Good luck trying to predict which of the Green Bay Packers’ running backs is going to lead the way on any given week at this point. The trio of MarShawn Lloyd, Kaleb Johnson, and Chris Brooks have struggled mightily so far this season, and although each of them had some high points in last Sunday’s win over the Buccaneers, there are plenty of mistakes going around as well.
Lloyd can’t seem to read blocks and has a fumbling problem. Johnson’s fumble issues might be even worse. And now Brooks is injured
and probably will miss Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears.
Obviously the Packers’ offensive line issues have limited these players’ ability to impact the game to this point, but the players are simply making too many unforced errors to this point. Unfortunately for the Packers, there aren’t many other options available to them; however, they did exercise one of them by calling up Pierre Strong from the practice squad this week.
Will Strong help this group bounce back? Who knows, and we’ll start to find out on Sunday afternoon. But if he can simply read blocks reasonably well and hold on to the football, that might be more than enough to be an upgrade over the players who have been carrying the ball to this point.
Kaleb Johnson believes he has fixed his fumbling problem | Packersnews.com ($)
He had better fix it quickly if he hopes to get any more of a role in this offense. Apparently he believes a change in shoulder pads was part of the problem.
Packers don’t know if RB Chris Brooks (ankle) will play vs. Bears | Packers Wire
Brooks’ status being uncertain is surely why the team promoted Pierre Strong, Jr. from the practice squad to the 53-man roster on Thursday.
Packers’ defense looks to pick up where Edgerrin Cooper left off | Packers.com
It’s also going to be linebacker by committee, with Isaiah McDuffie and Ty’Ron Hopper doing the bulk of the work to fill in for the injured star.
Jordan Love Excels In This Phase, So Why Aren’t Packers Leaning Into It? | SI.com
Love’s passer rating off play-action is 3rd in the NFL — proof that you don’t need a good run game for play-action to work. Isn’t it time to get more of that going early in games?
The Packers will need to find a way to score some points on Sunday, but perhaps they can get some regression to the mean from a Bears defense that has been playing unsustainably well in a few specific areas:
Beavers destroy sign warning about beavers | Notes from Poland
Good! Beavers are great! Leave them alone!
Go Pack Go—wherever you go!
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