Packers' shaky victory won't impress anybody, but all that matters is the win column | Opinion
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are not a scary team right now. At all.
How could anyone who watched the New England Patriots’ third-string quarterback take them to overtime on Sunday think otherwise?
But here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter much how impressive or unimpressive they look in September or October, or even November or December for that matter. All that really matters is whether they’re still playing when the regular season is over, and if so, how well they play with the money on the line.
The Packers have learned the past two years, while getting bumped out of the playoffs at Lambeau Field as the top-seeded team in the NFC, that getting your share of good wins in the regular seasons doesn’t get you anything extra once the playoffs start. And unimpressive wins don’t cost you anything.
Are there issues lurking with this team? Sure, and we’ll cover one shortly. But racking up wins is priority No. 1 in this league, and trending upward as season’s end nears is priority No. 2.
NFL NEWSLETTER: Sign up now for exclusive content sent to your inbox
'HOUDINI OF OUR ERA': Patrick Mahomes provides relief for Chiefs with typical creative flash
And on Sunday the Packers got a win, shaky as it was in overtime on a final-second field goal against an undermanned but exceptionally well-coached New England team. That means they’re 3-1, not 2-2, heading into their trip to London this week to face the New York Giants.
As for the trending part, we’ll have to wait and see. Through four games there hasn’t been much of a trend up or down as they search for their identity post-Davante Adams.
“This is a game we had to win, for sure,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “You can’t be 2-2 losing to a third-string quarterback and not playing great in all three phases. So we had to have this one. That doesn’t take anything away from the joy of winning, but this is one we had to have.”
Packers' run defense sprung holes despite knowing what was coming
Probably what stands out most through the first four games is that coordinator Joe Barry’s defense hasn’t been as good as advertised. It’s not like it’s been bad, but its two best games were against the offensively challenged Chicago Bears (10 points allowed) and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team missing its top three receivers (12 points allowed).
Barry’s defense allowed only 17 points Sunday – the Patriots’ other touchdown was on an Aaron Rodgers pick-6, which counts among the rarest of all rarities (four in the 7,247 pass attempts in his career). So on paper, it doesn’t look like a bad day.
But giving up 17 points to a third-string rookie who was a fourth-round draft pick (Bailey Zappe) counts as a bad day. Zappe got the call because starter Mac Jones (sprained ankle) was a scratch, and Rashan Gary knocked backup Brian Hoyer out of the game on the last play of the Patriots’ second offensive series with a hard sack on third down.
That meant the Patriots had to run the ball, and everyone watching knew it. They also played a lot of the second half with a sixth offensive lineman (Marcus Cannon) at tight end, so they couldn’t have more telegraphed what was coming.
Yet New England gained 167 yards on 33 carries (5.1-yard average) on the day, which kept the overmatched Patriots in the game. The Packers’ front seven, aside from Gary’s dominant performance (two sacks, a tackle for loss, one fumble forced and another recovered) wasn’t anywhere near as good as it was last week in shutting down Tampa Bay’s Leonard Fournette. And Sunday’s circumstances should have been far less difficult than facing Tom Brady last week at Tampa Bay.
If the Packers are going to win a title, they need a top-five kind of defense. They didn’t look like one Sunday, though of course, it’s only the fourth game of a 17-game season.
“You’re only as good as your last performance,” coach Matt LaFleur said of his defense after the game. “That’s just the reality of the world we live. We always talk about either you’re getting better or you’re getting worse, you’re never staying the same. There’s a lot of things I thought we did really well, but there are lot of things we have to clean up moving forward. That’s week to week, because this league is constantly progressing.”
Packers do enough good things to come away with win in overtime
This game was brutal to watch at times, and the Packers won even though Rodgers had a horrendous first half. Besides the pick-6, he missed a couple of receivers badly and went into halftime with an 11.2 rating. Yes, 11.2.
But as shaky as the Packers’ defense was, it came through with the game on a line by getting a big three-and-out in overtime after the Patriots started with good field position (their own 49) and a chance to win with a long field goal. Then Rodgers moved the ball right down the field (27 yards on seven runs, and 50 yards on passes to Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and Romeo Doubs) to set up the chip-shot (31-yard) game winner at the overtime buzzer.
It’s also worth remembering that the Patriots have an all-time great coach in Bill Belichick who might be his most dangerous when he’s undermanned. So that counts for something.
Rodgers of course was right when he said that playing like this against starting quarterbacks won’t cut it for the Packers.
And to be sure, nobody watching tape around the NFL is quaking at the thought of playing them. But that doesn’t count for much. What matters is whether that changes over the next three months.