Starting out the 2024 NFL season on a less-than-stellar note is not what the Green Bay Packers were looking for in Brazil, but Friday’s game resulted in quite a few things that need to be fixed. Plus, with Jordan Love’s MCL injury clouding the next month-plus of games, a once-promising season now has a lot of question marks.
There were definitely some highlights to this game, but overall this team came out of the gate a bit rough to begin. Granted, having your prep schedule start off in a unique way when having to prepare for travel doesn’t make things easy, but that cannot be used as a crutch in their loss.
Struggles in the Trenches
It is uncharacteristic for a Packers team to not boast a strong offensive line, but Friday’s affair didn’t do much to quell any offseason question marks with this unit. While Love was only sacked once, he frequently was under pressure and had to adjust his throwing base, which seemed to feature a lot of back-foot throws.
Granted, the Eagles defensive front is a very deep unit and has some really good pieces on it, but they were pretty successful in resetting the line of scrimmage when it came to passing plays, forcing Green Bay to not be able to rely on drawn-out route schemes.
In the run game, the OL struggled to open up any holes for Josh Jacobs, as it took a few chunk runs in the second half to get Jacobs going. With the Eagles front seven being one of the better units they will face all year, hopefully the Green Bay OL can use this as teaching tape.
On defense, the game plan seemed to be more focused on slowing Jalen Hurts down and not getting after him. With the pass rush doing a good job of containing Hurts in the run game (13 carries for 33 yards), that part of the game plan can be considered a win for Jeff Hafley.
But Saquon Barkley tore this unit apart, rushing for 109 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. While Barkley is obviously one of the better (and highest-paid) backs in the league, he consistently shredded this front seven, making it really easy for the Eagles to salt away the clock at the end of the game.
Things need to change for both of these units moving into Week 2 if they want to set the tone in a typical Packers fashion.
Mixed Bag Defensively
By moving on from Joe Barry this offseason, the Packers committed to yet another new defensive coordinator, and many people were surprised when Matt LaFleur went to the college ranks to pull Hafley from Boston College. Offseason comments from all minds involved in building the defense have spoken highly of what the defense would look like, and while it has only been one game, there were definitely positive takeaways.
There were enough highs and lows in this game defensively to almost make things feel like nothing has changed, but there were more positives than during the Barry era, thankfully. While the DL struggles were mentioned, causing three turnovers and seeing all of the rookie integrated into the game plan are positive takeaways.
Xavier McKinney and Javon Bullard were your starting safety duo on Friday, and with McKinney picking off Hurts on a beautiful read and Bullard tying for the team lead with 11 tackles, the back-end secondary was a good sign.
Even with his end zone interception, Jaire Alexander was frequently beaten by A.J. Brown (5/119/1) and overall didn’t look the best in coverage. If boundary cornerback play is an issue this year, regardless of from Alexander or Eric Stokes, then the safety group will be forced into coverage more, leaving the front seven on more of an island.
Edgerrin Cooper was the other defensive rookie that stood out, racking up four tackles and a knocked-down pass. Cooper was flying all over the field in his 11 snaps, and likely will take on a larger role, taking over for Eric Wilson eventually.
Offensive depth chart & snap counts
If Week 1 is a sign of things to come, then there are quite a few interesting developments for the Green Bay offense.
Starting on the offensive line, rookie Jordan Morgan and Sean Rhyan are in a rotation currently, with Rhyan (63 percent) earning the most snaps right now. While Morgan was on the field for 42 percent of all offensive snaps, he definitely showed some areas of improvement to his game, especially for a guy transitioning from tackle to guard.
Wide receiver was the other position to watch for pecking order, and with Jayden Reed easily leading the way stat-wise (4/138/1), the breakdown is pretty interesting. With Reed earning six targets, Romeo Doubs leading the way with seven, and Christian Watson receiving five, the three targets (no receptions) for Dontayvion Wicks is extremely surprising.
Jayden Reed with his second touchdown of the night!
🎥 @NFL pic.twitter.com/N5YchL6CaG
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) September 7, 2024
Love’s accuracy was a part of the issues for the offense on Friday, but not getting Wicks more incorporated in game script is an interesting decision from LaFleur. Having heavily targeted Watson in the red zone continues last season’s trend of Watson being the go-to weapon in the red zone is encouraging, but only three total receptions is disappointing.
All eyes will be on Love’s health moving forward, but with games against the Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, and Minnesota Vikings up next, the outlook for Green Bay is still salvageable.
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Mike Johrendt has been an avid fan of the Packers ever since he can remember. He is now a writer at PackersTalk and you can follow him on Twitter at @MJohrendt23
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