The Packers escaped Jacksonvillewith a nice win against a game opponent, but I left more worried about thestate of the offense than I was before. Jordy Nelson, seeing his first gameaction since the injury, acquitted himself well and will probably continue toimprove, but it would have been nice to see some kind of leap in any otherarea. Instead we saw a virtual re-run of last year’s subpar offense, as theywere unable to exploit an average defense.
Chief among my concerns is EddieLacy, who looks every bit as big as last year’s model, and still seems to lackthe speed and burst of two years ago despite his high-profile offseason workwith P90x fitness guru Tony Horton.
Lacy was once a force inside andoutside the tackles, but in his current form he is unable to beat linebackers(or anyone else) outside. He was late hitting holes and was too often trippedup in the backfield. Here is Lacy in a nutshell.
Tretter does an excellent jobpulling and sealing off his man inside, opening a hole for Lacy, but bythe time he actually gets there the Jaguar pursuit has already arrived and theyblow up the play. Some have criticized the Packers for running outside with apower back like Lacy, but in 2014 he had no issues with stretch plays oroutside runs, and he probably powers into the end zone here. Many will probablyremember his 28-yard run at the end to the third quarter, but he was buried forone yard or less on five of fourteen carries, and while he had some nice runs,he left a lot of yards on the field. Compounding this issue is the fact thatJames Starks also looks like he’s lost a step, and he was the saving grace ofthe run game last season.
No one should blame any of thison the offensive line or the loss of Josh Sitton. The line played very well ingeneral with the aforementioned J.C. Tretter leading the way. The center wasoutstanding, and solidified the middle while opening up big holes in therunning game. I have yet to see a bad game out of Tretter and he may have acase as the line’s best player by season’s end.
In the passing game, DavanteAdams made a nice grab on an unbelievably great 29-yard touchdown throw fromAaron Rodgers, but he also had a mostly disappointing effort complete withdrops, poor routes, and a general lack of explosion after the catch. Adams saw7 targets and managed to haul in 3 passes, which is unfortunately a typicalAdams line. He was only part of the problem though, as Jared Cook no-showedalmost completely in his debut (1 catch, 7 yards) and Jared Abbrederis wasn’tmuch better. Rodgers missed a few throws (including a few would-be touchdowns)and once the offense gels this may look a lot different, but as of now this isstill a concern. The passing game was extremely reliant on Nelson, Cobb,and Adams, and until Nelson is fully back, this is a problem.
Defensively the team played verywell with a few exceptions. All-pro receiver Allen Robinson had 6 receptionsfor 72 yards, but it took him 15 targets to get generate even that muchoffense. Allen Hurns was a bit more efficient, but in general most of theJaguar big plays came on well-designed deception, not in winning one-on-onebattles. Winning on deception counts just as much as anything else, but it’salso easier to do so early in the season before teams have tape on each other.The run defense was also very encouraging, and the improvement in the middle ofthe field for the Packers is the best reason to be excited. While T.J. Yeldonmanaged to punch in an impressive touchdown, on the day he had just 39 yards on21 carries. Morgan Burnett was outstanding in both coverage and in shoring upthe middle in run support, and Nick Perry quietly had one of his best gamesever, providing a sorely needed pass rush with great work against the run.Perry saw the second most snaps of any linebacker after Matthews, and if youdidn’t notice a lot of action out of Julius Peppers, Perry’s strong play is thereason why. Peppers played just 29 mostly ineffective snaps, and this will bean interesting trend to track all season.
Nick Perry makes a tackle against the Jaguars.
The only real blemish was thepass rush overall. Clay Matthews was able to get into the backfield repeatedly,and while he was a disruptive force, he failed to wrap up properly allowingJacksonville to stay in the game. Mike Daniels also had a quiet game, thoughhis lone tackle did result in a two-yard loss. Bortles was sacked 3 times soit’s not as if he wasn’t seeing pressure, but he did enjoy several cleanpockets, and generally had plenty of time to survey the field and make throws.Still this was an impressive first performance, and while it’s easy to imaginethe Packer offense struggling with the Viking defense next week, it’s also hardto imagine the Viking offense doing much of anything.
The Vikings Win Ugly
I watched the entireVikings-Titans games as well, and while the score shows a comfortable win forthe Vikings, it doesn’t begin to reflect how poorly both teams played. ShaunHill, starting at quarterback for the injured Teddy Bridgewater, hashistorically been about as good as the recently acquired Sam Bradford (for whomthe Vikings traded a first and a fourth round pick, but wasn’t familiar enoughwith the offense to start), however Hill is old for an NFL player at 36 and helooked washed up for the duration of the game. The Vikings won on two giftdefensive touchdowns, one on a botched handoff by Marcus Mariota without aViking anywhere near him, and one on an ill-advised throw under pressure, wherea more experienced quarterback would have taken a sack. The Viking offense onlymanaged a handful of field goals, and was completely ineffective running(Adrian Peterson - 19 carries, 31 yards, 2 targets, 0 catches) as well aspassing (Shaun Hill - 18/33, 236 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs). Their defense did playwell in bottling up the Titan offense, but in reality they were lucky to winthis game, and they will find it much more difficult to generate defensivescores against the famously careful Rodgers.
Wewill almost certainly see Bradford taking over for Hill next week, and it ispossible that he could spark the passing game for the Vikings. Bradford ismerely average, but he is a strong-armed quarterback, and a good fit for thefamously vertical Norv Turner passing game. That said, Bradford is turnoverprone, coming off a year in which he threw 19 touchdowns against 14 picks in 14games, and the Packer secondary feasts on such quarterbacks. I suspect we’re infor a defensive slugfest in week 2, and I suspect the Packers will have enoughto come out on top.
