Rust, Picks, & Mistakes: Packers vs Vikings Recap
 |
| Evan Siegle, packers.com Wanna know what salt in the wound
feels like? Leaving Lambeau after a loss and then sitting in traffic for an
hour and a half. That's exactly what I dealt with after the Packers' 29-31 loss
to the Vikings. Lambeau's is one of if not my
favorite places in the world, but man, way too much purple in the stands. Gold
Package ticket holders are killing us, I don’t know what change they are going
to make as an organization, but they need to stop this from happening
continuously.
Now, let’s get to Jordan Love. He
came back from injury and looked rusty as hell. He had two picks
early, and it looked like he wasn't comfortable pushing off his injured leg. He
even showed up in a Brett Favre jersey and lived up to it with three
interceptions. Not ideal. But Love rallied. 32/54, 389 yards, 4 TDs, and 3 INTs
is the most Favre stat line ever. In the fourth quarter, he had two touchdowns
including one on a 96-yard drive in the fourth. He almost pulled off the
comeback before throwing a pick on a jump ball that ended the game.
Then there’s LaFleur and his
unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. He was rightfully losing it because the
refs ignored him when he was trying to call a timeout, and it happened more
than once in this game. Classic NFL officiating: consistently inconsistent.
Offensively as mentioned before, Love
needed time to get into game shape, and the receivers didn’t help early on.
Wicks, who scored late, had a few drops, reminiscent of an early Davante Adams
who struggled in his sophomore season but turned out alright. The drops were
bad though and it didn’t help as the Vikings built up their lead. The run game
was also non-existent, but what do you expect when you’re down 28-0? Not run
the ball that’s for sure.
Defensively, we missed Jaire
Alexander and Carrington Valentine. Sam Darnold diced up the Packers’ secondary
and threw for 275 yards and three TDs because, of course, we couldn’t
capitalize on his mistakes. McDuffie dropped a pick right at him, and we didn’t
generate much pressure until the second half when the defense got two sacks.
Even though the Vikings got conservative in the second half, the defense only
allowed three points. Xavier McKinney also caught his fourth interception in
four games. (DPOY?)
Also, yea I don’t know if we have
a kicker. Wow. I couldn’t believe it when I was at the game. You could feel the
crowd just die after Narveson missed those two field goals. Take this moment
just to appreciate how good Mason Crosby really was as the Packers kicker for
the last hundred years. On the injury front, Christian
Watson is heading to IR with a high ankle sprain after Love threw him a
hospital ball and Devonte Wyatt is also down with an ankle injury and was
spotted in a walking boot on crutches in the locker room.
Credit to the Vikings, though.
They capitalized on their five takeaways, including the two missed field goals
by Narveson, marching down the field after both of them. Now, they’re leading
the NFC North at 4-0 and are arguably the best team in the league at this point
in the year.
It’s a long season, and the
Packers still have big aspirations. I saw a couple tweets that I’ll embed below that I know will help put some perspective in the eyes of my fellow Packers
fans.
Let’s hope they bounce back next
week against the Rams, who’ve been hit hard by injuries. Real Packer Fans Know🧀 |
Comments
Post a Comment