More Banjo: Week 2 @ Atlanta

[pbmax]

A war of attrition and abject failure (first half).

Reminds me of playoff game, but also Carolina game a couple of years ago when the Panthers D called off the dogs and almost allowed a comeback.

Packers lost Daniels (had a hip, now a quad), House, Cobb (shoulder), Nelson (hammy/quad?), Evans (groin - he returned)

[pbmax]

			GB	Atl
First Downs		25	19	
Passes for First	18	12	
Rushes for First	4	7	
Penalties for First	3	0	
Third Down Efficiency	5-12	5-11	
Fourth Down Efficiency	3-3	0-0	
Total Yards		373	364	
Total Plays		68	58	
Avg Gain Per Play	5.5	6.3	
Net Yards Rushing	59	141	
Rushes			15	27	
Yards Per Rush		3.9	5.2	
		
Net Yards Passing	314	223	
Comp-Att		33-50	19-28	
Yards Per Pass		5.9	7.2	
Times Sacked		3	3	
Yds Lost To Sacks	29	29	
Interceptions Thrown	1	0	
Punts			3	4	
Punt Average		39.7	41.3	
Penalties		10	6	
Penalty Yards		70	34	
Fumbles			1	0	
Fumbles Lost		1	0	
ToP			31:04	28:56

[Freak Out]

Brutal.

[Joemailman]

Rodgers got out alive. We live to fight another day.

[pbmax]

WAY too many big pays surrendered. They have no idea how to defend that offensive pass scheme.

[Joemailman]

WAY too many big pays surrendered. They have no idea how to defend that offensive pass scheme.

Have somebody cut Julio Jones' hamstring. He'll quit the game.

[pbmax]

Apparently, no one is covering the PC's on Twitter anymore. There is a periscope of the podium though. More recap will follow in AM.

[texaspackerbacker]

Let's not blow this out of proportion. We ran into a very good team, at their home - their brand new home, playing inspired football, against the injury-riddled Packers - although I think that factor is partially overrated. We had a couple of critical bad calls that arguably turned the game around. And last but not least, we had a shitty (IMO) hyper-cautious game plan - programming Rodgers to do what so many in here whine for him to do, rush to get rid of the ball quick because of the new tackles - in reality, they weren't that much worse than the plow horses they replaced. Truth is, our O Line is always pretty crappy, and most of the time Rodgers can use his mobility to make plays. Tonight, McCarthy did not allow him to do that until we were so damn far behind that it didn't make much difference.

For anybody thinking the Falcons are some super team, head and shoulders better than the Packers, think last week when they damn near lost to the Bears.

We will undoubtedly meet this team again, hopefully in Green Bay in the playoffs, but even if it is their place again, the perfect shitstorm of tonight likely won't happen again.

[mraynrand]

And last but not least, we had a shitty (IMO) hyper-cautious game plan - programming Rodgers to do what so many in here whine for him to do, rush to get rid of the ball quick because of the new tackles - in reality, they weren't that much worse than the plow horses they replaced.

Sometimes I think you can't really be as stupid as I think you are, but then you totally redeem yourself.

[yetisnowman]

^^^^Yeah but the shitstorm happened in the NFC championship game and the second half of the regular season game last year too. So I don't think of us as a terrible team after tonight, but I definitely don't have faith we can come to Atlanta and win as currently constructed. We really got manhandled in almost every individual match up, ncluding starters on starters. We are way less explosive on both sides of the ball. And when the n squad comes in it gets even worse. Pretty rough night.

[call_me_ishmael]

Well, I was definitely wrong. Atlanta still has speed in spades. Holy schnikes are they ever in a different class than the Packers speed and route running wise.

[Joemailman]

People can talk about the failures of the defense all they want. But when you're going up against the NFL's #1 offense, you need to score points. In the last 2 meetings, the Packers have scored a total of 7 points in the 1st half. I know they were limited in what they could do offensively tonight because of the injuries to Bulaga, Bakh and Jordy. My point is that if they're going to beat Atlanta, they're going to need the offense hitting on all cylinders. It can happen if they're healthy offensively. The defense gave up 27 points tonight. That's not great, but it's good enough to keep the team in the game if the offense is functioning properly.

[Freak Out]

When starters start dropping its tough to win...when it happens on the road in Atlanta you can pretty much forget about it. They will come back strong as long as guys like big Mike and Nelson aren't gone long.

[mmmdk]

How serious are the injuries to the various Packer players?

[hoosier]

People can talk about the failures of the defense all they want. But when you're going up against the NFL's #1 offense, you need to score points. In the last 2 meetings, the Packers have scored a total of 7 points in the 1st half. I know they were limited in what they could do offensively tonight because of the injuries to Bulaga, Bakh and Jordy. My point is that if they're going to beat Atlanta, they're going to need the offense hitting on all cylinders. It can happen if they're healthy offensively. The defense gave up 27 points tonight. That's not great, but it's good enough to keep the team in the game if the offense is functioning properly.

Did they hold Atl to 27 or did Atl let up on the gas in the second half?

[oldbutnotdeadyet]

Did they hold Atl to 27 or did Atl let up on the gas in the second half?

Me thinks the latter...

[Maxie the Taxi]

My takeaways from the game:
1) Our secondary at this stage of the game is about as bad as it was last year. If the opposing QB has time in the pocket, we can't stay with quality receivers. This may improve as Kevin King improves and as Dom gets his personnel sorted out. Putting Randall on Jones is not the answer.

2) Our ability to pressure the QB is about the same as last year. Whether it's scheme or players, we just weren't able to get into Atlanta's backfield consistently enough. I watched the Denver/Cowgirls game earlier and the Packers D is not anywhere near Denver's. We need to get Daniels healthy, but even then I don't think we're where we should be.

3) We live and die with Arod. Yesterday we did both. His great plays were overshadowed by his bonehead ones. Take away his interception at the end of the first half and his backward pass pick six at the start of the second and we're still in the game. When Arod tries to do too much, he's not the Super Star QB we've become accustomed to.

4) The NFL is getting to be like the NBA. OPI, DPI and blocking-related penalties are all but arbitrarily called and, as a result, their impact on the game is way too significant. I form this opinion not only by watching our game, but on other Week 1 and 2 games I've watched. Maybe the answer to this is to give each team one or two replay reviews of calls that are not now reviewable.

[texaspackerbacker]

Sometimes I think you can't really be as stupid as I think you are, but then you totally redeem yourself.

Generally I'll reserve calling you a self-consumed IDIOT for FYI, but since you infected this area of the forum, I'll respond. You are seriously blind to the rottenness of our O Line? how QBs like Brady actually get time to set up and throw, which Aaron Rodgers virtually never does? how other teams have holes to run through, which the Packers virtually never do?

It's a testament to Aaron Rodgers that the Packers are as great as they are with as awful an O Line as they have.

[3irty1]

People can talk about the failures of the defense all they want. But when you're going up against the NFL's #1 offense, you need to score points. In the last 2 meetings, the Packers have scored a total of 7 points in the 1st half. I know they were limited in what they could do offensively tonight because of the injuries to Bulaga, Bakh and Jordy. My point is that if they're going to beat Atlanta, they're going to need the offense hitting on all cylinders. It can happen if they're healthy offensively. The defense gave up 27 points tonight. That's not great, but it's good enough to keep the team in the game if the offense is functioning properly.

This. Its incredibly frustrating to me that this offense will rank top 3 in output by the end of the year but at times will look like it did last night. Doing nothing on offense has a way of breaking the defense too. We got blown out and everybody is already hurt by week 3. Classic.

[texaspackerbacker]

My takeaways from the game:
1) Our secondary at this stage of the game is about as bad as it was last year. If the opposing QB has time in the pocket, we can't stay with quality receivers. This may improve as Kevin King improves and as Dom gets his personnel sorted out. Putting Randall on Jones is not the answer.

2) Our ability to pressure the QB is about the same as last year. Whether it's scheme or players, we just weren't able to get into Atlanta's backfield consistently enough. I watched the Denver/Cowgirls game earlier and the Packers D is not anywhere near Denver's. We need to get Daniels healthy, but even then I don't think we're where we should be.

3) We live and die with Arod. Yesterday we did both. His great plays were overshadowed by his bonehead ones. Take away his interception at the end of the first half and his backward pass pick six at the start of the second and we're still in the game. When Arod tries to do too much, he's not the Super Star QB we've become accustomed to.

4) The NFL is getting to be like the NBA. OPI, DPI and blocking-related penalties are all but arbitrarily called and, as a result, their impact on the game is way too significant. I form this opinion not only by watching our game, but on other Week 1 and 2 games I've watched. Maybe the answer to this is to give each team one or two replay reviews of calls that are not now reviewable.

One bright spot certainly was King looking a LOT better than he ever looked in the preseason. We were in a screwed if you do/screwed if you don't situation on blitzing. We seemingly shoulda done more of it, but that too much left single coverage. Montgomery also had a good game under bad circumstances.

I watched the Dallas/Denver game too - another case of home field being a major factor. Dallas's Corners are worse than ours and their defensive scheme is worse too. Usually their D Line and Backers are good enough to compensate - not this week. You're right, Denver's D - in this game for sure, maybe in general - is better than ours, although I recall times we shut down Adrian Peterson the way they did Ezekial Elliot.

Hell yeah, we live and die with ARod - thanks Ted for not building up the rest of the team any better. As for the "bonehead" plays, the so-called backward pass was not; It was slightly forward, as the replay showed - and the rotten O Line gets most of the blame for getting the QB clobbered that way. And the interception may have been Rodgers' mistake, but it more likely was Allison's fault at least in part.

We had a bad day on penalties, true, but I think your replay challenge thing might bite us in the ass more often than not. Unlike some of my favorite sports teams that I'm convinced get shafted regularly, the Packers most of the time get fair, even good treatment. The play where McCarthy got his penalty, as the commentators completely missed, I think he was complaining that Atlanta did the same thing that was called a pick against the Packers and got away with it on the TD play.

This was one game - a bad day and shitty circumstances. The Packers will be all right. We are as good as if not better than Atlanta probably way better than anybody else in the NFC, maybe in the NFL.