Packers: 5 takeaways from Week 7 loss to Saints
Bye week comes at perfect time
The Packers are now entering their bye week. They don’t play again until Nov. 6, a Monday night game with the Lions. That gives them 15 days of preparation for a huge NFC North showdown at Lambeau Field. This bye week is important for a couple of reasons.
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First is health. The Packers did get tackles David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga back from injury against New Orleans, but the bye will help everyone get a little closer to 100 percent. Ahmad Brooks, Morgan Burnett and Lane Taylor all missed Sunday’s game. All three play important roles at their respective positions, and getting them healthy in Week 9 would make a difference.
The second benefit of the bye is it gives head coach Mike McCarthy additional time to work with Hundley. He now has an additional week to build an offense around Hundley’s strengths. They played New Orleans just seven days after Rodgers’ injury, and there’s only so many hours in a week to make major changes.
McCarthy can use the bye to add new wrinkles to his offense, and study the film from Hundley’s first career start to identify what worked and what didn’t. For the Packers to win multiple games without Rodgers, they’ll need more production through the air. This bye gives them time to put things right.