Wildcard Round: Packers @ Eagles - Sunday, Jan. 12th 3:30 PM

[OldHeidelberg]

It seems like a good week to move on a little early from last week's debacle and it is the playoffs. This will be a tough one but get through it and we get another shot at Lions. Losing Watson is a big blow, we are going to need long drives and finish them with TD's to keep the Eagles from getting on a roll on offense. MLF, Halfley, and ST coach all embarrassed last week, can they pull it back together? We did start the 2010 run @Eagles so there is that. Eagles favored by 4.5, feels like it should be about 7. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Has all the makings of a game where no one gives the Packers a chance, they come out and play well, cling to a 3-point lead the entire time and blow it in the 4th in some hysterical way.

[OldHeidelberg]

14 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Has all the makings of a game where no one gives the Packers a chance, they come out and play well, cling to a 3-point lead the entire time and blow it in the 4th in some hysterical way.

I usually prepare for an excruciating loss in playoffs, that is the Packers MO. I don't remember too many seasons where we came into playoffs with a finish like this, usually we either squeak in with a late run or are coasting in with a bye. We will need a big game from Love.   

[OldSchoolSnapper]

10 minutes ago, OldHeidelberg said:

I usually prepare for an excruciating loss in playoffs, that is the Packers MO. I don't remember too many seasons where we came into playoffs with a finish like this, usually we either squeak in with a late run or are coasting in with a bye. We will need a big game from Love.   

It looks bad. It's a better team, we limped in, we're hurt. But for all their warts, the Packers MO just usually isn't getting blown out. Logically, this game shouldn't be very competitive, I think there's at least a 2-score separation, but it always seems to be more dramatic than it needs to be.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Take out the Saints game and Jayden Reed has barely over 100 yards in the 2nd half of the season. They should have fixed this about 4 weeks ago. They will need him to reappear to have any chance in this game. That's inexcusable for a supposed offensive guru.

[SeaBass]

14 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Take out the Saints game and Jayden Reed has barely over 100 yards in the 2nd half of the season. They should have fixed this about 4 weeks ago. They will need him to reappear to have any chance in this game. That's inexcusable for a supposed offensive guru.

Sure, as long as he doesn't fumble it away again.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

8 minutes ago, SeaBass said:

Sure, as long as he doesn't fumble it away again.

He has one career fumble. Their best receiver needs to be part of their offense. It's actually shocking he didn't hit 1,000 yards with the first half he had. They don't have the liberty of shunning their best players even if he fumbled five times this season.

[Brian]

1 hour ago, OldHeidelberg said:

It seems like a good week to move on a little early from last week's debacle and it is the playoffs. This will be a tough one but get through it and we get another shot at Lions. Losing Watson is a big blow, we are going to need long drives and finish them with TD's to keep the Eagles from getting on a roll on offense. MLF, Halfley, and ST coach all embarrassed last week, can they pull it back together? We did start the 2010 run @Eagles so there is that. Eagles favored by 4.5, feels like it should be about 7. 

Green Bay Packers: Week 1 game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday, September 6, 2024 at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, Brazil.  Eagles 34, Packers 29 

Eagles loosing to: Atlanta, Tampa, Washington this season.

And Eagles blew out the Cowboys twice. 

[SeaBass]

24 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

He has one career fumble. Their best receiver needs to be part of their offense. It's actually shocking he didn't hit 1,000 yards with the first half he had. They don't have the liberty of shunning their best players even if he fumbled five times this season.

That one career fumble helped lose the team a game when the Bears scored a TD 3 plays and 21 yards later.

He also muffed a punt that I misremembered as a loss of possession but he did in fact recover it.

[Team Canada]

What are the odds Hurts doesn't actually clear the protocol by Sunday?

[OldHeidelberg]

7 minutes ago, Team Canada said:

What are the odds Hurts doesn't actually clear the protocol by Sunday?

Just saw a Mike Garrafolo  update that he should be good to go. The line hasn't moved in Packers direction since yesterday so I would guess he will play. They probably didn't bother to have him cleared last week because he was going to sit.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

1 hour ago, SeaBass said:

That one career fumble helped lose the team a game when the Bears scored a TD 3 plays and 21 yards later.

He also muffed a punt that I misremembered as a loss of possession but he did in fact recover it.

OK - but what are you suggesting? They bench him? Not throw to him? Not sure what your point is here.

Fumbles are pretty random events - they more or less happen. They are much less indictive statistically of anything compared to an interception for example, which tend to be less random. 

A random fumble in a loss where the Packers would still be a 7 seed had they won, in a game where they benched a bunch of guys is a very odd hill to die on.

It's much more of a concern that their best WR has 200 yards since October and has barely been thrown to.

[SeaBass]

11 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

A random fumble in a loss where the Packers would still be a 7 seed had they won, in a game where they benched a bunch of guys is a very odd hill to die on.

Put my gravestone there because it wasn't irrelevant until after the game had ended. Still lost.

The point has been, he's sucked for many weeks and he sucked on Sunday. I don't think there's anything more to add to it.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

17 minutes ago, SeaBass said:

Put my gravestone there because it wasn't irrelevant until after the game had ended. Still lost.

The point has been, he's sucked for many weeks and he sucked on Sunday. I don't think there's anything more to add to it.

And the point is this: Unless Ja'marr Chase is suiting up for the Packers this weekend, this doesn't really matter, now does it? He's who they have. He's their best WR. They will need him to perform to pull off an upset. 

Yeesh. Didn't know that was going to be such a trigger.

[GAME05]

Has Reed necessarily slipped or is it just a product of a system which doesn't much prioritize one receiver over another? Although what's the o/u on Reed jet sweeps next game? 4?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

3 minutes ago, GAME05 said:

Has Reed necessarily slipped or is it just a product of a system which doesn't much prioritize one receiver over another? Although what's the o/u on Reed jet sweeps next game? 4?

He was tracking for a big season in the first part of the year though and is clearly a good player.

I would think an offensive guru HC would be able to gameplan his best players open. Given how much time the rest of the guys have missed, something seems amiss with what Reed has done this year. I don't know enough if it's him not getting open, poor play selection, Love, I don't know. 

What is obvious is that they need more from him, particularly with Watson gone.

I guess some of us are going to just spleen vent that he "sucks", I don't think he does suck and I don't really care about one stupid fumble. His lack of involvement in the offense predates the Bears game. The entire passing game is just out of whack lately too.

I personally get exhausted just throwing every player under the bus constantly and the ridiculous exaggerations about how bad everybody is. It's like watching the games with my brother who is the same constant negativity stream. It's hilarious because I am definitely pessimistic by nature, but some of these takes just make me genuinely wonder if people actually enjoy watching sports ever.

[SeaBass]

11 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

And the point is this: Unless Ja'marr Chase is suiting up for the Packers this weekend, this doesn't really matter, now does it? He's who they have. He's their best WR. They will need him to perform to pull off an upset. 

Yeesh. Didn't know that was going to be such a trigger.

The Bears have DJ Moore and I don't think anybody is confusing him with Ja'Marr Chase. He still came through for his team and helped give them a chance to win.

It's not even really about Reed. I think I'm mostly sour because the Packers fooled me. I thought they were good. They're merely average, or a tick above.

The last 5 weeks of this season have put a real dampener on how I feel about this team. 3 losses in winnable games all against division rivals is deflating in any season. They just can't make the key play at the end of games to secure a victory, all 3 ended with the defense failing to prevent crucial 1st downs that led to game winning field goals.

Even the 2 wins feel somewhat hollow in retrospect.

New Orleans is a bad football team that was forced to play their backup QB. Still there were stretches of that game where the offensive ineptitude was apparent. I had considered that perhaps the Packers went more vanilla as the game went on to not reveal any plays or tendencies but they were still trying to play offense and score and they just fizzled. But they pitched a shutout so people were happy.

Seattle had the feel of a game where the Seahawks could have mounted a comeback but then Geno got hurt and that ended their chances. In the 2nd half the Packers punted 4 times, failed a 4th down conversion and lost a fumble while scoring just 10 points.

Pretty uninspiring stuff. Can they still beat any of the teams in the playoffs? Sure, it's possible. I don't think it's likely though.

There is a lot of work to do this offseason.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

^I think everyone is in the same boat. The expectations have lowered significantly from just 3 weeks ago, where it looked like a sleeper contender to now where the 6/7th seed feels about right, they are more Rams and less Lions.

That said, I don't care, it's a GT about this game, I am of the belief the Packers need a veteran WR this offseason - Chase, Moore, whoever, also irrelevant. They aren't on the team. The Packers need more out of Doubs or Reed to have a chance. That's all I was saying. The passing offense is broken. It's about time for MLF to do some of this scheming I hear he's so good at. Benching Reed for a fumble isn't the answer this week, even if it the answer next year.

[kestrel79]

Watched some highlights from the Playoffs last year and end of season. Just seems like Love is wayyy more comfortable, moving around better and more often. Less shotgun, more under center play action. As soon as he drops back and sets his feet, someone is wide open and the ball is out and on time and accurate and there's a big gain. 

Seems like this year he's a little more panicked back there after the injury with pressure coming, and guys aren't as wide open as last year and he doesn't want to throw more INTs so he holds onto the ball too long and then nothing is there. Teams adjusted to our film from last year and we haven't counter adjusted.

[Fear The Chorizo]

1 hour ago, kestrel79 said:

Watched some highlights from the Playoffs last year and end of season. Just seems like Love is wayyy more comfortable, moving around better and more often. Less shotgun, more under center play action. As soon as he drops back and sets his feet, someone is wide open and the ball is out and on time and accurate and there's a big gain. 

Seems like this year he's a little more panicked back there after the injury with pressure coming, and guys aren't as wide open as last year and he doesn't want to throw more INTs so he holds onto the ball too long and then nothing is there. Teams adjusted to our film from last year and we haven't counter adjusted.

Doubs is their go-to intermediate route/deep crosser receiver that had monster games late last season as part of that play action game.  He's been inconsistently available on gamedays the past month or so and the team's onfield production has suffered from that.  Factor in Watson being iffy with injuries and now done with that knee, Jacobs just not being as dynamic a big play RB as Aaron Jones was in the running game, and Tucker Kraft seemingly hitting a wall and the skill position depth hasn't made plays for Love.  

I also think some of this is poor game-planning/play calling in trying to make Love an Aaron Rodgers clone.  He simply isn't accurate enough to lead a precision passing offense that nickel and dimes you up and down the field.  His biggest plus is arm talent and decent mobility, taking a big drop in play action, planting his foot and throwing based off a primary/secondary read.  

Even with Watson out, if Doubs is healthy the Packers have enough talent on offense to score 30+ a game against anyone if they put personnel in better positions to succeed.  I don't think it's teams taking away what made them click offensively last season as much as it's the Packers getting away from it and instead tinkering with formations/plays to try and find a better widget.

[yourout]

5 hours ago, GAME05 said:

Has Reed necessarily slipped or is it just a product of a system which doesn't much prioritize one receiver over another? Although what's the o/u on Reed jet sweeps next game? 4?

It would take someone that's knows what they are looking at watching the all 22s to tell if he is being defended differently or if it is him not getting targeted.

[OldHeidelberg]

I am sure the Eagles are going to try to make Love beat them and sell out to stop Jacobs early. Getting the Packers offense out of sync in first half seems to be the key to beating them. Likewise, the Packers D needs to make a rusty Hurts prove can get the Eagles passing game going. Hopefully the coaching staff can come up with some new wrinkles this week. Maybe have some designed QB draws for Love, we never do that.

[kestrel79]

1 hour ago, OldHeidelberg said:

I am sure the Eagles are going to try to make Love beat them and sell out to stop Jacobs early. Getting the Packers offense out of sync in first half seems to be the key to beating them. Likewise, the Packers D needs to make a rusty Hurts prove can get the Eagles passing game going. Hopefully the coaching staff can come up with some new wrinkles this week. Maybe have some designed QB draws for Love, we never do that.

This is one of the things missing from our offense compared to last year when we were rolling that gets overlooked. Love was a legit threat to just tuck it down and run if no one was open right away and he'd get some big yardage. That really helps the passing game and running game.

Maybe it's the coaching staff not wanting to risk injuring their QB of the future, or Love being a little timid after his injuries this year (There is no metric or stat to determine this, but it does seem like he has lost some of his "swag" from end of last season post injury early this year), but they need this back in their playbook to keep the defense in check. It just seems like the defense is teeing off on us because they know he's not going to run or scramble like last year when he gets pressured.

It's the last game of the year, and the playoffs. Sounds like a perfect time to bring that back into the fold and go for it. I bet the Eagles wouldn't expect it.

[CheezWizHed]

In years past, playing this Eagles team would be a nightmare with Barkley and Hurts running ability.  With Cooper and our improved D this year, it doesn't feel so bad.  If Walker comes back AND plays his best (as he was a couple games right before he was injured), that could be a big difference in dealing with those two.

and I have to bring it up...

4th and 26!

[Fear The Chorizo]

Jacobs is going to need to have a monster game for the Packers to win this one - and I think there will need to be a totally random receiver/tight end who has a huge day, too.  If the Eagles' front can pin their ears back and rush the passer, Love is going to have a very long day without someone to truly take the top off the Eagles' secondary.

On paper, Philly is the best team in the NFC and it's not really that close, they're healthy, and they should be motivated.  I think the Packers give them a helluva test, but have a hard time seeing them putting together a complete enough game to win unless the Eagles suffer some catastrophic injuries or a series of fluky turnovers.