This game can be summed up in one word.
Momentum.
The Packers got rolling early. The defense got a three and out, the Packers scored. The defense got another top, the Packers scored again. The defense got another stop and things were really rolling.
Then Rodgers made one bad play.
He bird dogged Adams, he forced it so close to the sideline, and he paid.
Pick six.
Then the offense got the ball back. Tip drill.
Basically another pick six.
And it was downhill from the there.
Momentum is real and it’s hard to defeat.
The defense, with no excuses, faltered everywhere. No one got hurt. They weren’t tired. The sun was down on their sideline before they encountered any resistance.
They just got beat.
And the offense was shellshocked.
Momentum.
Bakhtiari went out and the Bucs blitzed the heck out of a stunned offense.
The team just didn’t look the same after Rodgers dove for that touchdown. I wonder if he got hurt a little on the contact. It didn’t look bad, but sometimes…
On defense, the Packers favor a bend but don’t break, but that doesn’t work when you’re behind and your offense gives up two touchdowns.
Hopefully that doesn’t happen too often.
Other notes:
- EQ didn’t look good
- Neither did Shepherd
- No one did, really
- JK Scott finally got some exercise
- Refereeing, as always, is inconsistent, but didn’t impact the outcome in any way
- Bakhtiari is critical to what this offense wants to do
- Josh Jackson showed some flashes… and some… not flashes
Sometimes you just get your butt whipped.
On to Houston.
People get so bogged down in finer points. Yesterday proved, for the zillionth time I might add, the offensive and defensive lines are where the game gets won and lost. Whether an off game for our oline, or a outright and significant talent gap between our oline and their dline, our oline got whipped for most of the day. That is the WHOLE STORY. Even if Aaron Rodgers is your qb, you can’t win that way.
And no, not having a first round wr had NOTHING to do with that. If you want to throw out instant armchair qb analysis based on yesterday, you’d be demanding more first round tackles and guards, not wrs.
Every team has weaknesses. Playoff teams can ALL run the ball and protect the qb, but often have less than pro bowl caliber tools in the passing game. Know what weakness they never talk about in January? Offensive line and Defensive line. Analysts might say a team ‘only’ has 1 first round wr on the team, but they NEVER say wow, this team has a porous offensive line. That team’s defensive line can’t stop the run or get after the quarterback.
Know why they don’t say those things? Because wrs are a luxury, linemen win championships. Want to replace Rodgers as qb? Want a 1st round wr? Get your over reactionary priorities in order and start screaming for a first round lineman. At least then, you can overreact about the right issue.