Stretch run for the Green Bay Packers
By Mark Gladney
Oct 4, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA;
The Green Bay Packers are rounding into the last three games of the regular season starting this week at Oakland, Calif., against the Raiders.
As fans are well aware, the team has been rather inconsistent since coming off of the bye undefeated.
A combination of a rash of injuries to the offensive line and key defensive players, inconsistent play by the WRs and RBs, as well as some in-team frustrations and questionable coaching has been the ingredients to a fair number of losses.
The Packers, coming off of back-to-back wins against the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys bring some optimism, but not much.
Green Bay won at Detroit on a miracle play at the end of the game and the Cowboys clearly have significant problems up and down their roster and appear to be headed for a long period of rebuilding.
To counter the personnel problems that injuries have brought and seemingly to stabilize coaching decisions (at least on offense), head coach Mike McCarthy stepped back into the offense as the offensive play-caller over Tom Clements.
It seemed to have some effect as the Packers’ offense seemed to respond to the change and RBs James Starks and Eddie Lacy came to life, generating more than 200 yards of offense rushing and WR Randall Cobb was more a part of the offense than he has been in some time.
Nov 22, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Green Bay Packers wide receiver Randall Cobb (18) celebrates his touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings in the second quarter at TCF Bank Stadium. Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
Could this be the medicine that the team needs to get fully back on track despite an ailing offensive line and inconsistent offensive play from the skill positions?
One can only hope.
In this last few games, the success or failure of the Packers’ season may turn on the play-calling acumen of McCarthy.
His reputation as one of the best play callers in the NFL is established but it is still going to take execution from the players. That means crisp blocking, cutting down on careless penalties (they had too many against Dallas), hard running, and WRs that can get open and catch passes when needed.
Can the return of McCarthy to the offense accomplish all of that?
It all starts this Sunday against an Oakland Raiders team that has been improving in recent weeks.
Green Bay cannot expect to walk into Oakland and come out with a win.
Second year QB Derek Carr is having a productive year (283-455, 3,313 yards and 28 TDs) with WRs Michael Crabtree (70 receptions for 779 yards, 7 TDs) and Amari Cooper (62 receptions for 920 yards, 4 TDs).
The Raiders running game is led by Latavius Murray with 878 yards rushing. The Raiders defense is led by former Packer Charles Woodson with 5 INTs.
Charles Woodson. Raymond T. Rivard photograph
This will not be the usual cakewalk for Green Bay heading into Oakland, but it should be a decent barometer of where the team is after the game.
A win in Oakland not only helps their NFC North standing immensely but takes a little pressure off of the team for the next game against the Cardinals.
The Arizona Cardinals, led by QB Carson Palmer, may, along with the Seattle Seahawks, be the most impressive teams in the NFC. I am not entirely sold on the Carolina Panthers. They are clearly playing at a level far above their talent and playing in one of the weaker divisions has been a bit of a help.
I can certainly see either Arizona or Seattle (possibly Green Bay) going into Carolina in the playoffs and taking a win from them. The playoffs are a whole different level and the pressure of carrying an undefeated record, in addition to trying to get to the Super Bowl is a heavy, heavy burden.
Not sure that Carolina can handle that … Son of Jor-El or not.
It may be better for the Panthers to take a loss now, rather than in the playoffs.
Green Bay can attest to the pressure when they were working on an undefeated season a few years ago and got dispatched at home against the New York Giants.
I cannot see Green Bay going into Arizona and pulling out a win unless the offense starts to play like it did last season and the running game really picks it up a notch.
Nov 30, 2014; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers tight end Richard Rodgers (89) before the game against the New England Patriots at Lambeau Field. Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
The offense needs to make teams pay for playing Cover 2 and nickel by running the ball and then throwing when a single high safety is present and the other in the box to stop the run.
The problem is that they do not have the same WRs as they did last year (namely Jordy Nelson) and playing at the level that they need to play. The WRs need to win their battles and TE Richard Rodgers needs to provide more of a threat down the middle of the field.
What I ask is truly a tall order but not impossible.
Maybe next year Green Bay should strongly consider adding more speed at WR and TE in the draft. It may not hurt Packers GM Ted Thompson to look at the free agent market a little to see what is out there or, in the alternative, move up in the draft to get more talent at the skill positions.
Draft and develop will only get us so far.
A free agent impact player from time to time can help fill a hole.
The Packers must be smart about it. It would truly be a shame to have a potential Hall of Fame QB in Aaron Rodgers and only deliver him one Super Bowl ring.
We wasted Brett Favre when we could have gotten one or two more with him.
Let’s not do the same thing again.
The Minnesota Vikings close out the season at Green Bay in the last game, which could be for a wild card position or for the division championship.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12). Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
The Vikings are playing spirited ball and they are better than I thought, thanks to the otherworldly play of RB Adrian Peterson and a vastly improved Viking defense.
Interestingly enough, Green Bay finally shut down Peterson in its win over the Vikings in Minnesota a few weeks back and played quite well.
Can they do that again?
If the season ended today, it looks as if the Packers could host Seattle in a rematch of the regular season game, which was won by Green Bay 27-17.
The Seahawks were going throughout their issues with DB Cam Chancellor, but it appears they may have settled down as QB Russell Wilson has been playing high level ball of late.
If Green Bay can get some consistency back, they could be a dark horse and get back into the Super Bowl talk. Running the table the last three games would be great, but I would settle for two-of-three.