With their 30-13 win over the Seattle Seahawks, the Green Bay Packers improved to 10-4 on the season. Green Bay jumped out to a 20-3 lead in the first half, but conservative play allowed the Seahawks to get within 10 in the final quarter. Even with their record, the Green Bay Packers consistently fail to keep their foot on the gas and are not playing aggressively.
The Green Bay Packers NEED to be More Aggressive
Second Half Offensive Struggles
Jordan Love was once again phenomenal. He missed a few throws, but he had only seven incompletions on 27 attempts and had a pair of touchdowns to the returning Romeo Doubs.
Josh Jacobs gets a ton of the credit, and rightfully so. The star running back tallied 26 carries for 96 yards, and added four receptions for 42 yards. Jacobs had both a touchdown and a fumble lost, which could’ve proved costly. If Green Bay’s defense wasn’t on point and Seattle had their starting quarterback, the end of this game could’ve gone much differently.
Even with the success of Jacobs in the first half, the Packers played far too conservatively. Jacobs rushing stalled out in the second half as the play calling proved to be too predictable. Seattle was able to read all of the Packers running plays, and Jacobs was nowhere near as explosive as he was in the first half.
Thankfully for the Packers, their defense bailed them out. The play calling for Green Bay has to improve, plain and simple. They used motion for Jayden Reed which resulted in three carries for 27 yards, and they also do it to take attention away from Jacobs. Reed hauled in five of his six targets, so it’s good to see him slowly getting back involved. Christian Watson was dominant once again, but Jordan Love really needed some big plays in the second half to secure the victory.
Puzzling Coaching
The infamous Chicago Bears time management meltdown on Thanksgiving taught the Packers nothing. With two timeouts left and just 40 seconds remaining in the half, Matt LaFleur opted to not use either of them. The clock ran, and ran, and ran as Love changed the play at the line of scrimmage. Without a pass interference call, the Packers likely don’t get the field goal at the end of the half. If they had used one of the timeouts, there would’ve been more than four seconds left and a chance to actually run a play and score a touchdown.
Keeping both timeouts was puzzling, but not as confusing as challenging an incomplete pass. Coach LaFleur gets help from his team to know if a play should be challenged or not, yet somehow he’s 0-6 in challenges this season. Most of the plays he’s challenged have been non-competitive, and a complete waste of a timeout. While neither of those situations costed him in this game, they can’t be happening in crucial games where every play matters.
Defense Stood Tall
The name that everyone is mentioning after Sunday Night Football is Edgerrin Cooper. Cooper hasn’t played since November 17th in Chicago, but the 2024 second-round pick was the X-Factor. He recorded an interception with just five minutes remaining and recorded the last tackle of the game. Cooper led the team in tackles and recorded a sack to go along with the interception. All of these stats are impressive, but it’s even crazier knowing he played less than half of the snaps. It’s clear the Packers know what they have in Cooper, and are playing it safe as they know they’ll need him down the stretch.
Rashan Gary now has four sacks in his last five games. The six-year veteran has been pouring it on as of late, which is a great sign of things to come. It was Kingsley Enagbare who recorded two of the team’s seven sacks, as he now has three sacks in his last two games. Carrington Valentine dropped a sure interception but made up for it in the same drive by hauling in his first of the season.
Looking Ahead
The Packers have a favorable schedule down the stretch. Their last prime-time game is next Monday night as they host the 5-9 New Orleans Saints, who have lost two of their last three. Green Bay then heads to Minnesota for a huge game against the Vikings, followed by hosting the Chicago Bears in the season finale. The offense is performing but still has plenty of room for improvement. This defense proves to be a force to be reckoned with, giving up less than 20 points in four of their last five games. As the Packers look to win their last four games, they’ll need to play a complete four-quarter game, something they’ve failed to do all season.
Main Image: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
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