Stayin Alive
The Good is, there’s still a snowballs chance in hell for the Pack to get a playoff spot. The Bad, is that our offense has to beat our own defense. And the Ugly, is Joe Barry wearing a plate of ultimate nachos after the game, courtesy of a disgruntled fan. Good, bad and ugly, another week is in the books this year as the Pack close out week 16 with a narrow victory. Keep that Wisconsin cheddar ready, and the miller cold for new year’s eve, cause the Packers and Vikings are gonna play. With a few prayers and teams losing, only time will tell their 2023 playoff fate.
Offense had the day most of us were expecting. Jordan Love had 219 passing yards, with 2 touchdowns and managed the offense well. Not many home-run plays to make any highlight reels, but he’s executing the game plan and avoiding turnovers. Aaron Jones was a reliable work horse for the day getting the ball 21 times and rushing for 127 yards on the day. It wasn’t the best defensive unit in the league by any means, but we came out scoring early, which didn’t happen first few games of the year. And the offense was still operating late in the game with a TD pass to keep the momentum turning, definitely progress from wee
Unfortunately, our defensive unit has regressed over the course of the year while the offense improved. With Barry’s defense pulling the rope in the opposite teams direction, its creating a tug of war match between our own team. Holes in the coverage let the Panthers carve up the cheese head defense at will. It seemed like they knew as soon as we were in man or coverage defense, they made the adjustment to it. But no disguising or adjustments looked to be made from Barry. Effort certainly was not the problem, because I saw plenty of packers jerseys flying to the ball and making some open field tackles. But constantly being out of position, having to always run after the ball always overruns the individual efforts.
Winning by 3 points was lucky against a sub-par team like the Panthers. There’s no way that defensive play calling like this will survive against a team with a competent offensive unit. Going into Minnesota this week to try and seal a wild card spot, both teams have been unpredictable at times this year. I think all stats go out the window this week, and expect to see a street fight between these two teams. The Vikings are slightly favored being the home squad, but at the end of the day it’s going to come down to who wants it more on each side of the ball. The Packers defensive line is going to determine whether we win this game or not, if they can plug gaps, lord willing, I think the offense has the tools needed to put a few scores up. Go Pack!
