Review~ that was the best performance by a Green Bay defense in quite some time. However, there’s an asterisk next to it due to Kansas City having a whole bunch of things wrong with them…still held their 1st potential scoring offense to 13 points with a boat load of special team errors.
LaFleur got away from the run, again – I don’t mean to make it sound like this often happens, but often enough – recording only 25 rush attempts of the 60 total snaps (41.67%). Of the 301 total yards, 122 came from rushing (40.5%).
- Aaron Jones: 12 carries, 2 targets, 53 total yards
- A.J. Dillon: 8 carries, 4 targets, 90 total yards
The Packers won the time of possession, hell they dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and controlled the game. While I don’t like absolutes, Almost Always the QB decides the outcome of the game. This was one of those games (like 95-99% of all games) dictated by the QB. The Packers needed Love to come up with 1-2 more plays…meanwhile Mahomes was off (both has been all year and credit to Green Bay’s defense), yet made a game-clinching throw in crunch time.
Even with Love’s below-average debut, had the Packers:
- Not had a mis-hold, pull-hooked FG
- Not had a blocked FG
- Muffed a punt
- Dropped INT (King) before half
…those 4 plays alone would’ve swung the game from a 7-13 loss into a 13-7 Packers win. Now, that’s easy to say, but the game would’ve gone/flowed much different if any one of those things happened differently. The promising thing (while there’s no Moral Victories, there are things to take away and notice from our perspective) is the Packers went into one of the toughest environments, against an uber-talented team (two-time AFC’s Super Bowl representative) in Desperation, and without a comedy of special team errors, would’ve come out victorious with an inexperienced backup QB and a slew of injuries.
*I may write a separate blog during the BYE week discussing Jordan Love’s “performance,” but I haven’t seen enough of him to decide whether he’s “good” or otherwise. *
Do I think Love is the future? I hope so, but I know that I don’t know, yet…
Preview~ Seattle is an interesting team coming in. They’re coming off a BYE, having won their first home game of the season in their last game (W 31-7 vs. Jacksonville on Oct. 31st).
| 2021 | Sea D. | vs. | GB O. |
| Rush | 127.6 (25) | 109.7 (18) | |
| Pass | 273.9 (29) | 223.8 (23) | |
| Total | 401.5 (31) | 333.4 (22) | |
| Points | 21.1 (9) | 22.1 (20) | |
| Sea O. | vs. | GB D. | |
| Rush | 102.9 (21) | 110.8 (17) | |
| Pass | 211.1 (27) | 210.4 (7) | |
| Total | 314.0 (29) | 321.2 (5) | |
| Points | 22.6 (19) | 20.0 (6) |
The Packers have the better rank in 7 of the 8 categories, but Seattle seems to be the epitome of Bend but Don’t Break defense. They have awful yard rankings, yet are the 9th scoring D, giving up 21.1 points/game.
| TURNOVERS | |||
| Takeaways | Giveaways | Diff. | |
| Sea | 8 (T-23rd) | 4 (1st) | 4 (T-8th) |
| GB | 14 (T-6th) | 8 (T-5th) | 6 (T-4th) |
Seattle also doesn’t turn the ball over, giving it away only 4 times all season. The Packers failed to generate a turnover for the first time since week 1. It seems Kenny Clark and Erik Stokes weren’t injured too severely, however were listed as “Questionable” on Friday during and after practice. It would greatly help to have both back in the lineup, especially to combat the return of Russell Wilson – who will be looking for his 1st victory in Lambeau Field in his career.
Another Equalizer could be Red Zone efficiency, both on offense and defense.
| RED ZONE | ||
| Off. (%/Rank) | Def. (%/Rank) | |
| Sea | 75% (2) | 48.4% (5) |
| GB | 55.9% (T-20) | 76% (31) |
Seattle absolutely OWNS this department as the Packers are terrible on both accounts, especially on the defensive side of the ball. This is yet another matchup vs. a capable QB on a desperate team, however this time Green Bay will likely have Rodgers back under center and homefield advantage.
Should the Packers use the ground game like they did in Arizona, and a few other times this season, it should decimate the bad (by yardage rank, but their Red Zone D is very good, hence the 9th scoring D rank) Seattle defense, Green Bay should come out victorious.
Seahawks 21
Packers 31
Season: 6-3
Overall: 75-39
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