By Jalen Maki
You ever just lie on the floor and stare at the ceiling?
I hadn’t quite reached those depths of despair after the Packers lost to the Eagles in São Paulo, Brazil on Friday night; it was more of a “sit on the couch and maniacally refresh Twitter for even a crumb of information on Jordan Love’s injury” vibe.
The Packers’ quarterback went down in the final seconds of the game. As he flipped the ball backwards to running back Josh Jacobs, Love’s left leg got twisted by Philadelphia defensive lineman Jalen Carter. Love was visibly in pain after the tackle, and it was a gut-wrenching thing to see. Love remained on the field for a few minutes before ultimately walking off with the help of Jacobs and a trainer. He was ultimately diagnosed with an MCL sprain, which, all things considered, is fortunate; the tackle easily could’ve resulted in a more serious injury, like an ACL or Achilles tear. Love’s looking at missing three to six weeks, but the team expressed confidence that, pending a second medical opinion, the Packers’ QB1 could return sooner.
At first glance, the final score of 34-29 might indicate that the Packers came up just short in a hard-fought game against a tough opponent. This isn’t necessarily untrue, but under closer scrutiny, the negatives outweigh the positives for Green Bay.
Let’s take a look at the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from the Packers’ Week One loss to the Eagles.
The Good
Welp…there’s just not a lot to say here. In a game chock full of mistakes (we’ll get to them in a bit), there were only a few beacons of positivity for the Packers.
Among them were the turnovers. Green Bay’s defense forced three: New safety Xavier McKinney and cornerback Jaire Alexander each had an interception, and defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt recovered a botched snap.
Running back Emmanuel Wilson was a rare bright spot for the Packers’ rushing attack in the first half, ultimately finishing with 46 yards on four carries. Wilson’s usage went down in the second half, when newly-acquired back Josh Jacobs got going. Jacobs racked up 84 yards on 16 attempts, averaging just over five yards per carry.
For most of the game, the Green Bay defense did a good job of containing Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who can be a problem as a runner. Hurts ended the game with just 33 yards on 13 attempts, with his longest run going for nine yards. Had Hurts been able to have more of an impact on the ground, the game could’ve gotten out of hand in a hurry.
Wide receiver Jayden Reed had a heck of a game. We’ll talk more about him later.
The Bad
Love’s injury falls squarely atop this category.
Third down conversions: Neither team was great on third down. Philadelphia was 4-14, which speaks well to the Packers’ defense, but again, the offense couldn’t capitalize. Green Bay was 3-11 on third down. Yikes!
Settling for field goals: The Packers simply could not score touchdowns in the red zone, and it arguably cost them the game. Green Bay had four red zone possessions, where they ran 19 plays, and they came away with one touchdown and three field goals. The silver lining here, I suppose, is the Packers scored each time they were in the red zone, but even one more touchdown could’ve flipped the game in their favor.
The Packers didn’t force a punt until the third quarter. Suboptimal!
Referee Ronald Torbert’s voice: Can someone get my man a lozenge? Dude sounded like he went to a Journey concert the night before the game.
Not capitalizing on turnovers: Remember those three turnovers I was talking about a bit ago? Yeah, the Packers only scored nine points off them. Nine! Head coach Matt LaFleur said it best after the game: “That’s not good enough.”
The Ugly
Penalties: My goodness. I think there was a point in the game where one could argue that the penalties were the result of a team still ironing out the kinks in Week One, but that time had come and gone sometime in the second quarter. The Packers ultimately had ten penalties for 71 yards, with several negating positive plays. Again, my goodness. One penalty took a touchdown pass from Love to Jayden Reed off the board – a score that would’ve come in handy. I cannot stress this enough: My goodness.
Mistakes: The penalties were a part of a larger issue for Green Bay: the game was marred by errors. The offense, despite a few explosive plays and some positive moments, never felt quite in sync. Love made numerous questionable throws, with one resulting in an interception, and his accuracy was off pretty much all night: several balls either sailed high or were driven into the ground. Issues at the line of scrimmage forced the Packers to burn all three first-half timeouts with 10:24 left in the second quarter. On the defensive side of the ball, there were some pretty tough missed tackles. It’s hard to win a football game with a bullet in your foot.
Field conditions: Turns out playing American football in what is normally a soccer stadium can lead to some playing surface issues. Seemingly on every play, players were losing their footing on the slippery Corinthians Arena field. Guys tried to adjust to the lack of traction by changing their cleats, but it still largely looked like an ice skating rink out there. Several players – Packers and Eagles alike – talked a little smack about the field after the game. Did the slick conditions have anything to do with Love’s apparent cramping throughout the game? On a larger scale, did it impact the Packers’ chances to win the game? I don’t know for sure, but I can’t imagine it helped. LeBron James summed it up sagely in a Tweet: “Man this field sucks!!!” Hopefully the NFL begins taking a harder look at field conditions, both overseas and stateside.
Players of the Game
Saquon Barkley is a menace. After slipping and falling for a five-yard loss on his first carry as an Eagle, the man went nuts, rushing 24 times for 109 yards and two scores, while adding two catches for 23 yards and a touchdown.
For the Packers, I gotta give the game ball to Reed. He found pay dirt on both a 33-yard jet sweep and a 70-yard touchdown pass, which was the longest scoring completion of Love’s career. The guy actually should’ve had three tuddies: in the first quarter, Reed’s 38-yard touchdown reception was called back because both teams had 12 men on the field (yeesh!). On the day, Reed had four catches for 138 yards and a touchdown to go with his lone carry – the jet sweep score. However, there is a downside to Reed’s phenomenal performance: I had him on my bench in fantasy football. Please send condolences to [email protected].
Jalen’s columns, “The Free Play” and “Movies You Gotta See,” can be found online at www.medium.com/@jalenmaki.