The offensive line wasn’t nearly good enough and the veteran secondary melted under the pressure of Justin Jefferson during the Green Bay Packers’ highly disappointing season opener on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Time to panic about the 0-1 Packers?
I don’t think so.
The flaws that took down the Packers on Sunday probably won’t be fatal flaws the rest of the way.
Aaron Rodgers took four sacks and clearly wasn’t comfortable often in the pocket against the Vikings front. But here’s the thing: the Packers are confident David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins will return sooner rather than later. And when they do, the offensive line will be just fine. Probably better than fine. Even getting back Jenkins would remove a weak link from the starting five and immediately stabilize the unit overall. Reinforcements are coming, and when they arrive, Rodgers is going to be living a much different life in the pocket. This game is all about blocking, and the Packers will improve here, likely substantially.
On defense, the five players in the Packers secondary won’t play a worse game all season. The safeties especially. Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage had a nightmare opener. But they are in Year 4 of playing together, and the Packers think Jaire Alexander, Eric Stokes and Rasul Douglas are one of the best cornerback trios in football. There should be a high level of trust that the five starters will bounce back, probably in a big way.
Coverage and the pass-rush work together on defense. And on a second viewing of Sunday’s loss, the Packers’ pass-rush performed much better than originally believed. Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary and Preston Smith were all disruptive. Per PFF, Kirk Cousins was under pressure on almost 43 percent of his dropbacks. That’s a strong percentage. But Cousins made plays under pressure because of coverage breakdowns. When these two things work together, the Packers will be just fine on defense.
The passing game will, admittedly, take time. But it will improve as the blocking gets better and the young receivers start to figure things out. Both Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs flashed real talent in the opener. Watson has legit speed and Doubs can separate, so they will be (or at least should be) big parts of the passing game as this season unfolds. Reps with No. 12 should only make them better and better, suggesting the passing game that was on display Sunday in Minneapolis probably won’t look anything like the one that takes the field in Week 17 when the Vikings come to Lambeau Field.
Also, Week 1 will probably be the one and only time Aaron Jones gets eight touches in a game this season. In fact, the 23 total touches Jones and A.J. Dillon received on Sunday might end up being the season-low. Rodgers and Matt LaFleur will get them more involved and find ways of squeezing out every last drop of productivity from the running back duo. Bank on it.
It’s easy to overreact to Week 1 because it’s the only thing available to evaluate. But just as the season opener last year was an anomaly, Sunday’s loss in Minnesota probably won’t be indicative of how the Packers perform the rest of the way.
The Packers have a lot to fix coming out of Sunday, but nothing looks completely broken.
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