Packers Offense Makes a Turn for the Worse
Milwaukee, WI — If you were an impartial viewer, then watching the Packers and Ravens, two inept offenses trying to duke it out, was primetime television.
The Packers (5-5), now losers of four of their last five games, celebrated their 11-year anniversary of their last home shutout with a shutout, but this time with a little extra spice as they lost 23-0 to the Baltimore Ravens Sunday evening at Lambeau Field.
The victory last week over the Bears was a mirage. The offense sputtered when faced against an elite defense as they committed a season high five turnovers, while also turning the ball over three times on downs, as their playoff aspirations are deteriorating with each passing week.
“We’ve got too much talent in this locker room on offense, too much talent to go out their and put on a display like that,” said wide receiver Davante Adams who finished with a team best eight receptions for 128 yards. “Zero points. There’s no reason we should have zero points whoever we’re playing.”
When asked about the booing the team suffered from the fans, Adams said it is due to being spoiled. “We’ve spoiled them over the years to where they see us blowing people out and then when we don’t score points you end up in a spot like you’re in…if i was a fan I wouldn’t be out their booing anybody.”
Both the Packers and Ravens, home of two of the league’s worst offenses, combined for four first half turnovers, while both defenses “thrived” in a sense. After 20 straight possessions without a turnover, Green Bay coughed it up on their first three; two off horrible interceptions by quarterback Brett Hundley and a fumble by rookie running back Devante Mays on his first carry. The last time Green Bay turned the ball over on their first three possessions was in 1982 against the Rams, a game which they came back to win after falling behind 23-0. This time they were not so fortunate.
Their first 3 possessions were as follows:
- 5 plays, INT
- 6 plays, INT
- 7 plays, Fumble
Their next 10 possessions weren’t much better:
- Punt
- Punt
- Turnover on downs
- Punt
- Turnover on downs
- Punt
- Lost Fumble
- Turnover on downs
- Interception
- Punt
“We’ve been practicing good on all cylinders but today we didn’t translate it to the field, and I didn’t do that,” said Hundley who finished 21/36 for 239 yards with three interceptions and lost fumble. “Confidence wise, I’ll keep going. My head is always held high.”
Hundley, who has thrown zero touchdown passes in three of his last four games, did not look like the confident quarterback who led the Packers to victory in Solder Field last week. His two touchdown passes against the Bears masked what is still a massive problem for the offense: he does not have good pocket presence, has a messed up internal clock and does not anticipate open receivers. He must see a receiver open before pulling the trigger, and even then he still hesitates. That hesitation, mixed with occasional poor pass protection, has led viewers to seeing why he was the most sacked quarterback in college football during his days at UCLA.
He was sacked a total of six times, twice on crucial fourth down plays.
His three interceptions were easily avoidable, despite the Ravens having a ballhawking secondary who lead the league in interceptions. He also took two costly sacks at the end of the first half from linebacker Matt Judon that gave the Ravens time to kick a second field goal before halftime. The Green and Gold surprisingly led the yardage battle heading into the fourth quarter, but due to the costly turnovers, they were always fighting an uphill battle.
“I felt like we had everything we wanted on offense,” Hundley said. “McCarthy called great plays. I got to take care of the ball. I can’t say I’ve never won a game with four or five turnovers, but odds are stacked high against you.
“If we take care of the ball, this game hopefully would be a different story, but I got to take care of the ball as the quarterback of this team. I can’t shoot us in the foot.”
Hundley has now thrown just two touchdown passes to seven interceptions on the season for a passer rating of only 63.3, which is the second worst in the league to only Cleveland’s DeShone Kizers’ 54.4.
Head Coach Mike McCarthy, however, is standing firm behind a quarterback who has been in his system for the last three seasons. “Brett Hundley is our starter. I believe in Brett Hundley,” McCarthy told reporters after the loss. “It didn’t go very well obviously. We understand the standard that has been set here. We are all part of it. Brett Hundley is part of that too.
“We will burn the tape. It’s unfortunate because of the way the team has practiced this week. You like to see the team have success when they do so well in practice. Felt great coming in here today, felt great coming off the practice field yesterday.”
The Packers’ offense is averaging just 14.3 points per game with Hundley starting under center (13.4 if you include the loss to the Vikings). That is a 14 point difference compared to the production under Aaron Rodgers (27.4). The coaching staff has now had four games and a bye week to mold their offense into something productive. They have failed miserably in three of them.
A minor solution to Hundley’s uncertainty and reluctance would be for every receiver to wear number 17. Hundley does not hesitate as much while targeting Davante Adams. And as for Jordy Nelson “passing the torch” to Adams as the team’s best receiver, no one anticipated his drop off in production. He has only 10 catches for 92 yards over the last four games with no touchdowns after being tied for the league lead in week five.
Those demanding the presence of backup Joe Callahan to be felt must take into consideration his zero snaps as a professional quarterback. The reason why he was not considered in the loss was due to the game not being out of reach until the late, fourth quarter touchdown. Unless a free agent comes along, or a possible trade, expect the team to live and die on the arm of Hundley.
The defense provided the offense opportunity after opportunity by allowing the Ravens to convert just 3/14 third downs, including just 1/7 in the second half where they had just five total first downs; but the offense rewarded them by going just 5/17 on third and fourth downs. On fourth down Hundley took two unnecessary sacks, and Williams was stuffed on 4th and 1.
This was the first game since week two against the Bears in 1990, when Anthony Delwig was Green Bay’s starting quarterback, that the team surrendered 5+ turnovers and 6+ sacks in a game.
With both Aaron Jones and Ty Montgomery being injured, the team will rely more and more on rookie running back Jamaal Williams, who finished the game with 57 yards on 18 carries; especially since Mays carried the ball twice and fumbled on both of them (he declined an interview request after the game). And while Williams hasn’t broken off any big runs (his longest run was for only eight yards), he does run with power and does not go down easily.
McCarthy revealed his game plan for his two rookie backs. “You know, with Jamaal Williams, I was concerned as far as his number of touches. I had a number in mind. Devante Mays, I also had a number in mind for him. And after the fumble, I lost confidence in him.”
Left guard Lane Taylor came to Mays’s defense. “It happens. Kareem Hunt, he fumbled his first carry and obviously he turned out okay. He’ll be okay. He’s a good back. He’ll rebound.”
The Ravens, who came into the game ranked 30th in total offense, couldn’t capitalize on the early turnovers to put the floundering Packers away in the first half, and headed into halftime with only a 6-0 lead despite all five of their possessions ending in Packer territory. In fact, their average starting field position was at their own 46.5 yard line. Five times they started in plus territory. The Packers’ starting field position, on the other hand, was at the 19.6 yard line, and only once did they start in Baltimore territory.
Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, who is having his worst season as a professional, completed a season high 78.6% of his passes (22/28) for 183 yards, a touchdown, an interception, and a passer rating of 90.9, the fourth highest rating of the season for him.
The Packers’ defense took advantage of Baltimore’s mangled offensive line by applying pressure on Joe Flacco, sacking him three times and picking him off on a perfectly executed play by safety HaHa Clinton-Dix on running back Danny Woodhead. Linebacker Clay Matthews, who left the game with a groin injury, ended his second longest sack drought of his career (five games) with a speed rush on left tackle James Hurst, forcing the Ravens to punt on their first possession. Even Kyle Fackrell recorded a sacks, his first of the season.
Matthews played on the next series but was then examined by the team’s medical staff. He played one more snap before limping off and was taken to the locker room in the second quarter.
The run defense, which had a stretch of six games allowing over 100 yards rushing, has allowed only 64, 55 and 58 yards on the ground over the last three games. They held the Ravens to just 2.2 yards per rush attempt.
While the defense played well, there were costly injuries, especially since they entered Sunday’s game without their starting corner Kevin King and safety Morgan Burnett. Cornerback Demarius Randall, who has been inconsistent since putting on a Packer uniform, was injured on the play he surrendered a touchdown pass to Mike Wallace. He hit his head on the frozen field, went to the locker room, and later returned to the sidelines.
Defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who has emerged as one of the team’s lone stars on the defense, was carted off the field with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter. HaHa Clinton-Dix said Clark was down on two knees and Ravens’ center, Ryan Jensen, hit him repeatedly.
“No. 66, I don’t even know his name, but he’s trash,” said Clinton-Dix. “He’s a bad player. He doesn’t play fair. This is a game that we all love to play and love to enjoy, and you never want to see a guy get hurt when you’re playing overaggressive and doing things that you shouldn’t be doing. It’s uncalled for.”
Clinton-Dix wasn’t done with his strong view toward Jensen: “I don’t like him. He needs to tighten up on his play. If you can’t whup up regularly, don’t cheap shot him. That’s what that guy’s been doing all year. I’ve been watching film on 66, and he’s a dirty player.”
Cornerback Davon House also showed frustration toward to the injuries to Clark and Matthews. “They’re our big dogs, you need them,” said House. “They do a great job rushing the passer, collapsing the pocket for us. Makes our job a lot easier on the back end when they’re healthy.”
The path the Packers are forced to head down is not a bright one. Especially next week’s game against the red-hot 8-2 Steelers who have the third best total defense (287.6 yards per game) and pass defense (190 yards per game), as well as sporting the second best scoring defense (16.5 points per game). They are led behind a ferocious pass rush which ranks second in the league with 34.0. If the team failed this week’s test, next week’s will feel like a final exam.
“We took a big step backwards on offense today and that’s because we did not take care of the football,” said McCarthy. “It’s part of our every day training. We will be back at it, I can promise you that and we’re going into a tough place to play next week and that’s the facts of the matter. The drama will not be part of the operation. We got to take care of the football.”
