Week two: Falcons blowout studs and duds.

[HardRightEdge]

Dom Capers must go plain and simple. The guy just can't do the job here anymore. How many yrs does the defense need to suck for MM to realize that?

I doubt McCarthy has final say on the matter.

 

[mongoosev]

Hopefully they start king for the bears and bengals game to develope this guy. Hopefully house comes back too. Rand and rollins need to sit out and give them some time to reflect. Why do we always get hurt for falcons game?

 

[GleefulGary]

How the hell are y'all mad at Rogers? He made a few mistakes, but that tends to happen when you lose your tackles and best WR against a fast defense. Be realistic people.

He couldn't improvise at all. All things considered, he did fine. Play calling wasn't great.

 

[GleefulGary]

Studs:
Ty: He's awesome. One of the top backs in the league.
Kev King: he played great
CM3: consistent inside and edge pressure. On that stunt, that was Fackrell's sack but Clay beat him to it. That rarely happens. Clay was quick out there.
Adams: very good WR

DUDS:
Marty Bennett: you played awful big man.
Randall and Rollins: They sucked. Awful. Bah.
Refs. I hate blaming the refs, but they caused at least an 11 pt swing.


Can't hate on the OL due to circumstances, but overall, it wasn't good blocking. Better than what I expected though. Haha took a few bad angles. House played well. Perry set the edge well. Losing Daniels was huge huge huge. I didn't expect to win before all the injuries. So losing after all that was obvious. Defense sans Randall/Rollins actually played pretty well. I'm not too concerned about the defense. Not many offenses as good as Atlanta out there. We'll be fine as long as guys get healthy.

 

[Sky King]

I think a lot of you aren't paying attention. Healthy or not, refs or not, no difference. The Falcons are what football is now. They play the game at an entirely different level and speed than the Packers. If we see them again, it'll be more of the same.

I had to mull this one over for a while. You make a very good point. Part of that is that as a dome team they're built for speed out of design. That's their edge if they go into the playoffs with home field advantage and they face teams better built for outdoor natural grass surfaces, same as the reverse should also hold true for the Packers. But they have to be talented in the first place or it wouldn't matter. Regardless of the possible reasons - draft position, too many missed picks, departures exceeding FA pickups in both numbers and talent, unused cap space, de-emphasising the importance of certain positions, etc. - the Packers can't match-up against the best teams playing on their turf. Close but no cigar.

 

[F7pilot]

I wouldn't waste to much time looking at the offense, it's the defense that sucks. This defensive back field is terrible in tackling and coverage and with out a pass rush it all points back at Capers and McCarthy for keeping him around.

 

[906Fan]

I'd rather have Gunter over Randall, I think they are afraid to get rid of a 1st round pick. 3 horrible losses to the Falcons in a year, and it seems like nothing has changed. Matt Ryan didn't even have to make any contested throws because whenever he wanted to he could find a receiver open.

 

[Mike McCarthy]

I'd rather have Gunter over Randall, I think they are afraid to get rid of a 1st round pick. 3 horrible losses to the Falcons in a year, and it seems like nothing has changed. Matt Ryan didn't even have to make any contested throws because whenever he wanted to he could find a receiver open.

I'll agree with you on Gunter over Randall, teddys high pick only thing keeping that dude around

 

[GleefulGary]

I'd rather have Gunter over Randall, I think they are afraid to get rid of a 1st round pick. 3 horrible losses to the Falcons in a year, and it seems like nothing has changed. Matt Ryan didn't even have to make any contested throws because whenever he wanted to he could find a receiver open.

The entirety of this post is wrong, minus losing to the Falcons 3 years in a row.

Randall played poorly. But do you really think Gunter is going to play better in the slot? Get out. Matt Ryan never got pressure, never made contested passes? Did we watch the same game?

 

[GleefulGary]

Guys.

Bulaga, Baktiari missed the whole game. Daniels and Nelson essentially missed the whole game. We had a backup G/C who was a fringe roster player at RT. House and Cobb eventually were hurt.

Exactly what were you all expecting? Not that taking out one of the leagues best OT tandems (which allows Rodgers to extend plays the way he does which makes us win games), taking out our best WR, taking out one of the best interior rushers in the league for the vast majority of the game should make any difference at all. Nope. Not a big deal.

 

[PackAttack12]

That game sucked and was painful to watch, but I'm gonna try and be the optimistic guy.

The Falcons are a good football team who were opening up their brand new stadium, we were missing 4 of our best players, and there were 2 suspect calls that completely changed the game.

It's week 2 and we lost by 11. It's not the end of the world, but it does seem like the Falcons have our # now. I'd prefer not to see them again in the playoffs.

Not trying to nit pick, because I appreciate your optimism, but we only lost by just 11 because the Falcons essentially called off the dogs.

That was a swift *** kicking from the get go.

 

[PackAttack12]

The entirety of this post is wrong, minus losing to the Falcons 3 years in a row.

Randall played poorly. But do you really think Gunter is going to play better in the slot? Get out. Matt Ryan never got pressure, never made contested passes? Did we watch the same game?

I'll say this much. He would have at least competed harder. But I get what you mean.

 

[GleefulGary]

I'll say this much. He would have at least competed harder. But I get what you mean.

Cool. He could've competed harder and still done worse.

 

[PackAttack12]

Cool. He could've competed harder and still done worse.

Point being, I think Randall's effort was poor. Didn't like it. Body language was bad all night.

King was one of the couple that actually wanted to go toe to toe with those receivers.

 

[PackerfaninCarolina]

Unfortunately Martellus Bennett was a dud out there last night. It was only one game after he did pretty well last week, but he dropped some big catches in that first half. I think that pick penalty that got called against him was wrong but ... unfortunately we got some home cooking last week so can't use that as an excuse this game. I'd like to see a bit more of Kendricks in this offense though to see if he can stretch the field like Cook did last year.

My other concern is Jordy hasn't been able to stay on the field lately and has me wondering if the inuries he suffered in last year's playoff and early this season are starting to take a toll on him physically.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Hoping this game provided a wake-up call to the Packer FO, the coaches and the players.....you need improvement if you expect to be a top team! I don't want to hear the "injuries lost us this game" excuse. Sure, on offense, it was tough to compete when you are down to your #5 and #6 guys. But that defense that came out there, BEFORE Daniels left the game, looked like the same sh*t show we saw last year. Not enough pressure on the QB, missed tackles, wide open receivers, slow pursuit....lack of talent and lack of coaching IMO. Even had the offense been healthy, Atlanta was the much better team and it isn't even close right now.

I'm glad AR was able to walk out of there on his own 2 feet. Sure, the Packers seem to "make a game" out of it, when Atlanta was comfortable in the lead and totally took their foot off the gas, but all I could think of was "circle the wagons, toss in the white towel and get AR the hell out of there!". Thankfully, Allison go tackled in bounds to end the game. Otherwise, the Falcons get one last shot at hitting AR and possibly making this game a lot less forgettable.

 

[Mike McCarthy]

The entirety of this post is wrong, minus losing to the Falcons 3 years in a row.

Randall played poorly. But do you really think Gunter is going to play better in the slot? Get out. Matt Ryan never got pressure, never made contested passes? Did we watch the same game?

I was wondering if I had watched the same game as some also. I get the praise of Matthews for getting some pressure and a sack, what I don't understand however is did anybody else notice how many times he lost contain or was 5 yards or more behind los and either opened a huge running lane or took himself right out of the backside of the play entirely? Final score indicates an 11 point game, Atlanta keeps Matt Ryan throwing throughout the 2nd half it would of been extremely ugly. That's the game I seen.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

That's coaching. If you play a team three times in less than a year, and still can't figure it out? Yea you're slow. Capers just doesn't get it.

You're right, we need a defensive coordinator that tells players not to take bad angles and be better tacklers. I'm sure capers, who actually had players in position to make plays last night, instead spends his time teaching the defensive players the finer points of etiquette at cricket matches and using proper diction when speaking the Queen's English.

Or, it could be that the Packers have had bad defensive personnel for the last few seasons and that hasn't changed. Aside from Mike Daniels this team doesn't have a consistent elite defensive player and nothing was done to change that this year or last. I'm baffled at the focus on the DC. I mean, sure, change Capers. Is the new guy going to turn Randall and Rollins into legit corners? Is the new DC going to suddenly discover linebackers or impact dlinemen?

Oh, and the two turnovers by the offense certainly didn't help a defense that was overmatched (as EVERY defense in the NFL is overmatched by the Falcons barring maybe two) before Mike Daniels left early.

 

[Patriotplayer90]

The secondary looked like the same Pop Warner unit which got torched in the same game last year. Not an NFL unit. King looks like the only CB who has any business playing in man coverage. He had an excellent game.

I'm not understanding the criticism of Rodgers. They had no trouble moving it on the first drive before Jordy went down. Allison hesitated on the route which led to an INT.

Other than that, he missed a few throws, but otherwise, he did as well as he could considering that the line looked like Swiss cheese, the defense sucked too much to establish a running game, and the CBs could cover our WRs while running backwards.

 

[Dantés]

I honestly don't feel any differently about the Packers in the long term after this game than I did before, providing they get their guys back. I never expected them to win this game. Not that they didn't have a chance, but when you face a good team on the road opening a new stadium, the odds are not in your favor. When you add to that your 2nd string RT playing LT, your 2nd string C/G playing RT, losing your best receiver and best defensive player in the opening minutes... it's not an excuse, you're just not likely to win that game. They should get most/all of these players back relatively soon, and I do believe that a more complete Packer lineup can beat the Falcons, even on the road.

None of this absolves the bad play. The corners were largely outmatched and that's a problem. Even Haha, our best player in the secondary, was taking poor angles for most of the night. It doesn't absolve the poor protection or the drops. There's credit that belongs to the Falcons and blame that belongs to the Packers. But that doesn't mean we can't be realistic about this situation. It was going to be a tough game no matter what, and the Pack simply didn't have the horses with all those guys out. 3 of their top 5 players didn't play, and 4 of their top 10. That's not super advantageous.

Studs:

• Lane Taylor: I thought he held up very well in a really terrible situation. The entire line was in major flux with the tackle situation, and that's about as tough an atmosphere and you can ask for. I'm really happy they have him locked up.
• Adams/Cobb: Both made some impressive plays/catches in a tough situation. I thought Cobb was excellent after the catch, and Adams made some great focus plays down the field.
• Pressure: While the Packers didn't do a great job bottling up the Falcons' running game or passing attack, there was consistent pressure on Ryan throughout the game. He made plays downfield against bad coverage, but there were a few big plays left on the field because he was throwing under duress. Clay Matthews in particular had a nice day in that regard.
• Kevin King: Green Bay's top pick looked the part. He isn't ready to feature as a fulltime #1 corner, but you can see the potential. He was strong in coverage and tackled well. If he could grow into a #1 role by PO time, it would go a long way in pushing everyone down the pecking order and settling down the cornerback group as a whole.

Duds:

• Tackles: Obvious duds are obvious.
• Running Game: Once the news came down that Murphy and McCray were starting at tackle, I felt that the only path to victory for the Pack was via the running game. I thought the staff was too stubborn in sticking to what they would normally do, despite losing the guys they need to do it. They couldn't protect long enough to make plays downfield, so the Falcons squatted on the short routes and made plays. I thought GB should have tried harder to establish a ground game, or at least a screen game to slow things down.
• Coverage: Outside of King, the DB's struggled-- even HHCD who is normally strong.
• Bennett: Catch the freaking ball.
• Injuries: What the heck, man...

 

[BrokenArrow]

I was with you until the NFL wouldn't let the Falcons lose it's opening game in their new stadium argument and corrupt official statement.

I was talking about appearances. There aren't a whole lot of ways to explain phantom calls against one team, especially by an official who was not in position to make an accurate call, and then blatantly obvious penalties of the same nature being ignored for the other team. It's especially troubling because all three calls/no-calls came on game-changing plays and accounted for at least a 14 point swing and possibly up to a 21 point swing depending on what we might have done from the 50 with 35 seconds to go.

We didn't have the weapons to do it or the weapons to stop them. We were never have a 16 - 0 or even 14 - 2 season.

I think it would have been a very different game with Daniels, Nelson and our tackles on the field.

 

[906Fan]

The entirety of this post is wrong, minus losing to the Falcons 3 years in a row.

Randall played poorly. But do you really think Gunter is going to play better in the slot? Get out. Matt Ryan never got pressure, never made contested passes? Did we watch the same game?

I might have exaggerated some about contested passes, there was some pressure by the line, but Atlanta won the game because they had so much separation in the backfield that big plays were easy and plentiful. Then once they were done slicing up our backfield they ran the balls continuously for first downs to eat up the clock. If Atlanta would have kept passing the ball the score would have been way worse it was so easy for them. I think Gunter would have done a better job, and just about any CB in the league could have done a better job. They could have stuck a big mannequin out there and would have done a better job than Randall.

 

[BrokenArrow]

I wouldn't waste to much time looking at the offense, it's the defense that sucks. This defensive back field is terrible in tackling and coverage and with out a pass rush it all points back at Capers and McCarthy for keeping him around.

Our defense held them to about 360 yards. They were only held under 375 once all of last season. The defense will be fine. Daniels is the catalyst.

 

[Sky King]

I keep having flashbacks of Ahmad Carroll and Joey Thomas, except that Carroll actually got close enough to receivers to get flagged.

 

[PackerDNA]

I was talking about appearances. There aren't a whole lot of ways to explain phantom calls against one team, especially by an official who was not in position to make an accurate call, and then blatantly obvious penalties of the same nature being ignored for the other team. It's especially troubling because all three calls/no-calls came on game-changing plays and accounted for at least a 14 point swing and possibly up to a 21 point swing depending on what we might have done from the 50 with 35 seconds to go.



I think it would have been a very different game with Daniels, Nelson and our tackles on the field.

I don't think it would have made much, if any, difference. All of the above played 8 months ago in the NFCCG.
And if they didn't lay off once the game was out of hand, they could have put up 660 yards.