APP #75 - A Tale of Two Halves

The Packers dominated the first half on offense and defense getting out to a 21-3 lead, only to see the offense completely self-destruct in the 2nd half leading to 5 straight punts and 5 sacks.  The defense ended up sort of holding it's own to help preserve the win. Mason Crosby contributed a clutch 51-yard field goal in the 2nd half to help put the game away.

• OFFENSE:
  • Aaron Rodgers and Co. first 3 drives: 197 yards, 21 points.
    • The stats ended up very odd though based on this, Rodgers only passed for a little over 100 yards on the entire night, due mostly to the 5 straight punts in the 2nd half.
  • Aaron Jones was stellar in the 1st half, amassing almost 80 yards in the 1st quarter alone.
  • Davante Adams had a very ho-hum game and even had a couple of drops.  He was basically taken away in the 2nd half entirely
  • Unfortunately, nobody else stepped up once Carolina started keying on Adams.  Allan Lazard had a terrible drop on a great, tight sideline throw by Rodgers on a key 3rd down in the 2nd half.
  • Jamal Williams got hurt in the 1st half and didn't return - it ended up looming large as the offense basically stalled right after he got hurt.
  • The offensive line was a sieve in the 2nd half - they surrendered 5 sacks in the 2nd half alone.  For context, Rodgers had been sacked a combined 3 times in the prior 4 games total.
    • Lucas Patrick had the worst game of his career.
    • Even David Bhaktiari got whooped a few times.
• DEFENSE:
  • The defense allowed Carolina to get a field goal on the opening possession - they seem to allow every team to score points on their first drive in every game.
  • Krys Barnes could be their best ILB right now - he had a great game until he got hurt.  He forced a huge fumble on a goal-line stand that Kevin King picked up and returned to midfield.
  • Kevin King was picked on in this game and he had some horrific tackling attempts.  He did scoop up the forced fumble caused by Krys Barnes.
  • Rashan Gary continues to flash here and there, but he also got banged up again in this game.
  • Adrian Amos had a fantastic game - he has really come on in the past few weeks.  I think he had 3-4 passes defended and he had a couple of great tackles for little to no gain.
• SPECIAL TEAMS:
  • Mason Crosby is still perfect on the year - he drilled a clutch 51-yard field goal in the 2nd half that was outstanding.
  • The rest of our special teams was a bit better, but that's not saying much because the unit as a whole is terrible.
  • Oren Burks missed badly on a block that almost allowed for a blocked punt of JK Scott near the Packers' own goal line.
• OTHER:
  • We learned that former OLB coach Kevin Greene unexpectedly passed away today at 58 years old. He was huge in the development of Clay Matthews III and won a Superbowl in 2010 with Mike McCarthy and his coaching staff.
• PREDICTIONS
  • Andy 27-24 Packers
  • Jeremy 23-24 Titans
  • Elliot 31-21 Packers