Not a whole heck of a lot to say about what the Packers worked on during the bye week, except that “fixing" their offensive issues wasn’t one of them. Well, not that they didn't "try." We did see Love throw a lot more "safe" short passes against an awful Broncos' defense; 14 of his 21 completions gained a total of 51 yards. If that is supposed to be an "improvement," that's a matter of opinion; throw in the 10 incomplete passes, that means the Packers averaged barely 2 yards on 24 pass attempts.
The Packers offense, ranked 28th in total offense averaging 281 yards, was going up against a Broncos team that was dead last in total defense, giving up 440 yards a game. The Packers most yards gained this season was against the Saints, 340, and in this game they managed 331, which was at least more than the 285 yards against the Raiders, and the 224 against the Falcons.
But again what we saw in the 19-17 loss to the previously one-win Broncos was more of the same, at least in the passing game. The Packers did show a little more life in the running game, averaging 4.7 YPC on 29 attempts. Anders Carlson missed his first field goal attempt of the season, but given Love’s plentitude of mistakes, he is allowed one. The defense managed to keep the Broncos out of the end zone save for one defensive breakdown, but what we otherwise saw was the same old-same old. The Packers couldn’t score in the first half, showed a little life in the third quarter, and Love made that hair-pulling mistake that cost the team the game.
Today Love was sacked zero times and was hit three times. Coming into this game, he was pressured about 30 percent of all drop backs, one of the lowest percentages in the league. And yet the offensive line is still blamed for his mistakes, as is the absurd complaint about receivers’ “catch radius.” On the fourth down touchdown throw that put the Packers up 17-16, the ball bounced out of reach of intended receiver Doubs, but miraculously ricocheted into the arms of Reed; pure "luck." I don’t know what the receiver on this play’s “catch radius” is supposed to be, but I’m sure it isn’t being able to contort himself into a rubber band:
That of course was the Packers last play of the game on third-and-20, an interception thrown in double coverage. That was the deepest throw Love threw all day; I don’t know why throws that gain less than 20 yards are considered “deep throws,” unless they include total yards thrown in the air, which in Love’s case means the 10 or 15 yards on drop backs, which Love probably leads the league in. The fact that the Packers still had a shot at winning this game was because they were playing a bad team to start with; I mean this Broncos team was the one that allowed 70 points against Dolphins.
But you had to
know in the back of your mind that if the Packers were going to win, it would
be on sheer good fortune, such as on that Reed catch, or a 50-yard DPI. Otherwise, if the
pressure was on, we were going to see something like that interception, a
horrible decision and a horrible throw. Look, on third-and-20 with time running
out and not in field goal range, your options are limited. Could Matt LaFleur
have called a “safer” play, knowing Love’s limitations? Sure, but you still
have to perform on the field, and at this point Love’s judgment on any play is
not a given.
OK, so what’s next? The Packers play at home against a 2-win Vikings team that managed to escape with a win against the hapless Bears last week. Kirk Cousins has been inconsistent, but every Viking game has been decided by one score (although that may change against the 49ers on MNF), and this includes losses to the Eagles and the Chiefs, the two teams in last year’s Super Bowl.
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