Now that the dust has settled and the hangover has worn off, here are five more thoughts on the Green Bay Packers 38-10 loss to the New York Giants.
My God, was that a fucking embarrassment
Packers fans are known for being outspoken and voicing their opinions, which often angers lesser fans of lesser teams. So, when the Packers go out and shit the bed on national television, they get a backlash of criticism and derision. Today, we deserve it and so does that embarrassment of a team that walked out onto the field last night. The Giants exposed the Packers while they were humiliating them. Right now, this is not a Super Bowl caliber team. This team will be lucky to win one playoff game.
Mike McCarthy, you’re really starting to piss me off
It’s one thing if your guys aren’t executing. You can’t play the game for them. It’s another thing if the opposition designs a way to stop your team and, as the head coach, you continually design a game plan that plays right into their hands. Everyone knows the recipe for slowing or stopping the Packers offense at this point — jam their receivers and play two deep safeties the entire game to take away the big play. Opposing defenses have been employing this strategy with varying degrees of success all season against the Packers. The Packers solution has been to run the ball more. That strategy hasn’t worked. Because of their lack of success, the backs haven’t drawn the safeties up and, in turn, the vertical passing game hasn’t opened up. What have the Packers done to adjust? Nothing. They haven’t changed their approach one bit. The result is the opposing safeties stay deep the whole game, routes don’t open up quickly or at all and the play breaks down, resulting in Aaron Rodgers getting sacked or having to improvise. Quick drops and throws on underneath routes seems to be the obvious answer, at least to everyone not named Mike McCarthy. If you want to blame the lack of a rushing attack on the Packers offensive problems, remember that their passing game was successful with Brandon Jackson as a starter. What did they do to move the ball then? Five wide, quick passes underneath.
The Packers are feeling the loss of Bryan Bulaga
Actually, Aaron Rodgers is probably feeling it most today after being sacked five times yesterday. We’ll be honest. We didn’t think much of Bulaga’s play before he got hurt, but we now know this. He’s a hell of a lot better than T.J. Lang is at right tackle. Although Bulaga got his ass handed to him more times than we’d like to count, at least the Packers could let him go one-on-one with a defensive end. The same cannot be said for Lang. He needed consistent help against the Giants and that exposed Marshall Newhouse at left tackle because the Packers couldn’t give him any help. All that being said, Lang and Newhouse were just the worst performers on a really bad offensive line. The Giants front four pushed these guys backwards all night long. Cris Collinsworth pointed it out during the game — the Packers don’t have one dominant offensive lineman. Wonder when they’ll think about getting one?
Did James Starks screw Mike McCarthy’s wife?
We’re not sure what McCarthy’s beef with Starks is, but we can only assume the running back screwed his wife. Otherwise, there’s no excuse why Starks only got eight carries last night. Last week in Detroit, Starks got 25 carries for 74 yards. Not a good average, we know, but Starks did what Starks does. He ran hard, broke tackles and moved piles, something Alex Green doesn’t do. In that game, Green had no touches. Against the Giants, Green carried 10 times for 30 yards. Starks had eight for 35, with most of those carries coming in garbage time. If the Packers were really trying to mount an effective rushing attack, why the hell weren’t they handing the ball to Starks?
The run defense… Jesus…
A lot of factors played into the Packers atrocious run defense that gave up 148 yards rushing last night. Clay Matthews and Charles Woodson were out. Defensive end C.J. Wilson left with an injury in the first quarter. And then there were the guys who were left out there. Erik Walden and Dezman Moses couldn’t set the edge. If A.J. Hawk gets touched by a blocker, he’s out of the play. The defensive backs, other than Morgan Burnett, can’t tackle. Getting these three injured players back on the field will be key to fixing this problem. If they don’t come back, the Packers are going to continue getting gouged.