Tag: good bad ugly

Good, bad and ugly from the Packers’ loss to the 49ers

Breaking down the good, the bad and the ugly from the Packers’ 37-8 loss to the 49ers on Sunday night.

The Green Bay Packers went to San Francisco with hopes of delivering a statement win but left the West Coast with a blowout loss that exposed Matt LaFleur’s team and handed the 49ers the inside track at home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the Packers’ 37-8 loss in San Francisco:

The Good

OLB Za’Darius Smith: The Packers’ defensive captain delivered 1.5 sacks, two tackles for losses and three quarterback hits while winning several one-on-one matchups against backup left tackle Justin Skule. Both of his sacks ended drives on third down.

Adams in the end zone: For the first time since Week 16 of last season, Packers Pro Bowl receiver Davante Adams caught a touchdown pass – ending a six-game drought. His 2-yard score on a touch pass from Aaron Rodgers was the lone highlight of the Packers’ miserable night.

The Bad

Defending George Kittle: The 49ers’ All-Pro tight end returned after missing two games with an ankle injury and dominated the Packers in the middle of the field. He caught six passes for a game-high 129 yards and the game-sealing 61-yard touchdown. Three of his catches gained 20 or more yards, including a 22-yarder that set up a field goal before the half. The Packers had no answer. They’ve rarely had an answer for a good tight end this season.

JK Scott: The second-year punter has regressed in a significant way over the last month or so. On Sunday night, Scott hit six punts, and, despite perfect conditions at Levi’s Stadium, not a single one traveled further than 41 yards. He averaged 37.2 per punt. The struggling Packers offense desperately needed Scott to flip the field and help out the defense, especially early. Instead, he put Mike Pettine’s group in bad spots all night.

Third down: The Packers finished 1-for-15 on third down, with the lone conversion coming with backup quarterback Tim Boyle in the game late in the fourth quarter. Of the 15 third downs, 12 required eight or more yards to convert. That’s no way to live against one of the NFL’s best pass-rushing fronts.

Geronimo Allison: He caught three passes for only nine yards, dropped a third-down pass in the first quarter and short-circuited a drive with a block in the back penalty. After 11 games, Allison has 26 catches for 220 yards, with 12 catches of five yards or fewer.

Officiating: Games with significant officiating controversy are just becoming the norm in the NFL. Sunday night got off to an odd start when the side judge flagged Davante Adams for taunting after a first-down catch on the Packers’ first drive. It set a standard the rest of the crew didn’t uphold the rest of the game. Several other early calls were questionable at best, including a hold on David Bakhtiari and a hands to the face penalty on Kevin King. Later, the Packers’ lone touchdown drive was aided along by a handful of ridiculous calls against the 49ers.

Punt returns: Tremon Smith had two decent chances to return a punt and still managed to lose yards on both returns. He had -3 punt return yards total, pushing the Packers’ total to -11 yards after 11 games. The team’s longest punt return of the entire season is one yard. The incompetence of Shawn Mennenga’s return groups is staggering.

Negative yardage plays: The Packers have talked all season about eliminating negative yardage plays. On Sunday night, they had 13 plays that resulted in no gain or lost yards.

The Ugly

Packers passing offense: It’s hard to believe just how unproductive the Packers were in the passing game. Aaron Rodgers dropped back to pass 41 times but finished with just 104 passing yards and 66 net passing yards. He took five sacks, fumbled away the ball on the first drive, averaged 3.2 yards per attempt and 5.2 yards per completion. Rodgers was constantly under pressure, especially after Bryan Bulaga exited in the first half. Even when he wasn’t, he had no one to throw to down the field. Down big, Rodgers took no extra risks to help ignite the offense. No player averaged more than 7.0 yards per catch. Davante Adams was targeted 12 times but managed only 43 yards. Geronimo Allison, Jimmy Graham and Marquez Valdes-Scantling had chances at big plays but couldn’t convert. Aaron Jones was targeted just once. A total and complete failure from the Packers passing offense, with enough blame to go around for everyone, including the playcaller, the quarterback and just about every player in the supporting cast.

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Good, bad, and ugly from the Packers’ victory over the Panthers

We recap the good, bad, and ugly moments from the Green Bay Packers 24-16 win over the Carolina Panthers.

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Following a stinker of a game against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Green Bay Packers returned home to Lambeau Field, where winter arrived just in time to help the Packers against the Carolina Panthers. The Packers rode the likes of Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams to a victory, beating the Panthers 24-16. Sunday’s game had a little bit of everything, but more importantly, it gave Green Bay another signature win before their bye week.

Thanks to the win, the Packers are now 8-2, and will head into their bye week as one of the best teams in the NFC. As they get healthy and aim to fix some mistakes, the team is undoubtedly in the chase for a first-round bye, and their first game out of the bye will be an important one, as they look to take on the presently undefeated San Francisco 49ers.

Let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Packers’ 24-16 victory over the Panthers.

The Good

  • Aaron Jones: There’s not much left to say about Aaron Jones that hasn’t already been said. The leader of the Packers running back room and possibly MVP of the offense once again proved his worth on Sunday, as Jones ran for 93 rushing yards and three touchdowns. He finished the game averaging 7.2 yards per carry and was crucial to the Packers killing some of the clock late in the fourth quarter. As good as Davante Adams is, and with all respect to Aaron Rodgers, there is an argument that Jones has been the best player on the Packers offense in 2019. The Packers will undoubtedly be leaning on him as they continue to play down the stretch.

  • The Smiths: The Packers’ dip into free agency during the offseason continues to pay off. Za’Darius and Preston Smith once again wreaked havoc on the Panthers offensive line and young quarterback Kyle Allen. The pair combined for two sacks and seven quarterback hits, with Za’Darius adding in a bunch of other pressures to boot. Preston Smith has already hit his career-high in sacks, and with Za’Darius not too far behind his own, it’s been clear that these two have completely changed the Packers defense for the better.
  • Red zone defense: For the last six weeks, the Packers defense has been anything but the elite unit that many thought they had become to start the season. However, the Packers “bend but don’t break” mentality on defense has proven to work so far. Although Green Bay gave up 401 yards to the Panthers, they were able to shut them down when Carolina got into the red zone, forcing a turnover and a late goal-line stand that won them the game. The Packers’ defense continues to be extremely opportunistic and live off of turnovers, and while that might be troublesome when it’s not working, the Packers have proven that when they need to, they’re able to tighten things up.

  • Kenny Clark: The Packers’ best defensive lineman had a quiet October, but he produced one of his best games of the 2019 season. He played a big part in limiting Christian McCaffrey to 108 rushing yards and was consistently disruptive as a pass rusher.

The Bad

  • J.K. Scott: To Scott’s credit, he did finish the game with a couple of nice punts, but it was a rocky game for the young kicker. After starting off the season on fire, Scott has once again cooled along with the weather. In a wet, snowy game at Lambeau Field on Sunday, Scott’s first couple of kicks were flat out awful, and as a whole, his punts averaged just 35.3 yards, with his first two kicks giving the Panthers great field position. Scott has been extremely streaky this year, and it’ll be interesting to see how he bounces back following the bye.
  • Penalties: The Packers played a much more disciplined game this week then they did against the Chargers last week, but an alarming trend of penalties killing the team is starting to pop up. Green Bay finished the game with 10 penalties totaling just 64 yards, but the manner in which they came was rough. On offense, false starts and delay of games doomed some of the Packers drives, and late in the game with the Panthers on a potential game-tying drive, both Za’Darius and Preston Smith were caught offsides in crucial moments. It didn’t come back to bite them on Sunday, but giving teams extra chances to beat you is never good, and something the team will have to work on.
  • David Bakhtiari: A surprising entrant on this part of the list, Bakhtiari has struggled during the last couple of weeks. Coming into the season as an All-Pro candidate and one of the best left tackles in the league, Bakhtiari has looked like anything but recently. Not only was he beat a handful of times on Sunday, but he’s been whistled for a ton of penalties that have severely hurt some Packers drives in recent games. The bright side of things is that whether it’s a minor injury or just a stretch of poor play, it’s a safe bet that Bakhtiari will turn things around at some point.

The Ugly

  • Pre-halftime play: It’s important to note that as far as this play is concerned, I believe the decision to go for it was the absolute correct one, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Just prior to the end of the first half, the Packers had the ball on the Panthers 1-yard line with two seconds remaining. Instead of kicking a field goal, the Packers opted to go for it and were stuffed for a 3-yard loss. Not only was Aaron Jones not on the field, but the Packers lined up in a heavy formation, essentially letting the Panthers know they’d be trying to run straight up the middle. Not only did Panthers defensive end Gerald McCoy, who blew up the play, say he knew what was coming prior to the snap, but David Bakhtiari also whiffed on a blocking attempt, which ended any chance of the play succeeding. Going for it was the right decision, but they’ll need better plays for those moments in the future.