Coming into this game the Eagles
had a top-10 defense in yards allowed, but in the middle of the pack in points
allowed—although slightly fewer allowed than the Packers. One problem the
Eagles had is turnovers—21. Is Carson
Wentz really a “franchise” quarterback? Is it all the offensive line’s fault that the
Eagle quarterbacks had been sacked 46 times in the first 11 games, which was
far and away “tops” in the league?
It is well to remember that it
was not Wentz who quarterbacked the Eagles to their Super Bowl victory over the
Patriots a few years ago, but back-up Nick Foles. Against the Packers, he was
swallowed up every fourth drop-back. Eagles coach Doug Pederson threw in the
towel in the second half and put rookie Jalen Hurts into the game; Hurts is
obviously more “athletic” than Wentz, as shown by his long jump pass for a
touchdown on a 4th down play. But he was hit or miss, and mostly miss; he escaped more frequently on
sack attempts, but three times he didn’t get to the line of scrimmage, making
it a total of seven more sacks for the season.
Only another special teams
breakdown by the Packers made this a “game” late in the fourth quarter, as the
Packers prevailed 30-16. Aaron Rodgers threw for 295 yards and 3 touchdowns,
giving him 400 for his career; the first TD pass to Davante Adams was one of
those rare one-yard grabs that makes for a “highlight” reel. But as we’ve seen
before, despite seemingly in control of a game, the Packers suffer unexpected
lapses on all sides of the ball. Hurts’ 32-yard touchdown pass came on a
fourth-and-18 play; then after a three-and-out for -2 yards, they allowed a
73-yard punt return for a touchdown (why are punters and kicker so afraid to
tackle? What if this was the Super Bowl?); and then another three-and-out.
With the score 23-16, the defense
forced a punt, and then Aaron Jones twisted and turned on his way to a 77-yard
score to put the game away. That run made the Packers final rushing totals deceptive,
since as a team they averaged only 3.0 yards a carry off the remainder of their
running plays. The Packers relied on Rodgers’ passing for most of the game, but
as sometimes occurs, as on the two three-and-outs which allowed the Eagles to
make it a game, there are times when he is a little too overconfident, such as
throwing incomplete deep passes on second and third down when the Packer really
need to be running down the clock getting first downs.
The Packers won a game they should
have won, but sometimes it just seems they are slacking late in games, and are
just fortunate not to let games get away from them--and it could have been more "interesting" had Adams not caught that one-yard pass on fourth down early in the game. Next week it is at the
Lions, which always a “fun” game, since that is where Rodgers, as efficient as he typically is, has had more than a few of
his not-so-great performances.
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