good QB's.

 

The biggest puzzler is that teams usually use the bye to fix their problems, not develop new ones.  I don't know WTF is going on at 1265 these last several weaks.

 

<<THIS>>  When Jordy went down, TT should have either looked at the waiver or looked at a possible trade when Jordy's injury occurred.  It is not too late for a trade.  

psst-

 

James Jones

Time to start Brett Hundley. The future is now!

James Jones is a good guy to have if he's your 4th receiver. Again, there is a reason he was cut by two teams. He's not fast enough to be a starting WR on most teams.

 

He's been productive before last night, but most of it has been on free plays on offsides penalties where Rodgers just throws it up to him or on back shoulder throws. he has great chemistry with Rodgers based on years of playing together, so he's worth more to the Packers than any other team in the league.

 

Teams have started to just sit on his short routes (like the one that was intercepted in the game three weeks ago) because he can't run by them.

We don't need new receivers, we need to scheme ways to get the ones we have open.

Hundley or Tolzein would have been sacked about 10 times last night and/or thrown 3-4 picks. I know you're being sarcastic, but there was no one open.

 

The most frustrating part was that there wasn't much that was new schematically after a bye week. One jet sweep to Cobb that worked well and then they never went back to it. That was it.

This is a team and an organization that understands peaking in the late season. Maybe the point was driven home in 2010, I dunno.

 

Now I'm not saying they are going to let games go in the middle of the season, on purpose, but non conference games are close to a throw away compared to what lies dead ahead, with Carolina.

 

Having a mid season re-set episode surrounding a bye week is not the end of the world, with this team. 

 

We now get Carolina on a short week, I hope they win big and are all full of themselves.

 

Take the Pack next week.

 

The spring has been wound tight for this one. It's going to be a playoff mentality, the Pack will show up.

 

I get it, we all wanted to get someone better than JJ on the waiver wire.

 

Damn you TEd

Yes, but we do need at least one guy that can stretch a defense deep.

 

I really didn't appreciate how good Jordy Nelson was until we saw what happened when he got hurt.

I wouldn't mind a DL that could sack a QB using a walker like Manning...

 

WTF...? Bunch a ****ing turds.

I know that seems logical, but then look at the Patriots, do they have any WRs that are deep threats?

Gronk makes that whole thing work in NE.

 

And Brady is playing like every team they face @#%!ed his mom.

MichiganPacker, in the last 10 minutes or so you posted that the problem with the passing game was/is:

a - players  (James Jones is a good guy to have if he's your 4th receiver.)

b - scheme (The most frustrating part was that there wasn't much that was new schematically after a bye week.)

c - players (Yes, but we do need at least one guy that can stretch a defense deep.)

 

 

 

Brett Hundley is to Ty Detmer what Yoko Ono is to....well, never mind. 

Using the good ol' K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) Principle...

 

It's a passing intensive league.

 

On offense, receiver quality level down and it shows.  As someone said, the scheme needs to adjust to this.

 

On defense, the loss of CB's caused its level to be down and it shows.

 

Hopefully, Adams' health continues to improve, Montgomery comes back, there are scheming adjustments and the passing game significantly improves.

 

Hopefully, the corners all return and that sore point is no more as well.

 

Not to say there are not other issues, but the above predominate, in my opinion.

Packer fans claiming they have the best QB in the league but he just doesn't have any good WRs?

Excellent analysis

Okay, I've had time to step away, not read too much about it, sleep and poop on it.

 

The good:

The Packer shut down Emmanuel Sanders, who had been by far the Broncos leading receiver.

 

Randall Cobb in the backfield: Denver countered nicely by having Chris Harris shadow him rather than letting him repeatedly gash a linebacker, but he was still productive out of the set.

 

The Special teams actually played well.

 

Linsley: He seemed to play pretty well, if what I saw meant what I saw. He did a pretty fair job dealing with stunts but the guards were slow to react inside when guarding the tackles’ missteps outside.  The Broncos continually flooded the middle with rushers.

 

The bad:

The offensive tackles: Bulaga is still gimpy and his lateral movement seems severely lacking.  Bakhtiari  is having issues with both power and speed rushers, may also be a bit gimpy or just limited athletically for the left side.  

 

The offensive scheme itself: When facing a good, man-to-man coverage team, they don’t have the healthy, established receivers to beat their man. They basically run a spread offense, letting Rodgers examine the coverage and look for the matchup he likes.  The problem is, there aren’t many good matchups right now. I liked on one of the plays in the second drive with Cobb in the backfield where they ran trips right, then ran Cobb in behind them.  Even with Chris Harris shadowing him it was still a 7-yard gain. More of that, please.

 

Aaron Rodgers: One of the things that make him great also hinders him in games like last night’s. He’ll often hold on to the ball, trying to make a bigger play happen while also being careful with the ball. The problem last night was he didn’t have the time to do that and the offense was shut down.

 

Defensive scheme, particularly the jam-less press coverage:  Denver receivers were given a clean release all night, so Manning could pick his targets for quick-hitters pre-snap.  Denver went after Hyde, Heyward and Nate Palmer all night (like San Diego did). None of the three has the quicks to deal with that kind of coverage. Denver schemed to get the ball out fast with Green Bay’s pass rushers and makeshift O-line.