Packers @ Falcons 9/17/2023 Noon Start

[young guns]

I'm pretty sure we should have lost possession already.

[adambr2]

This officiating crew is as dumb as the announcers. They signaled incomplete and still were going to give the Packers another play. 

[homer]

I hate Arthur Smiths fat face

[yourout]

Pretty much a complete collapse on both sides in the fourth quarter

[HarryDoyle]

1 minute ago, yourout said:

The offense is really tanked the last quarter.

I'm not even sure they had a first down after the Reed touchdown. As much as the defense stunk today, the offense is not completely blameless. They were non existent that entire fourth quarter.

[ReverendBrewmeister]

16 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

It's over. 

You earned every bit of this, MLF. You earned every bit of it when you hired the dumbest, most vanilla and bland defensive mind in football to run your defense. 

The Defensive Coordinator hire has to be the most glaring aspect of LaFleur’s tenure so far. That’s of matters directly controlled by him. Been an issue that even the “non-experts” have been able to see and comment on. (Hardly just armchair quarterbacking or barstool griping.)

[HarryDoyle]

Love left a lot to be desired on that last drive,

[LouisEly]

1 minute ago, HarryDoyle said:

I'm not even sure they had a first down after the Reed touchdown. As much as the defense stunk today, the offense is not completely blameless. They were non existent that entire fourth quarter.

That's a big issue - the offense couldn't keep the defense off the field and give them a rest.

[HarryDoyle]

These are the kind of losses that are hard to stomach, because this should've been a win. What a choke job.

[wOOgiE22]

Another defensive gem pitched by Joe Barry. Yeah the offensive was non existent in the 4th, but this is all on the defense. 

[adambr2]

8 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

These are the kind of losses that are hard to stomach, because this should've been a win. What a choke job.

Very disappointing. Particularly in Barry, which is no surprise. 

[yourout]

17 minutes ago, homer said:

at least the Lions lost

NFC North might be the weakest division in football right now.

[adambr2]

10 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

Love left a lot to be desired on that last drive,

Could have been better, but it's not like his overall performance was bad. With his #1 RB, #1 WR, and #1 OL out, I'll definitely give him a pass on that last drive. 

[ReverendBrewmeister]

12 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

That's a big issue - the offense couldn't keep the defense off the field and give them a rest.

Had one missed route by Love (Doubs running free deep right) and klutzy running by Dillon unable to pick up a first down. Either of those are converted, and it might be a win. Defense still had to be able to make a stop without giving up points or take another of the turnovers that Ridder was offering them earlier in the game. Didn’t do so, and it’s a 1-1 record instead of a 2-0 start. That’s the fine difference between wins and losses, which might be magnified more this season with Love at QB.

[adambr2]

13 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

That's a big issue - the offense couldn't keep the defense off the field and give them a rest.

They gave up 436 yards to an offense with one of the worst starting QBs in football.

They were getting absolutely gashed by Bijan long before they got gassed. They were just getting lucky (missed TD at the back of the endzone, missed XP, penalty on 4th and 1 from the 1.) They could have easily given up 30+.

The luck ran out in the 4th and the points started piling up. 

It was the same old underachieving relative to expectations and choking late Packers D that we've seen under Barry every year. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

5 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

They gave up 436 yards to an offense with one of the worst starting QBs in football.

They were getting absolutely gashed by Bijan long before they got gassed. They were just getting lucky (missed TD at the back of the endzone, missed XP, penalty on 4th and 1 from the 1.) They could have easily given up 30+.

The luck ran out in the 4th and the points started piling up. 

It was the same old underachieving relative to expectations and choking late Packers D that we've seen under Barry every year. 

Yeah I have to say, I think I'm pretty reasonable as a fan but there is a good amount of legit talent on that defense. I can't figure out why it's so bad.  

[yourout]

1 minute ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Yeah I have to say, I think I'm pretty reasonable as a fan but there is a good amount of legit talent on that defense. I can't figure out why it's so bad.  

There's been one constant for the last 3 years and that's Joe Berry

[Fear The Chorizo]

What a waste of a winnable game

[OldHeidelberg]

18 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

What a waste of a winnable game

Yeah 24 points should have been enough but I knew the game was lost the second Dillon failed on that 3rd down. Defense was done at that point. Was just hoping for a missed Fg.

 

 

[BrewerFan]

5 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

Honestly, if this is his intention, sitting out games that are on field turf, the Packers may as well look to trade Bakh before the deadline this season.  

It's frustrating enough for Packer skill position players to constantly have hamstring issues that wind up costing chunks of the season, but if it's gotten to the point where Bakh won't play on turf because of risk of reinjuring that knee I don't care how good he looks when playing sporadically - he's not reliable enough to be this team's starting left tackle, and he's likely as good as gone after this season anyway due to his 2024 cap # compared to what his dead cap # would be.

Just a shame that the Packers got so little production out of him following that contract extension.

And I'd add that even if Bakh sitting out today is due to a knee injury management issue and not just his preference of not playing on field turf - they just played a game on arguably the softest/slowest grass surface in the entire league at Soldier field in early September on perfect weather day - if Bakh can't go back to back weeks with 6 days' rest in between Sundays at the start of the season, then he truly is damaged goods and can't be relied on for any given game.

I don't know exactly what it is, but it certainly feels like it's a statement. He's not practicing indoor at the Hutson Center, he's not playing on games on the turf.

He looked GREAT last week...jumping around, bending. And now you're just...sitting out nearly 1/3rd of the games, including vs two of our biggest division rivals? IF that is the case, terrible look at his career as an elite LT is over.

Now I'll allow for the chance that the Packers are very confident in Walker(he looked very good, but ATL doesn't have great edge rushers) and they're the ones trying to play it safe...but I wouldn't bet on that given how vocal Bakh has been about turf, I doubt that's it.

 

BEST pass blocking LT of the decade(arguably the best all over, though I'd lean Tyron Smith)...record setting extension and that fluke injury, 3 more surgeries and now he's skipping games on Turf. Yeah, it's a shame. I think the Packers win vs TB and SF if we have Bakh(and likely today vs ATL).

[BrewerFan]

I see a lot of people bashing the defense...and they COULD definitely have played better. But when the issues really started, IMO, was when the Packers went into kinda shutdown mode.

I get you're down your LT, your LG, your #1 WRer(not even sure that's true, but biggest threat)...your #1 RB(by a LOT). 

But it felt like they didn't trust Love enough in the 4th. It feels like they're trying to REALLY protect him...and I understand why, but this is it. We're live. He's passed the 1st test, but it doesn't feel like you even let him take the 2nd test. Your defense is getting gashed, they're wearing down...put the ball in his hands and go and finish the Falcons.

 

As for Barry and the defense, I'm not a fan of Barry, but I think this was more the Falcons just being an ELITE running team. They have 3 really good OL, they had big, physical receivers on the edge who are involved in the run game and I honestly didn't think they played that poorly. 

WE allowed them to stick with it by not finishing them off. Clark has a good game(he was lined up over that Bergeron, the rookie from Syracuse). I thought Slaton played well, Quay Walker was sideline to sideline. Van Ness looked good vs the run until the injury(hope it's not a torn pec, looked like a situation where that could happen). Wyatt was good at disrupting.

But the problem was you have to rotate guys in and there were WAY too many plays in which Brooks, Hollins, Enagbare, Wooden on the field.

I said in the original post, I thought this may be a good game to promote Ford...but they choose not to.

 

Bottom line, you let them hang around and you didn't finish them off. Frustrating, but I think Atlanta is going to give teams a lot of problems with their run game. 

[HarryDoyle]

The more I see this, the more aggravated I get. Make it make sense.

[HarryDoyle]

For context.

https://x.com/mattschneidman/status/1703528987614499138?s=20

[DuWayne Steurer]

3 hours ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Yeah I have to say, I think I'm pretty reasonable as a fan but there is a good amount of legit talent on that defense. I can't figure out why it's so bad.  

I can!

[BrewerFan]

1 hour ago, HarryDoyle said:

The more I see this, the more aggravated I get. Make it make sense.

Do you mean Campbell on Bijan or Savage playing the deep middle?

I'd imagine they'd tell you that playing press man across the board vs big, physical WRers(and Pitts) who can go get 50/50 balls, you don't want to completely sell out. That'd be Barry's justification and there's some logic to it, but I'd rather force them to make a play and if they do...then they do.

As for Campbell on Bijan....I don't know, dude is a menace.

 

Here's a bigger problem I have. Where the hell is Gary? Why is Hollins playing? I get LVN got hurt, but he's strictly an effort player.