RAIDERS OF THE LOST CARR

Defense, Special Teams Carry Packers to Win in Oakland

Just about the time the offense started getting sluggish (again) the defense started getting hot (again) for the Green Bay Packers. While the final score read Green Bay 30 to the Raiders 20 it perhaps should have read Packers defense 14/ Packers offense 16/ Raiders 20.

Once again the defense turned in a good performance in spite of giving up serious yardage to the blossoming rookie WR Amari Cooper. Cooper is on track to be named the NFL’s rookie of the year but Green Bay has their own nominee in CB Damarious Randall who had a pick 6 to give the Packers a 14 – 0 lead.

The offense looked as sloppy as their consistent deluge that soaked the field for both teams. A 30 – 20 win against a team that, as QB Aaron Rodgers said “…has won a few games against some good teams.” The early take on the subliminal message is “We won but we were lucky and not so good in the process.” Once again the Packers offense struggled to find the end zone, pick up key 3^rd downs, run the ball effectively, hang on to the ball and catch the ball. It has been a familiar theme for this star crossed season that without Jordy Nelson has had no deep threat to open up the underneath routes.

Receivers are still struggling to get separation at the line. In the slop the Packers ground game ground to a halt. A week after putting up 124 yards on the ground Eddie Lacy struggled to find traction against the Raiders. Oakland head coach Jack Del Rio is a former defensive player and his teams reflect that approach. Sensing the Packers would rely on their improving screen game Del Rio kept his LB’s in closer, a move designed to challenge the Packers passing game. The move paid dividends for the young Raiders as Lacy exited with only 23 yards on 11 carries with his longest being 8 yards.

Mike McCarthy has resumed calling the play and seeing Lacy struggle McCarthy went to James Starks in the hopes Starks would fare better with his slashing cuts to Lacy’s bull rushes. But Starks’ 51 yards were negated by a costly fumble that earned him a seat on the bench. McCarthy resorted to running FB John Kuhn 3 times and even had WR Randall Cobb in the backfield and ran him from a tailback slot. Cobb picked up 40 yards but the Packers running game lacked the thunder and lightning they showed last week.

Even Rodgers wasn’t above reproach. He had one of his worst picks in recent memory when a Packer drive was killed when Rodgers threw an ill-advised pick late. After the defense rose up to smother the Raiders in the 4^th quarter Green Bay’s defense choked off the Raiders last gasp from their own 22. Mason Crosby goosed the lead to 30 – 20 and the ready-for-the-playoffs defense sacked Raider QB David Carr on 3^rd down and held on 4^th down turning the ball over to Rodgers, who, in turn, turned the ball right back when he missed Jeff Janis badly and David Amerson was the beneficiary of Rodgers largess. When asked about the pick after the game Rodgers said “I was trying to get it to Wood and I underthrew it a little bit,” Rodgers wisecracked referring to Raiders safety Charles Woodson, who was also in on the play.

The Packers defense showed its’ playoff worthiness early. On the Raiders 2^nd possession Micah Hyde grabbed an errant Carr toss and took it down the Oakland’s 2 yard line. An unsportsmanlike penalty for the over exuberant celebration by the D led by Ha Ha Clinton Dix set the ball back to the Raider 17. FB John Kuhn blasted into the end zone form the 5 to open the scoring. On the next possession the defense almost broke the backs and hearts of a young team clearly ascending. Damarious Randall jumped a route on a wild toss and was off to the races extending the Packers lead to 14 – 0 in front of a shocked partisan crowd.

Derek Carr is going to be a very good NFL QB someday. He displayed the type of amnesia a superior QB needs to possess to be successful in the NFL. The Ra9ders kept chipping away with field goals to narrow the gap. It was Carr’s poise that put them back in the game just before the half.

After Rodgers drove the Pack into Raider territory Starks picked up 11 yards around left end but coughed up the ball. With only 1:30 left in the half Carr drove the Raiders to the end zone in 4 plays hitting FB Marcel Reese for 29 yards, then TE Michal Rivera for 14 yards and scrambling for 19 yards with 25 seconds in the half. Carr closed the half with a bullet to Amari Cooper.

The Carr and Cooper show wasn’t done with its run. Mason Crosby hit a FG to move Green Bay up 17 – 13 by there was Carr once again hitting Cooper on another strike, this time for 26 yards. With the catch Cooper eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark and he shows no signs of a fluke. The TD gave Oakland its’ only lead at 20 – 17, a lead that would last just over a minute. With the offense still looking to get going Jeff Janis took the ensuing kickoff 47 yards to set Rodgers up nicely. Rodgers did not play well overall for the game but on this drive he was vintage Rodgers.

Seldom used but effective WR Jared Abbrederis had a 15 yard catch and James Jones suddenly reemerged form purgatory to snag 2 consecutive throws, the last one a sweet 30 yard catch and run for the score that would push Green Bay over the top and Oakland over the edge. The defense stiffened and stifled the Raiders the rest of the way as Green Bay clinched a playoff berth with the win and the Giants loss in a literal slugfest to the Carolina Panthers.

The Packers were plagued again by the drops that have been existent all year. Davante Adams dropped a sure TD and Janis let one squirt through his fingers. If anyone caught Rodgers eye with his play it was Abbrederis who had a quietly solid game. “He can get open,” Rodgers said of Abbrederis. “He’s a good route runner. He needs to be on the field more.” For his part offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett chipped in about Abbrederis “He's earning it,” Bennett said. “He's going to get more opportunities.” Rodgers was more pointed in what appeared to be a testy exchange with the media after the game. Rodgers can be acerbically blunt in his assessment of the Packers and while he doesn’t mince words or play games he clearly knows his team is not playing as well as he thinks it should be playing.

Rodgers’ body language and blunt answers are an indication that he, too, is frustrated by the offensive inconsistencies this year. The first question asked by the media was if he felt good about what the offense had done in the game, a question that drew an icy “no” as a response with no elaboration necessary. When pressed on the topic Rodgers took on the air of a player who had just lost a big game. “We weren't very effective. We had less than 300 yards and had a terrible first half" said Rodgers.

For the unevenness of the Pack’s play Rodgers said “We just don't really have a clear-cut direction. We got into some stuff with John (Kuhn) in there and four receivers, but we were too inconsistent." For his part McCarthy did not share his star QB’s views. “We won the game,” McCarthy said. “We’re at 10 wins, and that’s what we came out here to do.” McCarthy also made it clear his concern is for the Green Bay Packers team, not the Green Bay Packers offense. The loss of Jordy Nelson was not lost on former Packer Charles Woodson either. Woodson no doubt had much to say to his mates in approaching the Packers.

“It’s really predicated on what you could do running the ball,” Woodson said. “…we did a great job stopping the run. They didn’t really have that. I thought our defensive backs did a great job covering their receivers. Is it a different offense without Jordy? He is that one guy that can really stretch the field.”

Given the negative and relentless hammering of his team McCarthy ended his press conference by saying "We're right where I want to be," an agitated McCarthy said. "We're right where we need to be. The style points, you can flush that. I'm sick and tired of talking about the negativities. We've won 10 games. We lost three games on the last play of the game and Denver beat us. That's the overview of our season, and we've got a chance to win 11 next week."

But even McCarthy is concerned behind closed doors. James Jones may have inadvertently opened the locker room door to the public when he shared McCarthy’s talk to the team at halftime. "Chewed us out," Jones said. It was a small quote that spoke volumes.

The next two games will give a true indication of where this team is headed. Next they head to Arizona to face the high flying Cardinals and close out at home against Minnesota. With a playoff spot now secured the Packers face the very real possibility of the next four games being Arizona, Minnesota, Minnesota, Arizona. McCarthy isn’t all that interested in how his team looks now, as long as it finds a way to keep winning. The defense, for its part, is doing its part.

Offense? It’s your turn.