PFF grades (2021 to 2022): Rodgers -17.9, Jenkins -10.4, Dillon -19.8, Campbell -17.9, Douglas -12.1, Amos -16.3, Stokes -13.6, Savage -16.3, Lowry -10.0, P. Smith -11.6 https://t.co/xHF6neHmrw
— Zach Kruse (@zachkruse2) October 17, 2022
So I was in Door County for a long wraparound weekend, which is why we didn’t get our usual Packer game-recap blog on Monday morning. To the tens of you that were devastated: My apologies.
Side note: Door County at peak fall color is like being in a different world. I’ve never seen color on trees like that. The reds and oranges and yellows were beyond belief. If nature could ever match the beauty of Bob Ross painting (it can’t), that was it. Highly recommend doing that at some point in your life if you haven’t.
Anyhoo, my wife and I watched the game on Sunday with a ton of other Packer fans at One Barrel Brewing* in Egg Harbor. And let me tell you, I’ve seen more energy at funerals than I did during this viewing experience. The first half of the game was so bad that Amazon almost bought the rights to the second half to air on Thursday night. But at least at that point it was only 3-3, nobody in the room really thought the Packers would lose to the Jets. It was an ugly game but one that most people around me thought the Packers would get figured out enough to pull out a win.
Nope. Nope, nope, nope. The offensive funk continued, the 2021 Special Teams made a surprise guest appearance, and the defense started to mail it in with hand-tackling by the midway point of the 3rd quarter. Just brutal.
So who’s to blame? Plenty of people were firing blame bullets at Aaron Rodgers, even more at Matt LaFleur, and some at Brian Gutekunst. If I had to lay the blame on ONE particular element, and it was ALL trash on Sunday, I’d have to go offensive line. Sunday was probably the single worst offensive line performance I’ve seen from a Packer team in a LONG time. Scheme doesn’t matter a lick if you can’t block anybody. Last week we spent a good amount of time bemoaning the fact that they don’t run the ball enough, but run/pass ratio meant nothing with the blocking that we saw on Sunday.
Which leads me to the above tweet. The simple fact of the matter is that through 6 games this season, big name players with big numbers on their paychecks simply aren’t producing anything similar to what we saw last season. On both sides of the ball. Every single one of those players (with Lowry maybe the exception) was a major contributor to a 13 win season last year, and some the 13 win season before that, and some the 13 win season before that. So far in 2022, they simply aren’t getting it done. I realize that fans are ALWAYS going to want to ‘FIRE _____!’ a coach, but at this point it wouldn’t matter if you had Bill Walsh as your Offensive Coordinator and Mike Ditka as your Defensive Coordinator. The players have to perform reasonably well in the scheme before you can blame the scheme. And that hasn’t happened for the majority of the season thus far.
So where do they go from here? If the players on the roster don’t start executing every play a little bit better, probably no where. If they start playing to their potential, this is likely still a playoff team. Remember the 2010 season? The Packers lost at home in Week 6 to a TERRIBLE Dolphins team to fall to 3-3 on the season. Everybody wanted everybody fired. Very similar to what we’re seeing now. ‘LaFleur teams can’t take a punch!’ ‘Rodgers is washed, put in Love!’ ‘Gutey was a fool to extend Campbell and Douglas!’ And on and on and on. Who knows, maybe the negativity right now will end up being correct and the team will win 7 games and be staring down a major overhaul in the offseason. But I’d bet on the talent on this team, a 4-time MVP QB, and a head coach who has one of the highest winning percentages in NFL history. Time will tell.
*Double side note: If you’re ever in DC, check that place out. The beer is fantastic and the pizza joint attached to it had some of the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life. And I wouldn’t lie about something like that even if they gave me a free pie because I told them I’d work them into a blog this week. I am a man of integrity.
PS: ‘Put your money where your mouth is’: I have placed bets this morning on the Packers to make the playoffs (-175, which means Vegas still VERY much sees this team as a playoff team) and to win the NFC North (+230).
Double PS: When was the last time the Badgers and Packers both stunk in the same season? 1991?
