For the second week in the row,
despite the return of Davante Adams the Packer offense does not resemble the
one that looked like it was “getting it” under the Matt Lafleur “system” the
previous weeks—and was supposed to become “unstoppable” once Adams returned to
the line-up. I’m not going to say that the Packers play a different “style” of
offense when Adams is in the line-up. But the numbers do not lie: with Adams in
the line-up, the Packers have scored 119 points in 6 games—19.8 per game—and with
Adams out of the line-up, 130 points in 4 games, an average of 32.5 per game. It
can be “debated” why there is this discrepancy when the Packers supposedly have
their number one receiver in the line-up, but the reality is that the other
Packer pass catchers did step-up
their game with Adams out of the line-up—and now they just seem to be wondering
what they are supposed to be doing now since Aaron Rodgers seems to be looking for
Adams all the time.
At any rate, the Packers beat a
Panther team that was playing well in spite of the absence of Cam Newton by a
score of 24-16. Both teams made mistakes that were costly, although the
Panthers’ were clearly more so. The Packers failed to not just to finish an 80+
yard drive to end the first half, but didn’t even come away with a field goal
try. As has occurred often this season, the Packers have chosen to and failed
to score on fourth-and-goal from inside the 2-yard line. You never know when a
simple field goal not tried would be the deciding factor in a game, and it
certainly could have been in this game. Instead of going into half-time with a
17-10 lead, Rodgers and company decided to go for broke and Jamaal Williams
lost three yards on a run play as time expired. After a bone-head neutral zone penalty
by linebacker Preston Smith on a fourth down incompletion gave the Panthers
first-and-goal at the Packer 2-yard line in the final moments, visions of a
touchdown and two-point conversion to tie reminded one of that missed points
opportunity.
The Panthers were stopped on a
failed goal line run by Christian McCaffrey as time expired to end the game, but they had
missed plenty of other opportunities. An interception and a fumble led to 10
Packer points, and for some head-scratching reason after scoring to likely make
it a 7-point game with the extra-point,
instead the Panthers chose to go for a 2-point conversion that failed. A
2-point conversion is usually a 50-50 proposition to begin with, but down by 8 with
the game on the line in the closing moments, the odds don’t get any better
under pressure, especially when confronted by more than a few snow flakes falling from the sky.
On the positive side, despite
Rodgers’ pedestrian numbers, both Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams proved
effective as a one-two threat as the Packers averaged 6 yards per on 27 rushing
attempts. Next week is the Packers’ bye week, and then it’s a “big” game
against the conference leading 49ers on the road before closing out the season
with three games against their division rivals.
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