Live look at Packer Nation every single time Aaron Rodgers took a hit yesterday in a meaningless game:
Matt LaFleur made it clear very early in the week that he didn’t feel comfortable letting his star players sit out for three weeks, and for that reason they were going to see in the field for at least a part of the game on Sunday in Detroit. Fine. I guess I’m more cautious, if it were me Jordan Love would have started that game yesterday, but I am willing to concede that Matt LaFleur probably knows his team better than an internet blogger.
But it did lead to some STRESSFUL moments when Rodgers took a few hits, was rolling out of the pocket, etc. So despite the loss to the Lions, the true victory coming out of yesterday was that the team left it relatively injury-free. MVS left and did not return, as did Chandon Sullivan, but beyond that, things turned out fine. And no offense to either MVS or Sullivan, they are both decent players, but if they can’t play in 2 weeks, I don’t think that’s the difference between this team being a Super Bowl contender or not. Rodgers looked fairly sharp and left healthy, as did Davante Adams. Those were the biggest concerns.
- Other pretty big news yesterday was the official return of David Bakhtiari AND Josh Myers. I have to admit, even though the offensive line was on it’s 3rd, and in some cases 4th, string options, it had been playing really well. And even though Bakhtiari is arguably the best left tackle in the NFL when healthy, I did worry a bit about ‘breaking up a good thing.’ But Bakhtiari looked REALLY solid even though he was on a pitch-count snap wise. Myers was fit in seamlessly as well. Obviously great to get some cohesion there, as both are likely to start in the Divisional Round game in two weeks.
- Davante only needed 22 yards to break Jordy’s record for most receiving yards in a season, and it didn’t take him long to get there. AND he did accomplish that feat in 16 games because he missed one game with COVID. There’s been a lot of conversation in NFL circles about the validity of franchise and league records being broken with an extra regular season game, but Davante put his numbers up in 16 games just like Jordy did in 2014. A new high score!
- Mortal Lock of the Century: Whatever team ends up at Lambeau in 2 weeks will be trying at least one, ‘double reverse tight end throwing to a wide receiver’ trick plays. SHEESH. Clearly the Lions had nothing to lose by emptying out the playbook on the final day of the year, but the Packers looked VERY unprepared for those trick plays.
- ^Upset of the Century: The one trick play that didn’t work was the fake punt that the Packer Special Teams actually defended well. Legit stunner.
- Allen Lazard coming on STRONG at the end of the year with 5 touchdowns in his last 5 games. He’s the Lizard King.
- Mason Crosby missing at least one kick in Detroit: Tale as old as time.
- You know who was impressive yesterday? Patrick Taylor. Dude has some good burst, and good things just seem to happen when he gets the ball. That said: Let’s hope he doesn’t get too much run in the playoffs, because that would mean some kind of injury to Aaron Jones or AJ Dillon. But Taylor at the very least solidified himself as a clear #3 heading into next season.
- Jordan Love. I thought he looked okay. He made a few throws, he missed a few throws (EQ was WIDE OPEN down the middle late in the game and Love’s pass was wildly underthrown). He got a little lucky on his touchdown pass that Deguara was able to turn a 4 yard completion into a 62 yard touchdown pass. He got a little unlucky on one of his interceptions because Amari Rodgers has two Christmas hams for hands. I don’t know. I’m not sure we really learned anything about him after year #2. But we didn’t really learn much about Aaron Rodgers at the end of 2006, either. I know I’d prefer not to watch Love as the starting quarterback for 17 games in 2022-23. That I’m certain of. But the important thing yesterday was that he got some reps in a regular season game. Hopefully that helps slow the game down for him a bit.
All in all, yesterday didn’t mean anything. If you want to panic about the defense, I get it, but my observation was that both offense and defense were playing at about 70% speed, with the setting on ‘vanilla.’ The important thing was that you made an effort to keep your main guys sharp, and you got reps for some of the injured players coming off of IR. Reports this morning are that Za’Darius Smith is coming back for the playoffs, Jaire and Randall Cobb as well. The Packers are going to be just about 100% healthy, and have to win 2 games at Lambeau to get to the Super Bowl. If not now, when? Now we go.
PS: The Steelers/Raiders/Chargers scenario last night was CRAZY. Steelers got a win late in overtime in Baltimore, and only needed a win-loss result in the Sunday Night Football game between the Chargers and Raiders. A tie and both the Chargers and Raiders would get in, with Pittsburgh staying home. How insane would it have been if they would have agreed to a pregame ‘kneel off’?? The game would have been over in 2 hours and both teams would head to the playoffs. Well that didn’t happen, but the game just ended up being close. Chargers got a touchdown on the final play of regulation to get to overtime, both teams kick a field goal in OT, and the Raiders ended up with the ball at around the 50 yard line with about a minute left. It honestly looked like the Raiders were content to run the clock out, when, inexplicably, the Chargers called a timeout with 38 seconds left. The next play was a 10 yard run, the next play was a 47 yard field for the Raiders. If the Chargers just stop the Raiders on that 3rd and 4, guaranteed the clock would have run out and the Steelers are SOL. I’ve never seen anything like that. All of America was rooting for a tie. In football.
Double PS: The Black Monday bloodletting has already begun. Vikings fired Zimmer and their GM, Bears fired Nagy and their GM. Matt LaFleur, who was just hired in 2019, is now the longest tenured coach in the NFC North.
