Packers Report Card: Grades From Loss at Eagles
GREEN BAY, Wis. – For losing teams, it’s always a game of one step forward and one step backward. That was the case for the Green Bay Packers, who followed up their rousing victory over the Dallas Cowboys with back-to-back losses to the Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles.
Against the Titans last Thursday, the offense was all-around terrible but at least the run defense stepped up to stop Derrick Henry. Against the Eagles on Sunday night, the offense scored a season-high 33 points against one of the best defenses in the NFL but the run defense had more holes than a kitchen colander.
“Bottom line is you can’t allow somebody to run for 353 yards against you and you can’t turn the ball over in a game like this,” coach Matt LaFleur said after a 40-33 loss to the Eagles.
He’s right. You can’t give up 353 rushing yards against a high-quality team. You especially can’t give up 363 rushing yards, which was the actual total.
“I thought we had some opportunities in the first half and didn't capitalize on every opportunity,” LaFleur continued, no doubt lamenting Aaron Rodgers’ second interception of the night, one in which tight end Tyler Davis ran the wrong route but Rodgers threw the ball, anyway. “You can’t do that against a really good football team.”
According to ESPN, the Packers have a 2 percent chance to qualify for the playoffs. Two percent might be good for milk but it’s not good for a team that has been a perennial championship contender but now lost seven of its last eight games to fall to 4-8.
But, hey, at least it was close. That’s something else bad teams cling to in times of despair.
“We put up 33 points and battled against the No. 1 seed. I think there’s a lot to feel good about,” Rodgers said. “Obviously, defense is going to not feel great about some of those things and obviously I turned the ball over twice. We put ourselves in position.”
Here is this week’s Packers report card.