A 2008-esque loss, Packers (1-1) fall to the Falcons (2-0) - Week 2 postgame thread

[skibrett15]

3 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

What has worried/disappointed me these first two games is the scripted plays.  Those first 15 or so plays that are set before the game starts.  Because Love has started out both games very poorly(he also finished this one very poorly which is also concerning), but you would think LaFleur was putting in plays Love is comfortable with.  Love hit an awesome rhythm in the middle of the game, but they need a rehaul on the early drives. 

Add into that our defense looking like we feared they would with Barry at the helm and a running game soft as Charmin, and we lost a game we really shouldn't have.

Flea flicker went off great, then some bad plays went bad.

[St Vince]

1 hour ago, Mazrimiv said:

I'm just going to go ahead and blame Dillon for this loss because he is my new scapegoat for everything bad that happens.  I thought for sure it would be Savage, but Dillon has earned the title.  I've seen toddlers with better balance.

If Dillon is back in GB next season he needs to transition into a FB. He needs to be in the John Kuhn role for us, hes not a RB.

To be a RB in this league you have to be able to make guys miss. Dillon can't do that, all he can do is find a small crease and plow for as many yards he can.

He will not get paid by anyone this off-season at this rate. He'll be great FB for us but he's not a RB.

[Pugger]

1 hour ago, Old Guy said:

He was definitely nervous you could tell. It was too big for him THIS time. That was invaluable experience which will bode well for him in future opportunities. 

He will learn and grow from this situation. For that alone, it was a long-term win. 

Yup.  We all have to keep telling ourselves how much he has to learn.  It was good for him to observe AR and be his backup but actually playing is the best teacher here.  

[Pugger]

35 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

What has worried/disappointed me these first two games is the scripted plays.  Those first 15 or so plays that are set before the game starts.  Because Love has started out both games very poorly(he also finished this one very poorly which is also concerning), but you would think LaFleur was putting in plays Love is comfortable with.  Love hit an awesome rhythm in the middle of the game, but they need a rehaul on the early drives. 

Add into that our defense looking like we feared they would with Barry at the helm and a running game soft as Charmin, and we lost a game we really shouldn't have.

The fact his play improved as the game progressed is a good sign, tbh.  Not having a decent/competent running game yesterday did him no favors.

[skibrett15]

10 minutes ago, St Vince said:

If Dillon is back in GB next season he needs to transition into a FB. He needs to be in the John Kuhn role for us, hes not a RB.

To be a RB in this league you have to be able to make guys miss. Dillon can't do that, all he can do is find a small crease and plow for as many yards he can.

He will not get paid by anyone this off-season at this rate. He'll be great FB for us but he's not a RB.

I think he would be the worst FB in the league, by like, a lot

[Ragnarok]

37 minutes ago, skibrett15 said:

Flea flicker went off great, then some bad plays went bad.

If you're relying on flea flickers, that's a bit worrisome.

4 minutes ago, Pugger said:

The fact his play improved as the game progressed is a good sign, tbh.  Not having a decent/competent running game yesterday did him no favors.

His play improved after the scripted plays which is good...then it fell off a cliff.  No running game hurt, but he had a couple very bad throws late.

I'm more surprised that the scripted plays have been this bad two weeks in a row.

[craig]

9 hours ago, R T said:

....After the Falcons drive in the middle of the 3rd quarter that took over 6 minutes off the clock it was obvious the Packers defense was gassed and was going to be on the ropes for the remainder of the game. The Falcons were going to score, it was up to the Packers to decide if it was going to be quickly or slowly. If a team is up 12 to start the 4th than slowly is probably the choice. 

The spotlight on where to look concerning the 4th quarter should be on the offense here. The offense had 3 drives in the 4th quarter in a game where they needed to give the defense a small breather, yet those 3 drives they went 3 plays and punt, 3 plays and punt and 4 plays and turnover on downs. Now if people want to debate those drives and what could have been done differently that would be a good topic, but piling on the defense is a silly approach in looking at the 4th quarter. ...

Given that Atlanta had only scored 12 points heading into the 4th quarter, I'm not sure it should have been obvious that the defense was going to allow not one, not two, but three 4th quarter scores?  

Obviously I agree that the 4th-quarter fail was on the offense.  Get a few first downs, get a field goal, give the defense a rest, and make the Falcons score more than 13 points.  

On the first of those failed series, MLF did NOT go immediately conservative and run Dillon up the middle.  I assume Atlanta might have been expecting a run, and MLF went aggressive and called a pass.  Love went fo the killer and threw deep for incomplete.  Then Dillon ran for nothing (2 yards), set up 3rd and long, and love missed again.  (To Heath, our #5 WR.).   I'd have preferred a shorter more high-completion-% pass than what Love chose on 1st down, and I think he missed by a lot.  So that was perhaps too kill-oriented aggressive, and something shorter and safer to Musgrave or whomever would have been a better play-call.  But, it wasn't a case of being overly conservative.  

Second fail, then MLF went full conservative, and ran them all.  Blocking was good, Dillon had a pretty big hole, on TV I thought he'd roll for like 7, but he ended up getting only 5 somehow.  Not bad play or bad blocking, but Dillon not getting more surprised me.  2nd-and-5, I'd have called some short pass, but MLF went run and got good run-blocking again and a good seam for Dillon; as it was happening I thought he was going to make it and should have made it.  But to my surprise he came up short.  Still, getting solid 5 and 4-yard runs, both of which coulda-shoulda been even better, not sure that was failed play-calling or failed blocking.  So, 3rd and 1, go with your power back, yes?  Again, how he didn't get that I don't understand, seemed like there was a seam and he should have been able to push through for 1-2.  But no, that wasn't great blocking and definitely not good running.  Not to be a Dillon-basher, but in that particular series, I thought he under-achieved on all three runs.  Then 4th and 1, well on GreenBay side, go for it.  That was aggressive, not conservative.  That was the failed sneak.  Not sure that's a bad call on MLF's part?  Love just gaffed it.  

So within the play calling on those two failed possessions, I don't feel like MLF's play-calling was egregiously conservative, nor that either the pass-blocking or run-blocking was particularly bad.  But yeah, it would be nice to have some quick safer shorter throws available.  

it was interesting that in those two critical possessions, no passes went to either Musgrave or to Doubs or Reed.  5th round and UDFA rookies Wicks and Heath got the targets.   

But yeah, that failed run-run-run-sneak possession cost the game.  

Edited September 19, 2023 by craig

[{Family Ghost}]

The Packers should have tested the Falcons deep a few more times .. they looked lost trying to cover on both of those long penalties.

[StatKing]

43 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

What has worried/disappointed me these first two games is the scripted plays.  Those first 15 or so plays that are set before the game starts.  Because Love has started out both games very poorly(he also finished this one very poorly which is also concerning), but you would think LaFleur was putting in plays Love is comfortable with.  Love hit an awesome rhythm in the middle of the game, but they need a rehaul on the early drives. 

Add into that our defense looking like we feared they would with Barry at the helm and a running game soft as Charmin, and we lost a game we really shouldn't have.

I think it's very clear Lafleur doesn't trust Love to run the full offense and the last two drives couldn't have illustrated it any better. He didn't look good in the two minute, that sneak was awful and he's lucky one of their DBs didn't take one to the house on him. I like to **** on Ridder as much as the next guy but he looked way more composed down the stretch then Love did.

[skibrett15]

9 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

f you're relying on flea flickers, that's a bit worrisome.

Terrible playcall

[StatKing]

8 minutes ago, {Family Ghost} said:

The Packers should have tested the Falcons deep a few more times .. they looked lost trying to cover on both of those long penalties.

Db made a great play on the one deep ball he did throw. Doubs was wide open deep on our first drive of the 4th but for some reason Love didn't pull the trigger.

[craig]

1 hour ago, vegas492 said:

Observations....

Offense.  Sometimes you gotta tip your hat to the better team.  I'm not sure I've seen a DL control the LOS like the Falcons did.  Their DL were hugging our linemen and not letting them move much at all.  And they could ignore the perimeter because we didn't have anyone active, besides a WR, who could get outside.

That being said....I thought Newman held up well.  I tried hard to really watch the OL, but it was brutal inside.  No one could move.  I will say this, we must have been decent up the middle because Grady Jarrett didn't live in our backfield.  But we also didn't move him off the LOS either.....

Does our o-line ever move people?  

Dillon got 55/15, so averaged 3.66.  I thought he wasted some opportunities to get an extra few crucial yards.  But for a between-the-tackles back, that doesn't seem that bad.  Better than Allgeier, the Falcons between-the-tackles guy, who got only 48/16,  

Bijan was an outside-the-tackles guy, and he got their running yards.  I think having outside-the-tackles running capacity is essential.  Taylor doesn't have that, either.  

[Ragnarok]

To expand on my point...in the first quarter of games so far, Jordan Love is 5 of 12 for 62 yards.  That's when he is running specific, scripted plays they've run in practice that week.  And the execution is just bad.  I don't know if LaFleur needs to reevaluate what plays he is scripting or if Love has been just slow to start, but it hasn't been pretty.

Love is also 4 of 11 for 71 yards in the 4th quarter so far this year.  So he's averaging less than 40% of his passes completed between the beginning and end of games.

That's where the improvement needs to take place.  He's crushing the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/players/2239997/jordan-love/splits/

[LLcheesehead12]

Week 3 is simple for Matt LaFleur and Joe Barry:

BEAT THE SAINTS, or BE FIRED!!!!!

No excuses period as Jones and Watson must be put back on the field and if the Saints lose tonight, the no excuse factor doubles!

 

Lose this game and we need to throw the entire coaching staff outta here and hire Kellen Moore as HC and Robert Saleh as AHC & DC as the Jets will be letting him go after this year.

Edited September 18, 2023 by LLcheesehead12

[skibrett15]

9 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

To expand on my point...in the first quarter of games so far, Jordan Love is 5 of 12 for 62 yards.  That's when he is running specific, scripted plays they've run in practice that week.  And the execution is just bad.  I don't know if LaFleur needs to reevaluate what plays he is scripting or if Love has been just slow to start, but it hasn't been pretty.

Love is also 4 of 11 for 71 yards in the 4th quarter so far this year.  So he's averaging less than 40% of his passes completed between the beginning and end of games.

That's where the improvement needs to take place.  He's crushing the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/players/2239997/jordan-love/splits/

It's just small sample sizes IMO.  All the things all at once - some good plays love is biffing, some bad plays love is making look ok, and some bad plays that aren't being salvaged.

Just too soon to draw any conclusions about why they are playing well in 1 quarter vs the next because they are trying extremely hard to run the ball and not doing that great a job of it.