Game 16: Packers @ Vikings - Sunday, Dec. 29th 3:25 PM

[OldSchoolSnapper]

6 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

They clearly do not have one which is the most frustrating thing.

Against clearly inferior opponents, they’ve been remarkably consistent — which even that is kind of hard to do. Almost every team has a dud somewhere against a mediocre team.

But against the true, obvious contenders, the Packers haven’t had the mental toughness to stand toe to toe.

Their dud was the Bears game. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

43 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Not specific to anything in this thread, but I just knew after this game that social media would be flooded with “OMG if the Packers had just kicked the FG on 4th and 2 in the 1st half they would have won 28-27!!” Not how it works.

Already said it but just white flagging the FG to end the half was 1000x worse than the 4th and 2. 

[OldHeidelberg]

2 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I have no expectations though. Not anything beyond an extra week of football. 

 

Yep, I wouldn't call it house money like last year but happy to get a week of playoff football for the Pack. Just get out of the wildcard round and you have a shot. 

[adambr2]

Just now, OldHeidelberg said:

Yep, I wouldn't call it house money like last year but happy to get a week of playoff football for the Pack. Just get out of the wildcard round and you have a shot. 

Which is why I’d like to play in Atlanta or LA, preferably.

I get the sentiment behind “just give us Philly and see what happens.” It just seems like a far less winnable game to me. I think the Packers are still road favorites against the Falcons or Rams.

I’d rather have the best shot for an extra week and get to the divisional round at least again, even if it ends there. It would be nice to not take a step back and lose on WC weekend.

[HarryDoyle]

5 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

They clearly do not have one which is the most frustrating thing.

Against clearly inferior opponents, they’ve been remarkably consistent — which even that is kind of hard to do. Almost every team has a dud somewhere against a mediocre team.

But against the true, obvious contenders, the Packers haven’t had the mental toughness to stand toe to toe.

They definitely should get all the credit in the world for beating every team they were supposed to beat. Unfortunately, we won't be playing any of those teams in the playoffs. If they somehow hang on to the six seed they'll be playing a fully loaded Rams offense this time around. Right now that game is a toss up to me. Despite having a third place schedule next year, it will still be tougher than the one they've played this season as they will be playing the AFC North and NFC East, possibly a reloaded San Francisco and I think Denver as the 17th game.

[HarryDoyle]

11 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Their dud was the Bears game. 

It was still a win despite it defying all logic.

[homer]

2 hours ago, OldHeidelberg said:

We don't have one, you just have to hope Love gets hot and we put it together in the playoffs. I know other disagree but I think this is more likely if we face the Rams in round one than Philly.  

the crazy thing is, they didn't play well today and still came close to winning Pre snap penalties killed them. Just eliminating those and I think this is a very different game. 

 

Saw this mentioned elsewhere but 1) they miss Watson stretching the field in the passing game and 2) the D has a definite ceiling if they can't get pressure with four 

[Sixtolezcano]

52 minutes ago, homer said:

the crazy thing is, they didn't play well today and still came close to winning Pre snap penalties killed them. Just eliminating those and I think this is a very different game. 

 

Saw this mentioned elsewhere but 1) they miss Watson stretching the field in the passing game and 2) the D has a definite ceiling if they can't get pressure with four 

I think if Love grows up and can finally make better decisions it would help this team tremendously. Along with MLF’s inexplicable 4th down decisions when to kick a field goal and when to go for it in the 1st half really screwed this team today. Love really dragged this team down today before he finally woke up halfway thru the 4th quarter. He has been a huge disappointment this season.  Looks like we start the playoffs in Philly this year. Oh well!

[adambr2]

“We’ve got to earn the right to play these guys again”

Yup, you said the exact same thing after the loss in Detroit. 

At some point, you have to get it done, Matty Schottenheimer.

[CheezWizHed]

Love is a good quarterback, but this season has shown that he has a long way to go to be a great one. 

• His situational awareness is terrible.  The Vikings getting the FG at the end of the 1st half (despite the horrible offsides flag) is mainly on his shoulders.  1:30 to go in the half, 3rd and 5, and you throw a 30-yard bomb to a double covered WR that wasn't at all open.  He makes these decisions SO often.  
• His strength - deep shots - is also his weakness.  He goes to it far too often.  And kills drives by doubling up on low percentage plays back-to-back.  
• The Vikings defense shows exactly where Love struggles. 
  • Early in the game, they pressure, play man, and close to the LOS.  Love can't seem to identify the blitz or at least change the coverage to protect himself.  Nor does he change routes to give himself a quick out?  Brady had some good comments about how the checkdown sometimes needs to be your first read.  I don't think Love gets this at all. 
  • Late in the game, they drop into a prevent defense and Love is able to find room to make completions.  There he moves the ball and finds WR open.... because the defense is giving it to them.  He can't seem to "create" the plays based on a strong defense.  I'll say the second half points he scored against the Vikings are a paper tiger.  If you can only score when their D is in prevent, then that doesn't say much for you as a QB. 
• Love has a lot of great physical qualities as a QB, but he needs to become MUCH smarter at QB to really be a SB champion. 

[CheezWizHed]

Other observations: 

• Cooper is a player.  He just looks different out there. 
• Reed disappeared after the bye.  He was averaging 69 yd/gm before the bye and 27 yds/game after; including 6 against the Vikings, 0 against Detroit, and 23 against Chicago. 
• We spent a lot of money and draft picks on our pass rush for it to be this bad.  Gary just isn't going to be that stud pass rusher.  No one else looks like it either.  Time for a FA I guess. 
• Bullard looks lost at safety.  Not bad at nickel, but surprisingly bad at safety. 
• The OL was a sieve in pass block mode.  I tend to believe this was mainly bad communication at picking up blitzes.  
• We need more plays where TE/RB are the primary target.  I don't know if our reads are deep to shallow so that Love never gets there or what... but we have great success when he does target TEs and RBs.  We just don't do that much. 
• I think MLF made the right calls on 4th down, even though the one conversion didn't work (that was a terrible play call though on 4th).  The other 4th down was a pretty long conversion, and the FG made more sense there. 
• Our defense should've seen the last play to Ham coming... He was WIDE open the first time they called it.  MN made it hard on themselves, but that should've been easy money.