Why on earth did LaFleur go for it on fourth-and-8 from the Carolina 13 with 11 minutes to go in the game? You’re down by seven, you do NOT need a TD there. Points were at a premium for the Packers all game, take the points!
The regret sounded pretty clear to me from the podium.
That was a tough one to swallow. Just about everything that could have gone wrong did. Unfortunately, all of the minor issues we have had this year stacked up and culminated into quite the humiliating performance. I don’t want to overreact, but at what point do we address the elephant in the room? ML’s pressers are all the same talk about penalties, poor execution, and bad play-calling in critical moments. Whatever he is doing to fix the problems are not working. He may need a new approach. GPG!
That’s coaching, finding the right approach to get the most out of your players. When LaFleur said after the game, “We’ve got to evaluate everything we’re doing right now,” I believe him.
Aaron Banks is by far the biggest overreach that Gute has made. A $77M gamble that has blown up. The O’s running game is worse with him in there and his pass blocking is suspect at best. What are your thoughts?
My thoughts are Banks can’t stay healthy, and it’s one factor of many within a very spotty, inconsistent offense.
At the midpoint of the season I think we can say we know the Packers’ identity – they play down (or up, as the case may be) to the level of their competition. Is Brandon McManus’s injury impacting him and, if so, why not ride the kid until he’s healthy?
McManus hasn’t mentioned his injury being a factor. All I know is his two misses inside 45 yards the last two games have looked exactly the same, hooked wide left from the right hash.
Kyle from St. Charles, MO
Sigh. Yet, somehow we’re still leading the North.
Long way to go, and things got considerably tighter now, but this was a missed opportunity of massive proportions.
In the current NFL when the opposing QB throws for 102 yards, zero TDs, and one interception, you should be able to find a way to win 100% of those games if you want to consider yourself a Super Bowl contender. Sunday’s loss needs to be the wake-up call this team needs or the second half could get ugly fast. Especially the way the rest of the division has been playing.
This division is going to keep beating up on itself I figure. I get what you’re saying about the passing stats, but this defensive effort left a lot more to be desired than, say, Cleveland (at least to me). When everyone knew the Panthers were going to pound the ball with Dowdle, he ripped off runs of 29, 13, 21 (nullified luckily by illegal formation) and then 19 with the game on the line. He had a nifty combination of patience and power, and the leaks evident in the run defense in the first half last week in Pittsburgh, before the Steelers abandoned the run, showed up to a greater degree.
Did the Great Pumpkin take revenge against LaFleur for dissing on Halloween during his pre-game presser?
Good grief (said in my best Charlie Brown voice).
Mark from Westminster, CO
And the NFL has a new record, a booming 68-yard FG. This sure feels like the “Steroid Era” in Major League Baseball with the surge in home runs back in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. So, is it really the ball?
According to those in the know, yes. I’ve heard special teams coaches say they believe being able to work over the K-balls has added 5-7 yards.
Yikes. Packers look lugubrious for good reason. How is this humbling going to help the team going forward towards a stronger finish?
Lugubrious coming from Luxemburg, eh? A game like that should induce a full reset. How each player and coach uses it is up to him. What happened has to make a team better. Make it worth something, not a total waste.
Mike’s comment about CB being a tough position to play got me thinking that it might be the toughest position to play in all of sports. The receiver (often the fastest player on the team) knows what route he is running and a lot of the time the CB is traveling backwards. Not to mention when coming up in the run defense they have to take on an offensive lineman who outweighs them by over 100 pounds. I know you’ve always said that QB is the toughest position in sports. 1A and 1B for me.
Fair. QB is the most difficult position based on how much has to be processed mentally, and quickly, to be translated into physical execution. Corner has the physical challenges you mentioned plus the mental requirement to let the bad (stuff) go and just keep getting after it.
