More Banjo - Packers vs Falcons

[Joemailman]

Jordan Love - 151 yards 3 TD's.

Jayden Reed - 4 catches, 2 TD's

Falcons ran 45 times for 211 yards.

Defense had 1 INT, could have had 3 more.

Falcons had 3 scoring drives in 4th quarter. Packers had 0 1st downs.

[Freak Out]

Brutal.

[Joemailman]

Gonna be that kind of year. A team this young is going to lose some close ones. And win some. And people who think Packers lost to a terrible team are wrong. Falcons might win that division.

[beveaux1]

By now, we should know what our defense gives us. Running teams kill us. Our secondary has breakdowns in coverage at inopportune times.

We'll be ranked somewhere between 12 and 17 in team defense at the end of the year. We'll go as far as our offense takes us.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Brutal.

Much like Butte time and time again in 08, Love choked in the clutch. Doubs was WIDE open!

But I would not call a 1 point loss “brutal.” There’s reasons to be optimistic. For starter, Watson needs to grow a pair and suit up - he’s the only legitimate bomb threat on the team. Probably should stack Heath on the practice squad and promote Milton, who ran a 4.3 40.

Then again, Love can’t throw bombs worth a fuck. So, maybe, tanking for Sheduer Sanders might not be a bad idea.

[King Friday]

Gonna be that kind of year. A team this young is going to lose some close ones. And win some. And people who think Packers lost to a terrible team are wrong. Falcons might win that division.

I agree. The Packers didn’t lose to a bad team. The Falcons are trending upward. The Packers, minus a ton of guys, went toe to toe with them. Barry has to go. His schemes are just not worthy of a top tier NFL defense. There is no reason to keep a guy like that. MLF deserves criticism for that.

[King Friday]

By now, we should know what our defense gives us. Running teams kill us. Our secondary has breakdowns in coverage at inopportune times.

We'll be ranked somewhere between 12 and 17 in team defense at the end of the year. We'll go as far as our offense takes us.

Barely ain’t getting to top 12. He can’t play Chicago every week.

[beveaux1]

Barely ain’t getting to top 12. He can’t play Chicago every week.

You might be right. We were 17th last year and 13th the year before. Our safety position is weaker. I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe they've improved appreciably anywhere else.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

In 2008, Butte was 0-8 in the clutch - defined by Rob Demovsky as the last 4 minutes of the 4th quarter in a game in which the lead is 8 points or less. I was blunt with Butte then and I will blunt with Love now.

[pittstang5]

I was late to the party today. Caught the score when the Packers went up 24-12 late in the 3rd. Figured we were in good hands. My heart sank just now when I saw the final score.

So, without looking at any stats, I can guess the run defense sucked like it usually does. Pass D gave up some big plays when we really needed them. But how in the hell did the Pack not even score in the 4th? I guess last weeks win had me hopeful that this team might actually be somewhat good. If you can't protect a 12 point lead with 15 mins to go....bah, whatever, I give up.

Rant over.

[ThunderDan]

I thought the DL looked good. They got a lot of penetration. Quay played like a stud. Savage played well except for the bomb he mistimed his jump on. Gary gave up contain too many times. Alexander had the worst game of his career.

I can’t blame the O. With all they didn’t have. If Jones is in the game it is a win for sure. Dillon didn’t look good. He is ok inside but as soon as you try running him to the edge it is a negative play. The LT rotation was shaky at best. They kept a TE on the left side all game to help with protection. Not having Bahk out there was a big difference.

Still trying to figure out on 4 & 1 how the QB goes but the C doesn’t snap the ball.

[ThunderDan]

In 2008, Butte was 0-8 in the clutch - defined by Rob Demovsky as the last 4 minutes of the 4th quarter in a game in which the lead is 8 points or less. I was blunt with Butte then and I will blunt with Love now.

Except it wasn’t that bad. In at least half of those games, we got the lead or tied it and the D couldn’t hold the other team from scoring. So it counted as not bringing the team back even though we had the lead.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Except it wasn’t that bad. In at least half of those games, we got the lead or tied it and the D couldn’t hold the other team from scoring. So it counted as not bringing the team back even though we had the lead.

I recall Butte throwing a tons of picks in the clutch. 6-10 was awful. Started 2-0 only to win 4 more the rest of the way. Ted Thompson shoulda been canned after that season.

[Joemailman]

Still trying to figure out on 4 & 1 how the QB goes but the C doesn’t snap the ball.

Looked like a noise issue to me. Not sure if they've gone away from silent counts.

Edit:


Matt Schneidman
@mattschneidman

Jordan Love said he gave the wrong “live word” to check to a QB sneak on fourth and 1 late. That’s why the ball wasn’t snapped. His fault, he said.

[red]

i expect this kind of performance from a young offense

i do not expect to see the same shit on defense that we have seen for years now with the same guys, unacceptable

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Tanks (losers):

Dillion - Ran the rock like a poor man’s Ron Dayne. This guy is slower than Geronimo Allison.

Cletidus Clark - When the foe is pounding the rock up and down the Pack’s rear end, it a good sign that Cletidus is overpaid. Vanished in the 2nd half.

Gary Lightbody - Who the fuck chases after the tailback on 4th and a million? Attack the fucking QB!

Love: Choked in the clutch.

Mailman - Failed to grasp the John Wick reference in the game day thread. Ineligible to start game day thread again til next season.

Teds (winners):

Reed: 2 TDs.

[Joemailman]

Tanks (losers):

Dillion - Ran the rock like a poor man’s Ron Dayne. This guy is slower than Geronimo Allison.

Cletidus Clark - When the foe is pounding the rock up and down the Pack’s rear end, it a good sign that Cletidus is overpaid. Vanished in the 2nd half.

Gary Lightbody - Who the fuck chases after the tailback on 4th and million? Attack the fucking QB!

Mailman - Failed to grasp the John Wick reference in the game day thread. Ineligible to start game day thread til next season.

Teds (winners):

Reed: 2 TDs.

I've kept alive my streak of never having 2 consecutive winning Game Day Threads. At least we got it out of the way early. It's all yours next week.

[red]

doubs seems to have moved on from the problem he had with drops last year

[Joemailman]

doubs seems to have moved on from the problem he had with drops last year

Yep, he looks good. I think he was really the focus of the Atlanta defense's attention today. He'll be tough to stop when they get Watson and Jones back.

[Teamcheez1]

I thought the DL looked good. They got a lot of penetration. Quay played like a stud. Savage played well except for the bomb he mistimed his jump on. Gary gave up contain too many times. Alexander had the worst game of his career.

I can’t blame the O. With all they didn’t have. If Jones is in the game it is a win for sure. Dillon didn’t look good. He is ok inside but as soon as you try running him to the edge it is a negative play. The LT rotation was shaky at best. They kept a TE on the left side all game to help with protection. Not having Bahk out there was a big difference.

Still trying to figure out on 4 & 1 how the QB goes but the C doesn’t snap the ball.

DL looked good???

You know they’re going to run almost every play and you give up 200+ yards.
The defense was bad.
The secondary played soft and gave up easy completions.
This was a bad offense that moved up and down the field.

[Teamcheez1]

Falcons 446 yds offense
Packers 224

The offense is a work in progress, but the defense clearly played well below their expectations today. Play like this week in and week out, and the offense doesn’t matter.
Joe Barry strikes again.

[SMBASS]

I've been on the fence about MLF since the beginning of his tenure. Between his loyalty to worthless assistant coaches/coordinators, sometimes terrible in game decisions, and inability to get this team to play their best in big games, I'm becoming convinced that he's not the guy who can lead this team to a Super Bowl once they are ready to make a run. (How in the hell do you get a delay of game penalty on a 51 yd. field goal attempt? Did he think he had to send a play in to Carlson? That's Junior High football bullshit that shouldn't be happening at this level.) It seems like he puckers up when the pressure is on and the team falls right into that same mindset.

I expected a lot of ups and downs this season with such a young team and new QB, but there are way too many close games in the NFL to go full turtle and piss away 12 pt. leads in the 4th Qtr..

Not the end of the world, but it's still a disappointing loss in a game that they should have won even while being shorthanded.

[RashanGary]

Just watched the first three quarters. I only saw the horrible 4th in real time.

Kenny Clark looked good. Always stronger than whoever is in front of him.
Van Ness and Musgrave flashed the kind of athleticism that can make a difference in the coming years
Love looked ok early. He really folded down the stretch and didn’t respond well to the 4th quarter pressure
Dillon is garbage. His only hope is to really work on his quickness and lose some weight. He’s a slug.
I’m starting to believe Doubs is more of a possession guy. He did not look fast on that deep route. But he does look a little bigger this year
Jayden Reed is a legit NFL athlete and I really liked his savvy and big guy mentality going after the ball in college. We might have three very nice complimentary pieces with Watson, Doubs and Reed. Plus Musgrave and/or Kraft have a chance
Deguara is trash. He can barely block, kind of catch, but has no athleticism. Nope. He isn’t him.

I like the athleticism on defense. Quay, Campbell, Van Ness, Gary (as he rounds into shape), Wyatt, Savage….. I like the speed and size.

Newman was OK until the 4th quarter. He might actually be an average starter at this point in his career. His body actually looks NFL level for the first time so I’m sure the physical strength helps
Rasheed makes it look easy (except when he blocked the wrong guy on a blitz.) Sheed is the tackle of the future.


We’re gonna lose some that we would have won with Rodgers. There’s still hope love is the guy. He hasn’t shown enough one way or the other to know for sure. The folding down the stretch is understandable with lack of experience and lack of weapons on offense, and injured line.

[RashanGary]

It’ll be interesting to see Love and Lafleur evolve through the season. 12 is gone. It’s all rookies paired with Watson and Doubs second years. I don’t think they’re going to be able to come up with any mind blowing innovative shit with all the young guys. But damn, I hope Love shows he’s the guy because the continuity going into next year is going to be something to get excited about if Love is the guy.

[ThunderDan]

DL looked good???

You know they’re going to run almost every play and you give up 200+ yards.
The defense was bad.
The secondary played soft and gave up easy completions.
This was a bad offense that moved up and down the field.

Yes, I thought the DL looked good.

I think the defensive scheme is horrible. I thought Clark, Wyatt played well. I think we went too much to 2 big DL. I think we should have stayed in base personal 3 DL, with 4 LBs. Make them throw to beat us. Instead we played a lot of nickel. ATL ran all day when we were in that personnel.

The 1 series I remember ATL going 3 and out they tried throwing on all 3 plays. Otherwise we couldn’t stop them.

[ThunderDan]

Joe Barry needs to stop thinking he is so much smarter than the other guy. Stop the run, first and foremost. When he get them in 3rd and long mix it up. Bring pressure. Drop Preston or Gary into a short zone and let the CB or LB blitz.

Jim Leonard was great at WI. You knew he was going to rush 4 but you never knew which 4 it was going to be. Then he would bring pressure on 3rd and long and make the QB get rid of the ball right away and trusted his D to make the tackle.

It seems like Barry thinks he can scheme coverage to get an incompletion. That doesn’t work at this level. Give a QB enough time and let him get comfortable and you are going to get crushed.

[bobblehead]

I'll throw out my one angry negative vibe and then let it go. We didn't fire Barry when there were 3 really good options out there. After this year they will fire him but there won't be any good options. We will replace him with some other retread and suck for 3 more years on D. OK I'm done.

[Joemailman]

All Packers points were scored by rookies today.

[call_me_ishmael]

I'll throw out my one angry negative vibe and then let it go. We didn't fire Barry when there were 3 really good options out there. After this year they will fire him but there won't be any good options. We will replace him with some other retread and suck for 3 more years on D. OK I'm done.

Why don't you think there will be good options? I'm sure there will be.

[Fritz]

i expect this kind of performance from a young offense

i do not expect to see the same shit on defense that we have seen for years now with the same guys, unacceptable

About this.

Joe Barely - I'm sorry, this guy has a roster filled with first-round picks, and he can't devise a scheme to stop the run? Why didn't he play a single-high safety once he saw the strategy that the Falcons were using? ("Hey, we can run it down their throats!")

Also, Rashan Gary is horrible setting an edge. Dude gets sucked inside all the time. All the time.

Lots of key mistakes on a defense that has enough veterans to know better - Jaire dropping the pick, and Savage - a big moment - being in position for either a pass breakup or an interception, yet the receiver makes the catch, and from there it was just Atlanta milking the clock down to get to the field goal. Savage just can't ever quite get there.

And AJ Dillon has become the very definition of a JAG. As my father used to say about the 1070's Lions' high draft pick, Steve Owens - three yards and a cloud of dust.

[run pMc]

Love Dillon the person and how he has fit in the community, especially as Mayor of Door County. He's left something to be desired over much of the last 20 games however, and while I think MLF misuses him at times he also has underperformed. Unless he really turns it around fast, I don't see them renewing his contract. I think he could still be a monster in a power/gap scheme that has him moving N/S, not laterally. Also, he needs to get a little better reading the OL and finding the right running lane... not that it's always easy to do.

Offense running out of gas really hurt this team. If they even score a FG in 4Q then ATL has less time and more pressure on them to get a winning score. I don't think Ridder is a great passer and everything I saw he got looked gimmicky or cheap/easy. I thought Bijon Robinson was good before, and after that game I think he is the real deal and at this too-early moment the leader in the clubhouse for OROY.

Both Allgiers (sp) and Bijon as 220lbs, and that will wear down a defense. I'm not clear how much of the run defense's failings were on the coaches and how much was on the players. Seemed like it was missed tackles or not getting off blocks more than bad play call, but I'm not a fan of Barry. Would think you would expect ATL to run the ball 40 times and bring Ford off the PS and practice for a lot of run D. As mentioned I'm not a big fan of Ridder but he was able to scramble enough with his legs to hurt the D in the 4Q.

OL was an issue for the Packers - no Bakh, and then no Elgton hurt. I think they win this game if Aaron Jones and/or Christian Watson plays, but credit the Falcons for making some gutsy 4th down calls and executing.

I'm disappointed - this was a game they could have won, and probably should have, given a 12 point lead entering 4Q. I'm not completely surprised or overly upset because this is a "seasonlng" year for a team full of young players who have to learn how to win and be more consistent. This is a team who is going to win games they shouldn't and lose a few games they shouldn't.

Two positive things: the rookies continue to look pretty good, and Jordan Love took care of the ball. I think he usually made the right read but missed a few and that might have cost them a score, but I don't think last year's version of Rodgers would have done better with this team.

[Teamcheez1]

Our DL played a 5 man rotation on Sunday.
In 218 combined snaps, they had a grand total of 2 solo tackles.

[run pMc]

78 plays, 36 minutes of possession for ATL. Lots of long drives. Those big DL tire out. Getting a couple of first downs in the 4Q would have helped them.
Agree they -- and the defense overall -- didn't play well. Atlanta was a top 5 running team (by both basic and advanced stats) last year, and they got even better by adding Bijon. Given GB's problems stopping the run, I'm disappointed but not surprised by the result.

I do feel like this is a game they let slip through their hands, but it wasn't an "Amari fumbling a FG right to the Washington Commanders" type of incompetence loss. If it puts another nail into the Joe Barry tenure, that's fine by me. (I don't see them renewing his contract.)

[run pMc]

MLF sounds pissed off here.
Mistakes, not playing complementary football, losing a 12 point lead... tone of voice is spicy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0MTiIfihcg&t=27s

[texaspackerbacker]

I always get depressed when the Packers lose and don't post much, football stuff anyway, for a couple days.

The Packers D was back to the same old shit of the past couple years, not being able to stop the run. Other teams with a LOT less talent play a LOT better, and some with arguably not much more overall talent on D than the Packers play downright super (Niners and Cowboys). Why is Barry's D so pathetic against the run? Who knows. All of that notwithstanding, we woulda won if not for the interception drops and a couple other freak plays.

Not having Aaron Jones was huge, more because of the negative way Dillon plays than the positive things Jones does. I really think we shoulda used Wilson and Taylor a LOT more and Dillon a LOT less. Would Watson have made a difference? It's hard to say. Doubs was good; Reed was very good; And Wicks played way better than in the preseason. I still think Watson is gonna be a superstar, though, so it couldn't hurt to have him.

And then there's Bakhtiari hahahaha. I have stayed out of that discussion this week, because others are criticizing him already. I am famously on record as saying not having the sacred cow playing doesn't make much difference. That, however, implies his replacement doesn't completely shit the bed Marshall House style. Walker sort did. I'm wondering why they didn't play Yosh there, as he was borderline decent (IMO about as good as Bakhtiari) last year. Jenkins (who I see as a LOT better than Bakhtiari) got hurt, and Newman played just ok, to the point where things were not significantly worse without Jenkins. The bottom line to me - which I'm sure the haters are gonna go ballistic about hahahaha - is that the O Line just doesn't make that much difference if it is let's say average or minimally decent.

That leads to the question, though, HOW did Atlanta make our D Line look so pathetic? Were they a super O Line? Or was our D Line really that bad? Or is it all somehow on Joe Barry? I guess we'll see when we play other teams.

[Bretsky]

Gonna be that kind of year. A team this young is going to lose some close ones. And win some. And people who think Packers lost to a terrible team are wrong. Falcons might win that division.


We lost to a ONE dimension team. And come on man; Notlanta is not a division winner quality team.

[Bretsky]

Jordan Love, overall looks really good; He makes good decisions as well.

AJ Dillon.....DAMMIT...great guy....but he's the guy who failed to get a yard when there was a hole for him to run in and pick up the 1st....and who was the guy who stumbiled and causes Elgon Jenkins injury....yup...............

AJ Dillon looks like a bad 2nd round draft pick; the quality of his play is why GB considers Jonathan Taylor, for the right price.

No where was I suggestion we give up Bad Hamstring Watson for JT. But let's say we can package, AJ Dillon, Toure, and a 4th. I do that deal and roll with JT and AJO at a discounted price next year.

[bobblehead]

Why don't you think there will be good options? I'm sure there will be.

Guys like Fangio....proven coordinators that have had great success all over the league are rarely available. Leonhard I may be over valuing given his roots, but he is a guy who has had great success as a player and college coordinator. He was known as a coach on the field in his playing days. Evero hasn't stood the test of time, but he did some special things in Denver on a team that put the D on the field over and over again.

I guess if Bowles or Rivera gets fired we could get an almost Fangio. Otherwise it will be trying to project a young guy from a successful system, and thats an imperfect science.

[bobblehead]

Check out what Evero's D is doing to the Saints right now.

[Joemailman]

Check out what Evero's D is doing to the Saints right now.

Do we have to?

[Joemailman]

Guys like Fangio....proven coordinators that have had great success all over the league are rarely available. Leonhard I may be over valuing given his roots, but he is a guy who has had great success as a player and college coordinator. He was known as a coach on the field in his playing days. Evero hasn't stood the test of time, but he did some special things in Denver on a team that put the D on the field over and over again.

I guess if Bowles or Rivera gets fired we could get an almost Fangio. Otherwise it will be trying to project a young guy from a successful system, and thats an imperfect science.

Or Brandon Staley of the Chargers.

[Fritz]

Or Brandon Staley of the Chargers.

MLF inherited Pettine, but he made a TERRIBLE choice when he had a chance to hire his own guy. A mark against MLF there.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Seriously, Dom Capers would be perfect for the current personal. Stokes would be a star at the “star” position. Imagine P, Gary Lightbody, Vanilla Ice (Van Ness) and Sloth Keke all on the field at the same time for the “Psycho” only for J-Alex to blitz from the corner. Hell, Cletitus would get to drop into coverage, ala Busari Raji.

[bobblehead]

Do we have to?

Yea, that post didn't age well :)