Packers State of the Union Address
“I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.”
The six word phrase no kid wants to hear from their parents, and as a Packers owner I have to echo the same phrase going into Week 8. There’s ten more games this season so we’re not going to punt on the entire season, but this next five game stretch is tough: Bills in Buffalo this Sunday night, followed with away at Detroit, home versus the Cowboys, short week then going to Tennessee for TNF, at Philadelphia the Sunday after Thanksgiving wrapped up with a cold December game versus the Bears at Soldier field. To go 0-3 against the Giants, Jets & Commanders was intended to be the easy stretch leading into November/December. Plus, let’s not act like the three wins they have under their belt are any more impressive since then especially with yesterday’s MNF game where the Bears throttled the Pats, two of the three wins and a win against a Tampa Bay team without Evans or Godwin.
So let’s call it what it is - Panic Mode with a dash of hope - the hope you ask? His name is Aaron. Rodgers? No, 228.1 passing yards per game and 11/3 TD to INT ratio through eight games is by no means typical Rodgers level, but it’s still efficient and has a 66.8% completion percentage considering a good number of drops by the young wide receivers. Tonyan has started to get involved more as he becomes healthy, and Romeo Doubs has emerged from the rookie core to show real potential down the road. The defense hasn’t allowed more than 27 points in a game, but some could argue the level of offensive competition. Injuries continue to plague the offensive line with David Bahktiari still missing time, so it’s hard to justify whether that’s the main reason for the lightened running workload for Jones & Dillon.
The real hope? Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones is averaging 5.3 yards per carry this season, and a CAREER AVERAGE of 5.1 yards per carry, and AJ Dillon has a CAREER average of 4.3 yards per carry - AND YOU DON’T RUN THE FOOTBALL ON SHORT YARDAGE PLAYS?! Baffles me every time that in short yardage downs, we for some reason forget what got us there and we throw short out routes on tight coverages. I can understand throwing those short passes in man coverage but when Washington was sitting back in zone it made it very difficult for Rodgers to pick apart the defense with Cobb and Lazard also banged up. And even that, Jones has been the premier option at receiver as well posting nine catches and two touchdowns Sunday against Washington. Kick Jones out to the slot and give Rodgers the RPO option between Dillon and Jones and Rodgers has more weapons in those first seconds of the play. It’s very apparent that the Pack are missing a playmaker at WR and Davante is sorely missed, and about the only replacement available that could provide that level of production would be Odell Beckham Jr. and I don’t see Green Bay making that move this year, looks to be a next year’s draft or free agency haul(HA! Like they’ll draft a first rounder WR). Now I’m not saying that this is a must, but if we’re going to keep running the offense the way it is GB has to get another WR option. I prefer the running offense and switching this offense but Lafleur and Rodgers seem to be headstrong on the pass.
Last big concern is the rush defense who have given up an NFL 6th-worst 139.6 yards per game. For a defense that was supposed to carry this team to the playoffs, they’ve been gashed in the run game by the likes of Dalvin Cook, Barkley, Breece Hall, and David Montgomery. Not bad running offenses with decent offensive lines, but the money that has been dumped into that front seven, there’s no excuse for what they’ve done over the last 7 games. Between Detroit, Dallas, Tennessee and Philadelphia coming up, we’ll need to see a strong showing from the defensive line in order to turn this season around.
More Aaron Jones, healthy Bahktiari, better front seven, and Aaron Freaking Rodgers - that’s the formula for the last ten games. Make it Happen Pack!
