Packers 24, Jaguars 15-Good enough for the win, but something was missing

[Travis Duncan]

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Oct 28, 2012; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers safety Morgan Burnett (42) sacks Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert (11) during the third quarter at Lambeau Field. Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

By Travis Duncan
Packer Forum writer

Aaron Rodgers called it an ugly win.

Offensively it was like watching nails on a chalkboard at times.

On the positive side, defensively the Packers played to their old mantra, "bend but don't break", giving up a ton of yardage (341 yards) mostly in the first half but just a single touchdown-which was a gift as the Packers fumbled at their own 13-yard line. In the second half the Packers defense allowed just three points on 109 yards and five first downs-and played well.

Still there are concerns about the mentality of this Packers team.

“We definitely were flat,” linebacker Clay Matthews said via the team's official website.

"It’s something that needs to be addressed and will be addressed. The stadium had a lack of energy. We had a lack of energy"

Packers cornerback Tramon Williams agreed, "We just felt we needed some energy," he said via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"It was dead out there in the stadium," Williams added. "We needed to bring some energy to the field. As a defense, we should bring that out there, and I felt that's how we went out there and played in the second half."

With Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson out with injury, we saw glimpse of what many NFL offenses look like without the varied number of options at receiver.

James Jones and Randall Cobb continued to make the most of their increased role. Jones led all receivers with seven receptions for 78 yards and Cobb caught five passes for 28 including a five yard first quarter touchdown. Jermichael Finely had one nice long catch for 20-yards but caught only one other pass for 4-yards.

Finley took his description of the game a step further than his QB.

"It's not ugly. It's nasty," Finley said via Fox Sports Wisconsin. "It's a real nasty win. With the ability we got and with the guys we got on this team, it kills us."

Rodgers completed 22 of 36 passes for a meager 186 yards with two touchdowns and was sacked twice.

On the ground Green Bay showed a stick-to-itness calling on Alex Green 22 times though only gaining 54 yards on those carries.. James Starks got a single handoff which went for eight yards. The run game along with pass defense is now the Achilles Heal of this team. One can hope that if Cedric Benson does return late this season he can pick up where he left off, and also that the Packers will be in the position for the playoffs. Word on the 'net is the Packers could make a trade for a running back before Thursday's trade deadline.

Others have questioned the fake Punt pass play which looked a little bit a like a high school team trying something and others wondering if the Packers were taking this game seriously.

"I think it was pretty obvious that the decision that was made was probably not the best decision," coach Mike McCarthy said via ESPN.

It appears this Packers team is suffering from the classic look-ahead syndrome with a mediocre Arizona team at Lambeau next Sunday before the bye it's hard not to look forward to Weeks 11-15 which ultimately could determine the Packers playoff destiny. After the bye the Packers play at Detroit followed by a trip to New York to play the Giants, then back at home to play Minnesota and the Lions, followed by a trip to Chicago in Week 15.

"It's good to be on this side of an ugly win," Rodgers said via the Associated Press, perhaps indicating that the expectations this season are a whole lot different-and he's OK with that. Knowing that going undefeated for 15 straight weeks a year ago did little or nothing to prepare them for the playoffs.

"The way we played on offense, especially the last couple weeks, the expectations were we were going to come out and maybe blow them out," said Rodgers.

"But we didn't start fast, we didn't have enough juice early on and didn't play well enough on offense to get that done."

 

[JBlood]

The players are professionals. It is up to them to get up for games. Raji said the other week that he has trouble getting up for lesser opponents. There's no excuse for that kind of thinking. I can see it happening occasionally in baseball, but each NFL game is the equivalent of 10 MLB games, so you have to play each one like it's the playoffs.