More Banjo - Packers at Arizona

[Joemailman]

What a gutty win! Overcame a lot of adversity.

Jordan Love - 19-29, 179, 1 TD

Josh Jacobs - 55 rushing yards, 2 TD

Romeo Doubs - 6 catches, 72 yards

Tucker Kraft - 5 catches, 59 yards 1 TD

Micah Freaking Parsons - 3 sacks, 5 QB hits

Quay Walker - 9 tackles, 1,5 sacks, 3 QB hits

Offense turned 2 short field into 2 TD's.

Defense gave up 7 3rd down conversions, but stopped the last 4.

Havrisik!

Discuss.

[ThunderDan]

Seemed like we were going through the motions for the first 3 quarters.

Finally in the 4th we played with a sense of urgency and we outscored AZI 14-3.

[Vincenzo]

Packers have won all 4 games by scoring exactly 27 points - holy shit man.
That’s really odd.

[pbmax]

I find Jonathan Vilma a reasonable color guy. He gets lost in generalities at times when the broadcast wants to go to the hero narrative, but when he can discuss specific plays or techniques you can really learn something from him. He was a great linebacker. That said, the broadcast, his spotter or his prep were betraying him.

- misidentified penalty on 65 (Banks) as on 63 (Walker)
- Said Evan Williams was the box safety and not known for this coverage
- Main game camera lost the ball twice on throws and once on a kickoff. It was objectively awful (not Vilma but ghastly)
- Said the pass game was missing Jacobs (true this year I suppose) but that is recent and Brooks and Wilson have decent hands
- Opening graphic had Sean Rhyan starting at RG (not Vilma but c'mon)

Defense cannot be static when mediocre quarterbacks just get into a groove throwing against that short zone. It can't be used that often. This is how Kirk Cousins is still getting paid and it cannot be allowed to continue. Its a misallocation of resources. Vilma (I think mostly correct) said about the 14 passes completed in a row that once he hit his third of fifth step back, the ball was coming out. If he didn't deliver, he got pressured. Need more of the latter for the D to succeed.

One of the true negatives of LaFleur are the penalties year after year. They are not dominant enough to overcome them on either side of the ball now.

Another negative are the deep shots on 3rd/4th and short. Though this one was wide open on a better throw, Love needs to adjust throw to receiver's actual pattern. Doubs got open on single safety by crossing over to his left. It was there. Whether he is supposed to do this or not I can't say. But he was open. But they should do this on 2nd down mostly. Or 3rd if they are going to go for it on 4th.

Special Teams are now the most consistent unit on the team. Thats not good.

Pretty sure Cooper had some bad plays in coverage. Twice he dropped his zone and went to double another receiver deeper. Completions both times for good yardage.

Quay Walker getting banged up twice and coming back in was great to see. I hope he's truly OK.

Pass pro largely held up and delivered that nice, easy pitch and catch on 4th down to Kraft with a moonball throw that was easy to adjust to, catch and get feet down.

[MadScientist]

A couple of years ago, the Packers couldn't find a kicker with a whole off season. Now they grab a guy off the streets and he drills a 61 yarder.

[PackPhin]

This Defense will go only as far as the secondary takes it and they have been borderline awful so far, which says a lot given how well the entire D has looked at times.
The CBs can't make basic plays on 3rd and Long.
The safeties, including X, have routinely been late or simply out of position.
The reason they can't get off the field and come up with takeaways is bc of just bad secondary play. With this caliber of pass rush, a half decent secondary would be cleaning up with PBUs and INTs. They probably need a piece before the trade deadline. When Keisean Nixon is your CB1, then you know there's a problem.

[call_me_ishmael]

Packers vs Steelers next. That’s must see TV. Do they boo Aaron? I don’t think so and I hope not. My prediction is Aaron can get it up and has a HUGE game. Steelers win.

[texaspackerbacker]

Yet another unsatisfying win. I'll say it again, the Packers are fortunate the schedule is arranged the way it is - maybe. We have mostly have had not very good opponents early in the season while the Packers have been playing like crap. When we go against better teams later, hopefully the Packers will be better.

On the other hand, we've been getting exposed a having a shitty pass defense, and it's hard to figure how we can improve that. The first series, it seemed like the Packers were dropping more into coverage, and what happened? The other team ran it on us. Hafley did a decent job of stopping the run after that, but the negative result was not being able to stop the pass. Is Hafley capable of conjuring something up to stop both the running game and the passing game? It kinda looks like we don't have the talent to do that. This was NOT a good team that we were barely able to stop/beat. Our D Line has "warning track power" - they come close to sacks, but very seldom finish the job, and that's rough when your secondary can't cover.

And then there's our O Line - looking pretty mediocre against a very mediocre defense. Love was almost always under pressure. His arm and mobility ruled the day but not by much - what would happen against better D? Ditto that regarding Jacobs' running - too often stopped cold, and when he did get loose, it was mostly all him and very little credit to the line. And our pass receivers: generally regarded as really good, but other than a good dose of Doubs and a little bit of Craft, they mostly couldn't get open - against what kind of secondary? Again, pretty mediocre.

There was a LOT to not like about La Fleur's playcalling and game plan in general. There was a LOT to dislike about the way Hafley handled the D ....... or was it just a lack of overall talent - very different than what I and most Packer fans were expecting of the D this season even before Parsons much less after we got him.

But a win is a win is a win. 4-1-1 isn't bad as long as you disregard how it got done and who we did it too.

[Fosco33]

Packers vs Steelers next. That’s must see TV. Do they boo Aaron? I don’t think so and I hope not. My prediction is Aaron can get it up and has a HUGE game. Steelers win.

It’s in Pittsburgh…

[texaspackerbacker]

Packers vs Steelers next. That’s must see TV. Do they boo Aaron? I don’t think so and I hope not. My prediction is Aaron can get it up and has a HUGE game. Steelers win.

Gosh, you're there again. Enough with the negative predictions already.

[call_me_ishmael]

I actually think the Cardinals are probably better than most are giving them credit. The Packers are their own worst enemy and MILF needs to figure it out or he may not be employed next year. Also, WTF happened to Wicks. Dude is the biggest cock tease in town.

[Vincenzo]

Gosh, you're there again. Enough with the negative predictions already.

This comes from our very vanilla offense right now.
Doubs, rookie Golden and Kraft ARE NOT enough to go anywhere significant this season. In terms of targets the Packers are clearly missing Reed right now. So predicting that we lose in Pittsburgh next week isn’t that negative, it’s reality.

[Vincenzo]

I actually think the Cardinals are probably better than most are giving them credit. The Packers are their own worst enemy and MILF needs to figure it out or he may not be employed next year. Also, WTF happened to Wicks. Dude is the biggest cock tease in town.

Agreed. Lafleur is proving that he’s a crappy play caller. The sooner he relinquishes his play calling duties the better. The last thing we need is the team hanging on to him calling in the plays (just like we did with MM), the better.

With that said, his decision to pull out the FG kicker on 4 & 2 and go for it at such critical point in the game in Arizona was a decision that won the game for our team. So I completely have contradicted myself there. Oh well

[Teamcheez1]

Agreed. Lafleur is proving that he’s a crappy play caller. The sooner he relinquishes his play calling duties the better. The last thing we need is the team hanging on to him calling in the plays (just like we did with MM), the better.

With that said, his decision to pull out the FG kicker on 4 & 2 and go for it at such critical point in the game in Arizona was a decision that won the game for our team. So I completely have contradicted myself there. Oh well

I was shocked he went for it. I read later that he had to be talked into to going for it by Love. Thus, the timeout and change of course.

[Joemailman]

Whatever the reason, I'm glad he made the right decision. I was dejected when I saw the FG unit going out there at first. I had no confidence the defense would be able to stop the Cardinals from driving for the winning field goal if the game was tied.