I figured we should open up a discussion about where the Green Bay Packers are, since this seems like an important snapshot of the team before they end up playing the Chicago Bears in Week 5. I just got through the offense’s film from Week 4, and here are my general thoughts:
1) Jordan Love played much better than in the previous two weeks, mostly because he looked calm in the pocket. Really, his nerves started to show up in the fourth quarter of Week 1, when it seemed like he lost all trust in the offensive
line. He was moving in pockets that he just didn’t trust anymore (and I don’t really blame him). This week, that all went away.
I think the best example of this is the play where MarShawn Lloyd hurdled a Buccaneers defender. Love is operating a quick-game pass (the ball is supposed to be out fast), but he was comfortable enough with the line blocking an extra second or two to find his checkdown. In previous weeks, he probably would have moved around and just hoped for a scramble drill.
The only bad balls I saw were the deep shot to J. Michael Sturdivant (he only played one more snap after it looked like he slowed down instead of running through the route — potentially the fault of Sturdivant and not Love) and the deep shot to Matthew Golden. I don’t even really put the interception on Love, since the deep thirds defender just broke his rules on the play and left Jonnu Smith wide open. The entire game plan was about reading the defense quickly and throwing the ball quickly, so a defender going off script got him (sort of like the interception late against the Cleveland Browns last year).
2) They can run an offense now! They did enough in the run game to have the defense respect the run on play-action reps, arguably the biggest benefit to running the ball.
Was it always pretty? No! The backs mostly went down on first contact, even against cornerbacks in duo schemes (the reason you run these plays is to get the backs one-on-one with cornerbacks), but they did enough to make play-action plays relevant — something that wasn’t true last week against the Atlanta Falcons.
This was probably the first time since Week 1 (when the Packers were a full-blown outside zone and boot action offense, a poor one at that) that the running game complemented the passing game. I’m counting that as progress!
3) We’re making the lives of our offensive linemen easier with the quick passing game and screen game. The Packers aren’t getting a ton of YAC out of these plays (Tucker Kraft doesn’t look 100 percent right now), but it’s at least moving the chains pretty regularly.
I don’t know how good this offensive line will look from a pass protection standpoint if the game gets out of hand and they’re chasing points, but at least when they’re on schedule, they can survive with what they’re doing right now. Staying on schedule is going to be huge for this team, as quick-game passes, screens and play-action passes sort of rely on the opposing defense not assuming a pass is coming every single play. We’re going to learn a lot about this line the next time they’re actually chasing points.
4) Way too many penalties. Way too many drops. Stupid fumbles (including the one that thankfully was ruled a drop for Matthew Golden). If the Packers can just fix that, things will look a lot better on offense, even if their running backs aren’t breaking tackles and the team isn’t getting breakaway YAC performances from checkdowns.
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There’s plenty of work to be done, but this week was a step in a positive direction, in some aspects — like the gameplan and the function of the offensive line. Other areas — like shooting themselves in the foot with penalties, drops and fumbles — still need improvement.
Let me know what you think of the team in the comments section. When I watch the defense, I’ll add some of my thoughts there, too.
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