Game 9: Lions @ Packers - Sunday, Nov 3rd at 3:25PM

[wOOgiE22]

The Packers had their chances. Put up over 400 yards but shot themselves in their foot too many times that made the game uncompetitive. Just get through the bye and get healthy. I don’t care about the division, we suck playing in the cold in the playoffs anyway. 

[82brewcrew82]

1 minute ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I seriously don't care. Great. Like I couldn't possibly care any less. They lost, you're upset. I'm sorry. 

Yet here you are.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Just now, 82brewcrew82 said:

Yet here you are.

Well yeah. I've been here for like 20 years.  

[OldSchoolSnapper]

3 minutes ago, wOOgiE22 said:

The Packers had their chances. Put up over 400 yards but shot themselves in their foot too many times that made the game uncompetitive. Just get through the bye and get healthy. I don’t care about the division, we suck playing in the cold in the playoffs anyway. 

Be careful about even suggesting this game wasn't over 5 minutes into the first quarter. 

[82brewcrew82]

1 minute ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Well yeah. I've been here for like 20 years.  

And again,  Be sure you show how much you don't care by resounding to every last post and then.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Just now, 82brewcrew82 said:

And again,  Be sure you show how much you don't care by resounding to every last post and then.

Ok

[adambr2]

9 minutes ago, wOOgiE22 said:

The Packers had their chances. Put up over 400 yards but shot themselves in their foot too many times that made the game uncompetitive. Just get through the bye and get healthy. I don’t care about the division, we suck playing in the cold in the playoffs anyway. 

This is mostly correct, but I'm not reading too much into the yardage totals today. A lot of game script and flow involved in that, and obviously Detroit could have capped off their final drive with another score. I have no doubt they could go for 400+ on us with the appropriate situation and conditions. 

I'm not going to say we were dominated today, but just far too many little things that you can't do to have a chance against a football team like this. 

Jordan's pick 6 was a turning point but this is a Matt LaFleur loss. You have to have your team disciplined and mentally prepared going into a game like this and he failed to do so. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

1 minute ago, adambr2 said:

This is mostly correct, but I'm not reading too much into the yardage totals today. A lot of game script and flow involved in that, and obviously Detroit could have capped off their final drive with another score. I have no doubt they could go for 400+ on us with the appropriate situation and conditions. 

I'm not going to say we were dominated today, but just far too many little things that you can't do to have a chance against a football team like this. 

Jordan's pick 6 was a turning point but this is a Matt LaFleur loss. You have to have your team disciplined and mentally prepared going into a game like this and he failed to do so. 

I mean they were dominated by the end, pretty thoroughly. The 400 yards don't mean a whole lot but the way Jacobs was gashing them early does.  

The best thing they had going for them was Jacobs running at will, which became moot when you are down 3 scores. Yes they were dominated but I will maintain it's a completely different game if Kraft catches that early 3rd down, OR Love doesn't throw that inexcusable pick, and who knows, maybe even if we don't commit that hold in the 3rd to extend that drive and go down 24-3. 

Or not. Maybe they get crushed regardless, but yeah I agree completely just an awful game and the kind of awful game that goes on the coach. Just never had a rhythm and it was a shot in the foot any time they had a pulse. Even on the last lunge they can't convert 2nd and 1 in 3 attempts. Just bad. But I saw enough to believe we have a snow balls chance in hell to move through the NFC. 

[82brewcrew82]

15 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

This is mostly correct, but I'm not reading too much into the yardage totals today. A lot of game script and flow involved in that, and obviously Detroit could have capped off their final drive with another score. I have no doubt they could go for 400+ on us with the appropriate situation and conditions. 

I'm not going to say we were dominated today, but just far too many little things that you can't do to have a chance against a football team like this. 

Jordan's pick 6 was a turning point but this is a Matt LaFleur loss. You have to have your team disciplined and mentally prepared going into a game like this and he failed to do so. 

I agree in that this was much more about the ineptness of the Packers than it was about the Lions dominating.  However, this is becoming a trend.  The Jacksonville game was close for the same reasons and so on.  It's not like penalties, missing kicks, general sloppy play or dropping passes is anything new.  Their ability to simply make the playoffs is in question in my mind because of this.

You can say things like "no realistic playoff team is definitively better than the Packers" but then the opposite is true to.  A long way to go before I can even begin to think about run through the NFC in the playoffs.

[adambr2]

I also want to add that if you're going to receive to start the game, you damn well better make it worth it. All it takes is coming up short in the redzone, then giving up a TD and you're behind the 8 ball. 

I'd far prefer to try to play good 2 minute offense near the end of the half and get a 2 for 1 possession to end halftime/start the 3rd. 

Keep in mind 2 other ways in which this strategy proved costly today:

1) Detroit has far and away the best 3rd quarter offense in the NFL.

2) If we had a possession coming up after halftime, there's likely less desperation down 7, and quite possibly, the pick 6 never happens. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Detroit has to be your favorite in the NFC but I am only saying that this lacked the feel of say, 2020 I think it was? When SF was the front runner, we played them, got destroyed and literally couldn't throw a pass without immediate pressure in Aaron's face and it was apparent that we were good, but were never going to beat them. 

Then we played them again and the exact same thing happened. Everybody knew we were going to lose and we did. 

We can play with the Lions. It's a tall order to beat them, but play well and you can. I don't think we could have ever beaten SF. 

The Packers have a Jordan Love problem though. There hasn't been a loss that's all on him, but 6-2 has masked how bad he has played. Is he the worst QB in the league? No, but let's be honest, they are 2.5-3 or whatever you want to call it with him this year and he has been sloppy to be generous about things. 

I don't know what the Packers can fix this season, genuinely I don't.  The easy thing would be to stop throwing so many damn picks, but the rest of the stuff, penalties, a mediocre front 7...kinda just feels like who they are. 

I don't think they are a good enough team to have a playoff game where I'll be very sure they're going to win regardless of who it is. But when they're "on" they can look really good. 

And I think a reset of the talent on defense is likely in order. I think there are some names there due to draft status that just aren't very good players at all.  

[82brewcrew82]

If the proposition is that the Packers can beat the Lions if the Packers play well, then the Packers have to prove they can actually play well to beat them.  If we are going to say that stupid, sloppy play is "who they are" and this is going to continue then they can't beat the Lions (or any of the other top NFC contenders for that matter).

[OldSchoolSnapper]

...But there aren't any other top NFC contenders. All the other teams have shown pretty wild inconsistency. Who are these teams? Washington? They are a hail mary from the same record and a bunch of Jaguars-esque wins.

It's a cluster of like 8 teams that are all kinda similar. You can probably toss the Rams in there too now. I guess I would put Philly #2 and GB #4 based on the season thus far, but just not a lot of separation at all.

[HarryDoyle]

3 hours ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

He's not close to either one. 

You know damn well what I mean.

[HarryDoyle]

2 hours ago, adambr2 said:

Winning the division looks highly unlikely after today. I think we'd have to sweep the rest of our division games. 

Do you really want to play at home in the playoffs? They've proven for quite a while now that they don't have a home field advantage in January. This offense can't function in bad weather. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Just now, HarryDoyle said:

You know damn well what I mean.

Well, sort of, but there been a lot of those analogies flying around, from fans and talking heads. And everyone keeps saying "he's Brett Favre." I know what it means but I can't help but think people have forgotten how good Brett Favre actually was before about 2000. When he was winning MVPs a lot of that riverboat gambler stuff was minimized. 

Love has been frustrating to watch. He really needs to learn when to give up on a play. He can do everything you need but these picks are killing them and at least half are completely unnecessary. 

[HarveysWBs]

41 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Well, sort of, but there been a lot of those analogies flying around, from fans and talking heads. And everyone keeps saying "he's Brett Favre." I know what it means but I can't help but think people have forgotten how good Brett Favre actually was before about 2000. When he was winning MVPs a lot of that riverboat gambler stuff was minimized. 

Love has been frustrating to watch. He really needs to learn when to give up on a play. He can do everything you need but these picks are killing them and at least half are completely unnecessary. 

Jordan Love’s bye week assignment needs to be rehab and watching the second half of last year’s game film where he can see himself playing within the confines of the system and what the defense gives him—the offense completely turned around after that and he got himself paid as a result. Since the end of the divisional round game last year, he’s been more of the early 2023 version of himself than late 2023. He lost the plot. If he found it once he can find it again, but it has to be right now. If he plays like he did today they can lose in Chicago, and will almost certainly lose at home against the 49ers. If that happens, they’re probably cooked.

[adambr2]

1 hour ago, HarryDoyle said:

Do you really want to play at home in the playoffs? They've proven for quite a while now that they don't have a home field advantage in January. This offense can't function in bad weather. 

You really need to change your team identity if you're scared of playing home games in January. That's pretty bad for any organization, but especially one like Green Bay that used to pride itself on the immense homefield advantage. 

I assume paying Josh Jacobs was a part of trying to change that identity. I'd also argue that most of the current Packer offense has had either little or no experience playing in a cold weather game at home to know what their identity is in those conditions. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I really don't think any of this has anything to do with weather. They just sucked at too many key moments. They've been dropping the ball in summer-like conditions all year. They were moving the ball ok most of the game and then suddenly they just wouldn't.

I have been wondering to myself all year if they actually need help at WR. They have a stable of 2s or 3s but I am not sure they have a real stud at that position that can be counted on all the time. Maybe they are just too young to have to that yet. Reed would be that guy if they have one, I guess.

But they held a team that has just scored 42, 47, 52 and 31 to 17 offensive points. Two touchdowns scored on 4th down. They were also gashing them right up the gut at will until they got so far behind they couldn't run. Horrible in game decisions from the coach, thought stalling out on the opening drive and kicking a FG was big, too many huge drops...just so many unforced errors. 

I just think weather is a low hanging fruit. They've been completely schizophrenic all year in mostly sunny conditions. 

[homer]

IMO, a significant factor was guys missing. Jenkins was horrible snapping the ball and they really miss Jaire and Williams on D (which wasn't all that bad really). But without that Pick 6, it might be a whole different ballgame. Lions simply didn't make mistakes and converted big plays when they needed them.

I'm confident they are going to come out of the bye and go on a roll. They were so close to a really big game on offense but the penalties and drops just killed them. We sat in the south end zone and Love made some sick throws.

There were a lot of Lions fans at the game. The guy behind me wouldn't shut up and must have jumped on the bandwagon recently because he didn't know Jahmyr Gibbs' name. "Hey is that the fast guy?" Then the Packer fan next to him screamed "Bring in Wilkins!" after the Pick 6....so goes both ways I guess :)

[CheezWizHed]

If I were to pick one main failure yesterday, I'd say Love's performance was the major factor. Very poor decision making - the pick 6, so many deep passes to covered WRs, inaccurate throws... Just a very poor day on Love's behalf.  I REALLY hope that two pick 6s in a season with silly throws will cement that he needs to take care of the ball better. 

Love has only had two games statistically worse than yesterday since he became the full-time starter (2023+), but I'm sure his late game statistics padding helped avoid being the worst.  He just didn't look good.  I really think Malik should've come in the 2nd half. 

WR drops certainly didn't help him.  Jenkins snaps were bad.  Penalties up the wazzoo. Weird playcalls from MLF.

Defense was actually decent. I'm sure part of that was Detroit playing the clock kill game for most of the 2nd half, but they weren't the main problem at least. 

That certainly was one of the ugliest and ill-prepared game I've seen from the Packers in a while.  Can't go into games with Detroit and Minnesota and lay an egg like those two games have been and expect to be SB contenders. 

I wonder how we will look against Chicago with two weeks to prepare. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Love isn't having a good season. He's been throwing enough TDs to keep the hot takes mostly quiet. He has a QBR in the 50s and a completion % flirting with sub-60 to go with league-leading INTs despite missing 2.5 games. 5-straight wins and 6-2 made it hard for anyone to bring up, but he has not been good. I am not long-term concerned about him being the QB, but he is struggling and just hasn't been good. I have said this in prior weeks, but he is the biggest problem on the team right now. They won't ever be good across the board, but you need way more out of the guy you mortgaged everything on.

It's kind of a reason for optimism that they're still in playoff position with how much he has struggled.

[homer]

I don't know what Watson is doing here or maybe he lost it in the lights but this should have been a TD if he just kept running. 

 

 

[endaround]

2 minutes ago, homer said:

I don't know what Watson is doing here or maybe he lost it in the lights but this should have been a TD if he just kept running. 

 

 

The ball was knocked around by the wind or badly thrown.  It should have been at the numbers or the hash lines (probably the numbers) but was between the two,   Watson should still have caught it and did misplay it, but if kept running it would have been behind him by 10-15 yds.

[homer]

8 minutes ago, endaround said:

The ball was knocked around by the wind or badly thrown.  It should have been at the numbers or the hash lines (probably the numbers) but was between the two,   Watson should still have caught it and did misplay it, but if kept running it would have been behind him by 10-15 yds.

It was on the numbers. Watch where it lands - on the 25 yard line between the "20" and "30".