After rethinking about Thursday’s game against the Titans, here are three things worth discussing:
1) Watching Green Bay get outplayed by the Titans, I couldn’t help but think about how little impact the past three drafts had on the outcome of the game. Of the 28 players selected by GM Brian Gutekunst, only four were preferred starters last night (center Josh Myers, guard Jon Runyan, inside linebacker Quay Walker, and receiver Christian Watson). And while the latter two flashed big-time potential, that’s still not much of a payoff. Aside from Walker, three others were chosen in round 1. Quarterback Jordan Love and defensive end Devonte Wyatt are backups, and corner Eric Stokes, who played poorly early in the season, is on injured reserve. This isn’t close to good enough, especially for a team that prides itself on drafting and developing young talent. The Packers, led by the great Aaron Rodgers, were able to overcome a string of disappointing Aprils for the past few years, but it was always going to come back to bite them in the ass. That time has arrived.
2) The last two seasons were ruined in February. That’s when coach Matt LaFleur hired special teams coordinator Mo Drayton (2020) and defensive coordinator Joe Barry (2021). The former has already been fired, and the latter will almost certainly suffer the same fate in a couple of months. Barry reminds me of The Little Dutch Boy, who plugs a dike with his finger. Like the famous character from the Hans Brinker novel, he can fix one problem, but another inevitably pops up. While Barry figured out a way to slow down star running back Derrick Henry on Thursday night, quarterback Ryan Tannehill completed 22 of 27 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns. It’s been like that for the majority of the past 11 games. Barry simply can’t get his unit to defend both the run and the pass simultaneously. It’s incredibly frustrating to watch, but as I’ve opined many times, this failure falls squarely on the shoulders of the coach. Barry didn’t hire himself. LaFleur did, and once again, his terrible decision in the offseason has played a huge role in destroying another actual season.
3) I alluded to the strained relationship between LaFleur and Titans coach Mike Vrabel in my game preview. That was on full display late in the fourth quarter when Tannehill threw a 51-yard pass to wide receiver Treylon Burks just prior to the two-minute warning. It was unnecessary but totally predictable. Vrabel had a problem with LaFleur from the day he was forced to hire him in February 2018. The two never saw eye to eye. Then, after Tennessee finished 25th in yards and 27th in points, word leaked that Vrabel was going to fire his first-year offensive coordinator right around the time LaFleur was interviewing with the Packers for their head coaching job. And while Vrabel denied the rumor and that he originated it, those around the league were skeptical. So when you combine the strained relationship with the Packers’ 40-14 destruction of the Titans two years ago, it’s no surprise Vrabel threw the ball down the field up by 10 points with just over two minutes left and Green Bay out of timeouts. The only real surprise is that he took three knees after that pass.
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I don’t understand why everyone is surprised with the outcome last night, they were playing with Joe Montana and we had Jim Del Gaizo spearheading the attack.
On a serious note the following:
1. With the exception of year 1. Gutey has done a poor job….lack of clear direction, horrible drafts, poor use of draft picks( will give up a 3rd or 4th to move a few spots up in the round for unproven talent but refuses to part with the same picks for proven veteran talent, and the early drafting of 24yr olds who have peaked physically needs to stop. Why teams never take a player off our practice squad is very telling about the overall talent level he’s acquired.
2. Joe B and the past D’S . When are we going to field and coach a physical, aggressive , opportunistic defense rather than this soft bend but don’t break 10 yard off the line of scrimmage defense? Just about every team we face is always more physical and tackles more crisp than we do besides being more alert. We have guys like Stokes who plays like he thinks he’s Deion Sanders minus the interception. Barry needs to go along with the person providing the talent. Once again we’ll be spending early draft capital on this unit…..how about including some 6’5”, 6’6” guys along the defensive line, we hardly ever bat a ball down.
You can skirt around the issue and blame others but that doesn’t change the fact that Aaron Rodgers is done. What was that throw to Sammy Watkins on 3rd and 12 in the 4th? Watkins was wide open and the throw wasn’t even close. And it was hardly the only one. Rodgers has emerging playmakers in Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs at WR. A solidified OL with Bakhtiari and Jenkins. And a a healthy and potent running game with Jones and Dillion. Yet about 17 points a game is the best Rodgers can do. The way you beat the Packers is painfully obvious. You load the box to stop the run then make Rodgers beat you with his arm. He can’t. But go ahead and blame Joe Barry, Darnell Savage, and Brian Gutekunst. I don’t know how much more everyone needs to see. It’s time to move on. I don’t think the gap between 39 yr old Aaron Rodgers and 23 yr old Jordan Love is as great as everyone thinks.
Tom M, I destroyed Rodgers on Twitter all night. I’ve been critical of him in past posts, and I’ll be critical of him in future posts. Your replies are repetitive and tiresome. Either find something new to talk about or find somewhere else to comment.
The team collapse starts at the top. Front office.
2018 draft – 1 starter on roster {Alexander}
2019 draft – Jenkins, Gary, Savage
2020 draft – Runyan, Dillon {Not really a starter}
2021 draft – Myers, Stokes
Certainly not worthy of an extension. Ron Wolf said a successful draft is three starters. According to Wolf, Gutekunst is 1 for 4 so far. In five years Gutekunst hasn’t found a PR/KR or a long snapper. He left a QB coming off an MVP season with one of the worst WR corps in the league.
Collapse to coaching level:
Let Crosby kickoff to the 10-12 yd line giving TN field position consistently at their own 35-40. We have a kicker on the roster than can boom into the end zone but MLF would rather save TN an extra 10-15 yds every possession.
Joe Barry. Maybe McVay passing over Barry for DC on his own staff should have been LaFleur’s first hint ? The DB’s still can’t communicate and pass off WR’s deep into the season. 100% coaching. I thought LaFleur dumped Pettine because his coverage was soft ? So, what explains Barry hanging around ? It’s your buddy, right Matt ?
Defense makes a red zone stand and LaFleur promptly keeps 33 on the bench for 2 yds and a cloud of dust Dillon backed up against our own end zone. Gee, how did TN ever know that Dillon would run two up the gut ? Like the building of the pyramids, a great mystery.
Uncle Frank hacking into his tap beer at the local VFW club knew Amari Rodgers couldn’t play in the NFL two games into his career. It took our coaching staff a year and a half to figure it out.
Collapse to players:
Outside of Cobb and Aaron Jones, everyone else on offense has regressed. Outside of Gary and P. Smith everyone else on defense has regressed. I’m going to exempt young players like Watson, Doubs, Tom, Walker, McDuffie, etc. They’re the only reason to watch this mess any more this season. The veterans on this team have collapsed.
My guess is we’ll find out this offseason what ACTUALLY transpired in this locker room to cause such a collapse. My guess is it started with Gutekunst neglect of the WR position and cascaded from there. Gutekunst had four picks in the first two rds of the draft. Think how different this season might have been had he traded one of those for bona fide vet WR.
The play(plays) to Dillon with a one back one receiver look is a giveaway play against a stout downfield attacking defense that the Titans have. While we’re at it can we get rid of or use it less frequently that 30 yard pass to a receiver behind the line of scrimmage for what usually amounts to tiny yardage. We sure do appear to have guys running free in the center of the field more often than not…..is Rodgers purposely choosing to not throw to certain receivers or is he no longer seeing the field. I thinks he has his preferences sad to say.
i feel the pain of major disappointment this year. understandably, folks are looking for the source of blame. i am not sure that anyone is completely wrong. after watching the pro game for a few decades, i feel that i have come to some understanding about why there are many upsets and disappointing seasons in the game. the young men involved in the game are emotional creatures. just as fans are emotional, so are the players and coaches. my perspective is that the Packers have faced some obstacles this year which were unexpected.
one obstacle correlating to the emotional aspect of the game.. and, i would reinforce a comment that Aaron Rodgers had recently made.. other teams tend to bring their best performances when playing the Packers. i think Rodgers was right on this. i think organizations look at the Packers game on their schedule and expect to need a particularly strong performance to compete with a strong Packers team. before this season’s begin, the Packers had Vegas’ 3rd highest odds to win the Super Bowl. before the season began, opposing teams knew that they had to bring their A-game when playing the Pack. other than a weak Bears team, Packers’ opponents have consistently brought quality performances. this idea has been reinforced by widespread comments from people within the organization and from professionals reporting on the team that the Packers have had, and have, very little margin for error in their contests.
chemistry issues between Rodgers and the newer wideouts in 2022 were predicted. i am not making excuses for Rodgers here.. i have been very disappointed in several of Rodgers’ performances, including his performance v. the 49ers back in the Division Playoff in January.. that performance was not about Rodgers’ lack of experience with his skilled supporting cast. in this calendar year, Rodgers’ has missed too many open receivers too many times. additionally, Rodgers has thrown an uncharacteristically high number of pick-worthy passes.
additionally, in 2022, i feel that there has been an obvious lack of performance from a secondary that was touted by preseason pundits as a top 2 or 3 secondary. while there have been some worthy individual performances over the first 11 games of the season, the secondary as a whole has not demonstrated a dominant performance. going through the list of quarterbacks who have beaten the Packers through the air this year, i feel disgusted.. Tannehill’s performance was only the latest example.
like many, i am near distraught by this year’s results. and the light at the end of the tunnel seems dim. perhaps the biggest foreseeable issue facing the organization in the next year or two is the financial situation with player contracts vis-a-vis the salary cap. currently, it appears that Rodgers’ near-future cap hits loom as a giant albatross about to weigh heavily on the organization. to paraphrase Bette Davis’ famous line.. “fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”