Phil from Los Angeles, CA
Caleb Williams almost beat us in Lambeau, in part because of his out-of-pocket play, particularly rolling to the right. Parsons hounded him all day but couldn’t quite get home. How can the new-look pass rush keep him bottled up?
By rushing to contain, maintaining gap integrity and not allowing Williams to get past them. Williams is going to earn second chances with his feet. That’s a spoiler, not a prediction. What the Packers’ defense can’t afford is giving him third and fourth chances to make a big play.
With emotions still raw from the injuries and irreplaceable loss of talent on Sunday, the team focus is now on Chicago. The division is still within GB’s control. I expect to see inspired football the rest of the way as the wagons get circled. I’m saying we will see Lukas Van Ness step up big. Who else is on your radar?
Van Ness is a big part of it, but I’ve also been thinking about Brenton Cox Jr. for a while. The third-year vet provided a major lift during the second half of last year. Cox had seven quarterback hits and four sacks in just seven games. He’s missed three months but his return window ends this week.
Hi everyone! No one can replace the motor that Micah Parsons provided but, I saw Collin Oliver working out at the joint practice in Indianapolis, is his speed equal to Micah’s and do you think his activation will provide the Pack that DL off the DL tree that Vic used to talk about? I love your insight, keep up the good work.
It’s difficult to say considering I’ve never seen Oliver in an 11-on-11 period, but opportunity is there. The same goes for rookie fourth-round pick Barryn Sorrell. The Packers just lost an All-Pro pass rusher who’s playing roughly 80% of the defensive snaps. Whoever wants the work, it’s there for the taking.
James from Chippewa Falls, WI
I just want to give a shout out to the Packer fans at the game Sunday, they were heard. Do you think Matthew Golden can pick for Watson on the deep routes?
Reports appear promising on Watson’s forecast. His dad even posted on X after the game that “‘9’ is fine.” Green Bay needs Golden, too, though. Sunday showed the Packers can keep their entire playbook open with Golden on the field. Green Bay is gonna need its bevy of pass-catchers now more than ever.
Ben from North Garden, VA
Hey guys, tough loss (quite an understatement). I maintain that it wasn’t the talent, or scheme, against the Broncos, but rather an issue of energy and injury. The energy, I’m referring to the crowd and the altitude. I believe that once that crowd gained momentum, as well as the inability to kick it into the next gear like the Broncos in the third and fourth, that is the change of the game. I think this game showed we have (healthy) the most talented roster in the NFL. I’m proud of these men.
I wouldn’t disagree. Xavier McKinney complimented the Mile High crowd afterwards for their performance. Like Spoff and I talked about on the plane ride home, it’s going to be tough for any AFC team to go in there and win if the Broncos do indeed secure home-field advantage.
Bryan from West Salem, WI
One way to defend against an elite pass rush is to successfully run the ball, is it not? And, against a team like Denver that we all acknowledge are hard to put away, wouldn’t it also make sense to kill as much clock as possible, and letting your defense rest, rather than take such a big risk? I don’t want to pretend like I know what I’m talking about here but that just didn’t make sense to me at all in the moment and still doesn’t now. Got greedy and it bit us this time.
Spoff offered a superb answer to this question Monday. Explosive plays are the Packers’ bread-and-butter. With all the coverage breakdowns Denver had through the first 35 minutes, LaFleur wanted to attack a reeling defense. Also keep in mind Green Bay didn’t know who all would be available in the backfield all week. Josh Jacobs was already banged up, MarShawn Lloyd didn’t practice Friday and Emanuel Wilson was added to the injury report Saturday with an illness. You can’t exactly tailor your game plan to 30-plus run plays under those circumstances. The Packers danced with the girl that brung ’em and it didn’t work out. Period.
It is depressing to think about the number of INT opportunities the Packers don’t capitalize on. That depression was magnified in Denver when I watched the opposing defense make the plays the Packers routinely don’t. Do the Packers lack true playmakers on the back end? If not, why, more often than not, do they fail to make the plays afforded them?
They have the playmakers to do it, but the takeaways haven’t happened with enough regularity. That and the red-zone defense are two areas Green Bay has struggled with this year, and both factored into the loss Sunday.
Was at the game on Sunday and one of the things I noticed was how well Bo Nix threw the ball, was very impressed. He seemed to place it exactly where he wanted (most of the time) and/or hit his guys in stride while Jordan Love seemed to struggle with his placement. A couple of times, guys were open and had a chance for YAC but had to reach behind or alter their route just to make the catch, thus killing their momentum. Will need to clean that up a bit and props to Denver, their fans brought it! GPG
That needs to be Green Bay’s biggest takeaway from this game. That’s probably the most complete team the Packers have played this season in all three phases. Like we talked about, Nix was going to give the Packers some opps. They did not take advantage of them.
