PACK HOLDS OFF LATE CHARGE

Questions Linger After Win over Falcons

It was a tale of two halves. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. In the end the Green Bay Packers ended up on the top side of a 43-37 shootout that was supposed to be a blowout against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night in the balmy tropics of a 30 degree night at Lambeau Field. Fortunately for the Packers the offense put enough distance between the Pack and the Birds in the first half to suffocate Atlanta’s desperate attempt to make a game of it.

The Falcons almost pulled it off.

Staked to a ridiculously easy 31 – 7 lead at the half the Packers went inside, got warm, and then came out ice cold as Matty Ice was heating up. At first the Falcons were nibbling a little here, a little there and then Julio Jones and Matt Ryan began to explode on a defense that had no answers for either. Jones put up an incredible 259 receiving yards and has he not gone out late with a hip injury that number would have been higher. The defense that looked so sharp in the first half suddenly was ground down to a dull edge. Given how fast and how far the Packers jumped out against Atlanta one question is beginning to emerge.

Are the Packers becoming victims of their own success?

The lead Aaron Rodgers staked the Pack to in the first half looked almost too easy. Rodgers marched the Packers down the field on the opening drive and Green Bay never looked back… until the second half. What took place at halftime? Did Atlanta make adjustments or did the Packers, fresh off a convincing win over Tom Brady and the Patriots a week ago just mentally take the rest of the game off? Certainly Atlanta made adjustments and Green Bay could not match the Birds intensity. Maybe the game has become so easy for Rodgers and the offense that this could serve as a cold slap wake up call.

While the 43 points posted is right in line with the where the offense is right now the 37 points surrendered – 30 in the second half alone – are not the hallmarks of a championship caliber team. The Packers are poised for another playoff run but there will need to be some soul searching after this win. CB Sam Shields played after missing all week in practice after he had a concussion last week but he looked flat and slow and a step behind. Davon House replaced him and did the best he could but Ryan repeatedly found the 6’4” Jones deep and over the middle time and again.

The Packers style and methodology has been as subtle as a velvet covered sledgehammer. They come out early and fast, score often, capitalize on turnovers, build a huge lead and then ask the defense to not screw it up for them. As long as Green Bay can put up big numbers they have a more than decent shot. But has the defense become too reliant on the Pack’s offense to carry them? Morgan Burnett had a spectacular interception that was highlighted by Sam Shields crushing block in the first half to blow the game open. The second half did not serve up such highlights. Behind one of the worst offensive lines in football Ryan had far too much time to find Jones. The Packers defense did little to come close to the pressure they applied to Brady and the Pats last week and had zero sacks in the 2^nd half for their efforts against Ryan.

It’s hard to call the second half a complete collapse and failure. But the edge was missing. The sharpness, crispness and urgency that was so prevalent in the first half was gone. It is safe to say that there was a serious letdown that comes when not taking an opponent seriously enough. A 31 – 7 lead at halftime against a 5 - 7 squad will tend to do that to a team. The defense is almost playing with the collective mindset that says “Hey… it doesn’t matter what I do… Rodgers will bail us out”. It is a dangerous game the Packers defense is playing and there is certainly enough tape from performances like this that the Pete Carroll’s, Bill Belichick’s and Chip Kelly’s will be looking at for future references to attack the Pack.

Green Bay’s strength is their offense. It doesn’t take a Rhoades Scholar to figure that one. Game after game the Packers set the tone and force teams out of what they want to do and force opponents to try and match Rodgers point for point. With the MVP like numbers Rodgers is posting this year that is a very tall order. Brady couldn’t do it. Brees could. Ryan almost did it. In those rare games when Rodgers is less Rodgers –esque as he was against Detroit earlier this year the Pack is in serious trouble. Against the Lions the Packers defense held Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson in check limiting Detroit to a mere 19 points and 1 TD but could only manage to squeak out a meager 7 points on offense.

Since that point and Rodgers’ now legendary “Relax” radio declaration the Packers have been on a tear. The numbers are flying across the scoreboard like a kid playing Madden ’15 on his Xbox. 30, 40 even 50 points are the norm in chilly Titletown. That can have an adverse effect on a defense that knows that even in the face of a bad series or bad half Rodgers, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Eddie Lacy, James Starks and Andrew Quarless will be there to bail them out. So far it is a formula that is working.

While one should never get too far ahead at this juncture the playoffs are a mere 3 games away. Yes, Virginia, the Packers’ offense is playing as well and better than almost everyone else’s right now. But the defense?

Ryan riddled the middle of the field repeatedly with strikes that hit Jones. Steven Jackson bulled through the line dragging Packer defenders with him. The ugliness of the run game defense was on full display in prime time and the second half pass coverage was, in a word, awful. This will be a great time for Mike McCarthy and Dom Capers to gather the defensive troops and march them out to the woodshed. Thus far the Packers have not shown that they can win with defense. At times the defense looks good but when they do not look good they look pretty wretched.

It is a telling statement when a defense has to send the offense out to close a game out as it happened last night against Atlanta. Of course the D just can’t stand prosperity as Ryan had just managed to drive 66 yards in just over 2 minutes. Ryan had just about pulled off the ridiculously impossible when James Starks broke off a wonderful run of 41 yards that essentially left the Falcons with no shot as they had burnt the last of their timeouts. It was only after Rodgers took a knee that the D could finally breathe and see that the offense had finally put the Packers up comfortably.

Playing with a lead is the Packers style. Playing from behind? That’s another matter altogether. Yes the Packers drove to pick an important win over Miami with 3 seconds left. But the dependence solely on offense should be the cautionary tale for the D. The playoffs have a funny way of balancing things out. The defense has 3 more games to try to put their stamp on a season largely dominated by the offense. In another 3 or 4 weeks McCarthy and Rodgers are going to need the D to take off the training wheels and not rely on Rodgers to get it done for them.

The Packer offense is their best defense. Keeping opponents behind is the calling card. The Packers are a stat laden bunch that can score from anywhere. That’s what the stat sheet says. Once the playoffs begin throw the stat sheets out. It will not matter that Rodgers hit Nelson on another 60 yard bomb. Rodgers’ scramble drill 10 yard TD to Nelson will have been filed away. Lacy’s 73 yards to go with Starks’ 75 yards will mean nothing if the defense cannot elevate and play playoff football.

McCarthy can use the lessons of the past to drive his point home. In 2011, the year after the Packers went on their magical Super Bowl run Green Bay was a 15 – 1 point scoring, unstoppable machine. But that machine ground to a dead halt in the playoffs when the Giants were far better prepared for them than the Packers and New York’s defense was stifling. There are still many holdovers from that team and that ignominious defeat still around. Perhaps this game came at the right time. Hopefully every member of the defense will see their vulnerability. There may be enough time left for this group to galvanize themselves and take the burden off the offense. In the playoffs that’s exactly what will be needed and waiting until the playoffs start is too late.