Loss to Lions shows how far Packers have to go as NFC Contenders
Green Bay put up 411 yards of offense and held an explosive Detroit team under 270 yards, but fell far short of Dan Campbell's squad in discipline and execution.
Good morning!
Nobody beats the Green Bay Packers quite like the Packers themselves. In what has become a disturbing trend of the season, Green Bay committed 10 penalties, dropped a slew of passes and committed a brutal turnover before the half to fall to the Detroit Lions 24-14.
Today's edition of The Leap digs into the questions around Jordan Love’s turnovers, the secretly great defensive performance and more.
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Jordan Love committed yet another mind-numbing interception in a pick-six that ultimately decided the game. At what point does this become too much to overcome?
Peter Bukowski: In a game that featured four third-down drops, a dropped touchdown, and two other throws that Christian Watson wildly misjudged (each appeared to be otherwise accurate passes), Jordan Love can’t shoulder the only blame for this loss by any means.
“We’re still a really good football team,” Love said after the game.
“Some of the stuff is more self-inflicted—the mistakes, penalties, turnovers—it’s all stuff we can clean up. We haven’t played our best game and a lot of football is in front of us when we come back.”
Love also explained the pick-six to Kerby Joseph happened because Joseph, who was coming on a blitz, unintentionally hid behind a Packers blocker, so Love never saw him when he tried to loft the ball to Josh Jacobs with the game still very much in the balance at 10-3. If Love dirts that ball, Green Bay might win but he’s also a bit unlucky to have a safety lurking in that spot as opposed to a linebacker or linemen who likely doesn’t make that play.
But on balance, Love played well, finishing 23/39 for 273 yards. The offense as a whole hung 411 yards at 6.6 yards per rip on one of the best defenses in the NFL, even without Aidan Hutchinson. They moved the ball at will and though Love’s one bad throw contributes to the margin in an enormous way, Love also kept the Packers in it on a day when the conditions should have prevented the passing game from being successful.
When Jason wrote about the keys to the game, the final question centered around the Lions’ ability to handle the weather, but it was the Packers who had issues, unable to catch critical passes.
Love’s throw to Chris Brooks on third down during the opening drive wasn’t perfect, but has to be caught. If Love lays it out in front of the Packers’ third-string running back, it’s a walk-in touchdown but even an imperfect ball would be a relatively routine play for most backs.
The same is true for the fourth-quarter on-the-run ball Love put on Dontayvion Wicks in the end zone. It’s behind Wicks, but the second-year receiver barely had to extend behind his body to snare it. That play has to be made.
Detroit made the routine plays. Green Bay didn’t.
Love can’t throw an interception every game to be sure. But play-to-play, Love’s performance has been more than good enough to win even in the contests they’ve lost. Penalties plague this team, none more exemplifying of the season than the false start on the very first drive to turn a 3rd-and-3 into a 3rd-and-8.
Packers can’t convert—field goal instead of a touchdown or fourth-down attempt.
The Lions, meanwhile, scored their only two offensive touchdowns on fourth down by giving themselves manageable situations and taking advantage of Green Bay mistakes. Elgton Jenkins summed it up by saying the team that executed better won, but not the better team.
When Green Bay got hot down the stretch, the team won almost exclusively because Love played at an extremely high level. He was the biggest reason the Pack were winning. He’s not the biggest reason they’re losing when they lose, but he has been a reason.
As rare as that felt under Aaron Rodgers, that’s true for most teams in the NFL and was more true about Rodgers than many fans and media members would like to admit.
Most teams go as the quarterback goes. Green Bay ran the ball with efficiency and explosion in the first half but couldn’t maintain balance when the score got out of hand. The drops and 10 penalties, mostly on the offense, contributed heavily to the game scrip tilting.
LaFleur, Love and quarterback coach Tom Clements need to find a slightly better balance with Love’s fearlessness vs. recklessness, but there’s also a significant amount of luck involved here too. Coming into the week, Love and Josh Allen had similar turnover-worthy play numbers yet Allen had yet to throw a pick.
Last season, Love’s turnover-worthy play rate ranked among the best in the NFL with chaos around him. He’s more confident now, more emboldened to make plays. If he can trust his teammates and be willing to eat some negative plays as far as sacks go, it may be the best thing for the team.
Jared Goff didn’t make any crazy plays to help the Lions, but he also didn’t commit any cardinal sin mistakes either. That personifies this game and these two teams right now: the Lions don’t beat themselves. The Packers do. Until that changes, the scores between these two teams won’t either.
The Packers allowed 17 points and under 300 yards of offense to the Lions. Don’t miss that in a tough loss.
PB: Last week, the Lions scored 52 points without putting up gaudy offensive statistics. This week, they scored 17 points without putting up gaudy offensive statistics.
The gameflow will frustrate fans. The defense gives up a touchdown right after the offense gets a field goal to open the game. Out of halftime, the team desperately needs a stop, the Lions march it down the field to make it 24-3 and the game is basically over at that point with the rain and wind affecting the passing game in a material way.
But in between that, the Packers held the Lions to 4.7 yards per play on the day and just 261 total yards. Detroit fans may say their team let its foot off their rivals’ neck up three scores, but the last month of Lions football undercuts that argument.
Ben Johnson runs running back passes and throws to offensive linemen for touchdowns up 20. They ran the score up on the Cowboys and Titans. They didn’t stop trying. Jared Goff threw two out of three plays on a three-and-out drive after the 24-3 touchdown.
On the next drive, the Packers heated him up on a 3rd-and-10 where Goff was trying to hit Sam LaPorta down the seam. And even with the game at 24-6 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Johnson called three passes in a six-play sequence ending in a punt.
In short, they tried to pour it on and the Packers defense, down Evan Williams and Jaire Alexander due to injury, held. Though pass rush for neither team played a meaningful role in the game, the Packers got the game’s lone sack, a meet-and-the-quarterback play on third down to end a drive in the first half when the game hung in doubt.
I still can’t explain why Edgerrin Cooper, fresh off his Defensive Player of the Week award, doesn’t get the vast majority of the snaps. Quay Walker can’t get off blocks, Isaiah McDuffie needs to have a meeting with The Bobs about what it is he actually does here, exactly. There’s no reason to pretend Cooper isn’t the best linebacker on the team when it’s so obvious watching the game.
Green Bay wants Cooper to be better in preparation, to practice with more purpose and perhaps study harder. At least, that’s what they’re hinting it in their comments about him, but the tape could not be more obvious.
The Packers’ secondary injuries didn’t kill them, though it would be easy to imagine the Amon-Ra St. Brown touchdown on Keisean Nixon would go different with Alexander defending in chase. They didn’t have to pressure Goff on early downs to get stops and they held David Montgomery under 4 yards per carry. If the defense plays like this in a rematch, the Packers should feel good about their chances to win.
The bye week could not have come at a better time
PB: Last year, the Packers came out of the bye and lost two ugly games to the Broncos and Vikings before undergoing a slow transformation into one of the scariest teams in the NFC. Through nine games, the 2023 Packers were 3-6, but had just lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game that, to a man, delivered confidence to players and coaches alike that Love had special qualities.
Now, the team sits at 6-3 without every having played a complete game. Love hasn’t been healthy since the first half of the Eagles game in Week 1. The secondary expects to be full strength out of the bye. Even Josh Myers’ injury reverberated Sunday with a host of low snaps from fill-in Jenkins including on a crucial trip to the red zone late in the game.
The way the Bears, Saints, Dolphins and Seahawks look right now, the back half of the schedule doesn’t look as daunting as it did a few weeks ago, but the Packers will still have to play extremely well to have a shot at the division. The bye week coming now provides the perfect chance for LaFleur, Love and Co. to reset, get healthy, and make the kinds of subtle adjustments that helped them catch fire last year.