The New York Giants spoiled the Green Bay Packers’ first trip to London with a dominant second half that featured 17 straight points, including the go-ahead touchdown run by Saquon Barkley in the fourth quarter of the 27-22 upset win over Matt LaFleur’s team at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Packers are now 3-2 after five games in 2022. Does anyone know if this team is any good? It’s hard to say as the shaky performances continue to pile up.
Here are three things that stood out during the defeat:
Another tale of two halves
The next time the Packers play two good halves of football in a game will be the first in 2022. Matt LaFleur’s team mostly dominated the first half, but the advantages created in the first 30 minutes weren’t enough to survive the disaster of the final 30.
The Packers led 17-3 and 20-10 in the first half. The offense gained 228 yards and scored on four of five possessions. In the second half, the Packers didn’t score on offense, allowed 17 straight points and managed only 98 yards over four possessions.
Aaron Rodgers said the Packers are a “little bit of a rollercoaster,” which is probably an understatement.
So far in 2022, the Packers have been held to three or fewer points in the first half of Week 1 (zero), second half of Week 2 (three), second half of Week 3 (zero) and the second half of Week 5 (two). It’s tough to play one good half of football every week and consistently win games.
Is this defense good?
The Packers have played 21 quarters of football in 2022 and it’s still impossible to know if the defense – despite all the assembled talent – is any good. Giving up 27 points to an offense with Daniel Jones at quarterback and Saquon Barkley as the only threatening offensive weapon doesn’t scream good, especially after nearly blowing the game against third-string rookie Bailey Zappe the week prior.
The defense has played good for stretches, including the final three drives last week and the first two drives Sunday (both three-and-outs), but the Giants scored on five straight possessions – gaining over 300 total yards in the process – to make up the deficit and eventually take the lead.
In terms of offensive talent faced, it probably won’t get much easier than the first five games the Packers played this season, and it’d be difficult to say they’ve passed the test defensively. To be championship caliber in 2022, the Packers need an elite defense; it doesn’t look like Joe Barry’s group fits the bill.
Offensive identity
Aaron Rodgers attempted 39 passes while Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon attempted just 19 runs. From the box-score view, this looks all off. But it doesn’t come with the context of how the Giants were playing defense; Wink Martindale dared the Packers to throw it, and Aaron Rodgers and Matt LaFleur obliged. The Giants secondary was a big weakness, especially after a few injuries midgame, and Martindale used A-gap mug looks, eight-man boxes and a variety of blitzes to tempt the Packers into throwing the ball more than they probably wanted to.
It all begs the question: Do the Packers have a winning identity on offense?The quick passing game worked in the first half Sunday. Getting the ball to Jones and Dillon has worked, and they were both averaging over 4.0 yards per carry on Sunday. But the Packers got a little off track to open the second half and never recovered, creating one of those trademark “lulls” that has defined the season.
The Packers don’t have a big margin for error, especially on offense. The passing game has to execute at a higher level, especially when teams give favorable looks. Rodgers isn’t going to purposefully run into bad run looks. He has solutions at the line of scrimmage. Beating man coverage with accurate passes and finishes on the ball needs to happen when the Packers inevitably face another defense committed to doing what the Giants pulled off on Sunday.
