Not sure what to think about these Packers. We have enough offensive weapons to get the job done but both Lines are very average. We value fast upright players but where is the beef when it comes to collapsing the other guy's pocket or making a hole. Hurts didn't seem to have much trouble getting through his reads and Barkley definitely didn't have trouble finding a hole. We are not strong in the trenches and it shows. Coaching staff will spend the rest of the year scheming around foundational issues.

As MM often said, lots to clean up, pad level, …. The OL will be the critical factor in how far GB goes this season. I believe the OL will coalesce. Same for the defense. I was hoping for so much more than what I saw. Some of that was the field condition, some of it was rust, and some it was stupid penalties. MLF and Clements have a huge opportunity to show their coaching ability in getting Willis up to par. I’m eager to see how GB responds this Sunday.

A great way to derail any offense is crappy line play. Check.
A great way to derail any defense is crappy tackling. Check.
Can these two items be remedied? “Probably” for the first, and “hopefully” for the second.
Regardless, GPG!

Not much to add. I still stand by my philosophy that you will see more stupid mistakes that you do not expect professionals to make when you limit their preseasons snaps. The offensive line could have been helped by more reps together. At least that might have helped the coaches determine the best mix. Coach scared and increase your chances of losing. Coach to win.

On Sunday MLF needs to give Willis three plays to start the game. Each one would have a run or pass option. If they load up the box which they probably will do go with a deep pass or at least something past the LBs. The Colts will be playing the run. Time to go all in with a bad hand and catch them off guard. At least that should make the defense back up and then we can start running the ball.

I thought Stokes had a pretty good game. He only gave up 2 receptions for not much. The other side of the Field was the problem, despite the interception.

I suspect that some of the defensive observations are more to do with the game plan for a Hurts led O. Contain not blitz. It worked in some ways but not overall. Had the O had the ability to convert in the red zone, it probably allows us to come away with a victory.

As to your comments on preparedness, attitude, effort and weaknesses. These are recurring themes under LaFleur. The OL issues are nothing new and nor was the weakest link, but the coaching staff have refused to address that and the emphases don’t seem to have evolved. To win, we need to improve: LaFleur needs to improve. Quite possibly, if this continues, that will mean moving on from Stenavich/Butkus. It’s time for LaFleur to challenge them.

It was game one on a surface that was an issue for both teams, regardless of whether it should have been. This week we face a very similar QB on home turf. Let’s see if that and whatever goes on this week makes a difference. Let’s also see if we get a game plan for Willis that’s obviously tailored to get the most from him. We and he will need that. Let’s also see if good play is rewarded by more opportunities.

Like Al said, "It's only one game". It's also the FIRST game after playing a whooping 3 snaps in the preseason. It's one of those games I was going to discard, call it the blues of week one, and move on to the Colts. But with just seconds left Love gets injured. Now the blues I was experiencing after week one became MUCH more.

Hafley's defense was disappointing but I'm not totally freaked out, not yet. Again, week one against a damn good offense. But for the love of God please get Cooper on the field more, especially for McDuffie. When Cooper was on the field he made plays. As nice of a story McDuffie is, he's not a quality starter. But as Al alluded to, Clark, Gary, Alexander, and others who are making the big bucks NEED to step up.

The O-Line was what I expected. If Josh Meyers is your center you'll probably have some problems and the Packers do. The run blocking was pretty bad for the most part. One thing I loved about Ted Thompson is he could find an O-Lineman who could do BOTH, run AND pass block. Right now it feels like the Packers only have two O-Linemen who can run block down to down. Jenkins and Zack Tom. Man I miss the days of Sitton, Lang, Bulaga, and Bakhtiari. The best of BOTH worlds. The O-Line NEEDS to step up big time this week. Willis and Jacobs BOTH need big games running the ball.

Lastly I've defended the hell out of Gute but the way he handled the backup QB spot this year is/was a disaster. I mean really, Malik Willis is your #2 QB? You really went into the season with a guy being your #2 when he's been here a week and a half? This is negligence at it's finest. I can't help but wonder if it will be like watching Jerry Tagge or Scott Hunter TRY to play QB in the 70's only Willis can run.

Run Malik Run!

Maybe while they're still trying to configure the O-line it's safer to play Willis than get QB1 slaughtered. Actually. kidding aside, it seems this slow start is more the norm now. I hope it doesn't extend as long as last season because there's no inexperience excuse to use now. They only can use the "they're just youngsters" thing.

Still not happy with the same expressions of missed-coaching opportunities as explained by MLF after the game. How many seasons is he going to let himself be outcoached, if that's actually what he believes and he isn't just grasping at straws or trying to deflect criticism or protecting other people.

Expectations are too high.
From last years Progress to the Playoffs.
Turn - over does not guarantee success.
And now that Love is hurt .
Confidence is Low.
The list of Lunch pail guys is short.
And when you install a New Defense.
Progress must be the answer,
At least until someone leads the Pack.
There is No place like Home,
Hopefully the mess gets cleaned up.

Back off the ledge everyone.

PFF ranks Philadelphia's offensive line as #2 in the NFL. (Detroit is #1)

PFF ranks Philadelphia's defensive line as #3 in the NFL.

The opponent MATTERS. Our best guys were against THEIR best guys, and theirs are rated higher. We'll do better against most teams.

My biggest disappointment was the dropped passes; if Wicks @ co. get back to strong, aggressive catching, we'll be fine.

For a team to get beat in the first game after a whole offseason of preparation and TC due to sloppy play is BAD COACHING!! If pack would have played consistently good football, but just got beat by a better team, or better strategy, or players making outstanding plays.....well, that is just how good competition yields wins and losses on any given sunday.

BAD COACHING!!

Lafleur is now on the hotseat. Why? Went back to his same ole tendencies. See if he brings some icepacks next Sunday for the asses of his staff and he-self. Such sloppy and inconsistent display is inexcusable....even for first game. How many months did he have to prepare his team? Yup....I have been on the side of preseason football,....and 4 games, not reducing to 3. Yeah, I get the risks. Life has risks. Football has some too. Bubble-wrap your players if you need to, but get them meaningful reps in preseason. Oh, and those TC practices that last for an hour and some minutes. Geez. Who is defending that now??

The Packer OL players and coaches should be forced to watch the SF vs Jets game . SF put on a blocking clinic. That’s how it’s done, men.

"IT'S ONLY ONE GAME, but the Packers hurt themselves mightily last Friday Night"
- Not going to lie but this brought up some of the deep feelers from 2014. Basically that the Eagles didn't beat us as much as we let this game get away from us. Way to many mistakes. Way to many opportunities blown. And a couple of very poorly timed blown penalties that really hurt us.

"While I expect a speedier than normal MCL recovery from Jordan Love's "silly body," (and there are some hints about that possibility from the Packers), Malik Willis is very likely the quarterback Sunday against the Colts. What's your confidence level that he can direct the offense efficiently with only a couple of weeks with the Packers? I'd rate mine low to medium-low. One thing that's holding me back is that I watched the Titans - Bears game and what was seen was an awful performance from Will Levis. If Willis couldn't beat him out and not even beat out Willis's backup, that doesn't give me a lot of confidence. However, if you want to see some in-depth analysis of Willis, take a look at this video from a name you'll know, Dusty Evely. He breaks down every pass attempt from WIllis in preseason with the Titans:"
I don't think its really that tough. The GM that drafted Willis was replaced and the new GM drafted Levis. The GM was ready to move on from Willis.

"NFL kickers went a combined 21 of 23 on field goals over 50 yards and over in Week one. One of the kickers who missed, Cade York of the Commanders, got cut the next day. Being able to hit from 50+ is now the standard for NFL kickers. Do the Packers have a kicker that meets that standard? We don't know at this point, but I'd settle for improved consistency over long distance kicks right now."
- I like what I have seen from our Kicker thus far. Yes he missed the one FG. But his kicks have been perfectly straight. I thought it was a good start.

"Being curious in what the Packers have or don't have in Sean Rhyan,"
- I think its only a matter of time until Morgan is the full time starting RG. Rhyan will make for a good backup.

"In the end, there were 17 accepted penalties (10 on the Packers) but more that were declined, as well. What an embarrassment, putting that notorious referee crew on full display for their international showcase audience. Yes, you could call a penalty on every play, but that doesn't mean you need to. Especially in cases where the infraction had no significance, LET THEM PLAY."
- While I am not saying the refs cost the Packers the game, it did play a vital part in why they lost. Lets start with a few calls. First the intentional grounding that they didn't call. They came up with some lame excuse to why it wasn't intentional grounding. Which was complete BS. It was the definition of intentional grounding. The holding on Jaire kept the final drive going. It should have been 3rd and 12 instead it was a first down. Also they called holding on Kenny Clark which was another crap call. Way to many bad calls.

As a tax payer I always said giving teachers more money didnt make them teach better. I also and many others have as well, seen players get worse after the big money because for them it was always work hard to get the big money then who cares after that.
Personally I don't think this team has anywhere near the talent as the top teams. Across the board were average at best so why expect KC like outcomes? Our stars are supposed to star every week.

The offense missed 2 golden opportunities to get a good lead, and really found no rhythm the entire first half. When the run game did get going, Love didn't make them pay with the play action game. Just one game and felt a whole lot like early last season where silly penalties and mistakes cost them. Was really disappointed the defense couldn't get off the field in the 4th quarter.

Time to circle the wagons and grind out a couple wins. Whole lotta game left.

Not mentioned much is this was the first significant shoulder pad to shoulder pad contact in a live game for most of the starters. Late in McCarthy's tenure and certainly in MLF's is the tendency to hold the starters during preseason. Have we all forgotten the disaster in New Orleans a few seasons ago--even with Aaron Rodgers. They got things righted but...you only have 17 whacks at the pinata and they're basically forfeiting one game until the regulars get up to speed.
Yes, the old man is talking here, but Lombardi's training camp was full contact everyday and most of the starters played up to halftime in the preseason. There weren't that many injuries. Yes, there were fewer regular season games. Most of the injuries happened in the regular season and the rules were far more tolerant of bad behavior(like pile driving quarterbacks).
At some point MLF has to consider getting more reps to the regulars in the preseason.

(Footnote: Rhyan played a good number of snaps in the preseason compared to other starters.)

I actually had to go back and check to be sure. And yes, the HC with the highest winning percentage of any active coach is the guy that they're saying is just not very good. He doesn't make adjustment's,he's timid,he should bench the Pro Bowler so the backup can play more, his teams aren't prepared, blah blah blah blah.

One close loss on the road to a good team. We had our chances, which is all you can reasonably hope for at the end of the day. It's over now. In a few days we have the home opener, and we're going to be playing the backup that just joined the team recently.

IMO, the Packers will run the same offense that everybody's been practicing since they came to Green Bay. That means Willis will handing it off or throwing short to the RBs about half the time, but we're still going to try to get the ball into the hands of our TD makers.

Al stated the turnover margin was 3-1. I hold that a missed FG is a turnover, so I put it at 3-2. Andy Herman had a long list about our negative plays, and I mostly agree with it. These holding penalties, and procedure penalties, and dropped passes and bad throws....I am 100% confident that practices will improve this, hopefully by Sunday.

Indy's defense didn't look particularly stout last weekend. I don't think the Packers need to get tricky and outsmart themselves here. The Packers led all teams last week in rushing YPA, and we've just added a good runner to the backfield.....this might be a good game to run it 40 times.

I've mentioned the Math of the 3-1-1 many times. With Reed, Doubs, Watson on the field, the defense almost has to play nickel defense, leaving six run defenders in the box, against our 5 OL + TE. I'll take that. Or, we can use the TE to move another defender out of the box and make it a 5 on 5. In either event, this is good for Green Bay.

I don't know if we can count on 29 points, but we should get over 20 if we don't turn it over a bunch.

It was pretty clear to me from watching the Monday night Jets 49ers game that the 49ers had their house in order as far as their line play went. The niners O-line pushed around a pretty good defensive front; and their defense was all over the Jets and didn't give them much to work with. Don't know what the Packers are doing in training camp, but to come out that sloppy? I think you should least get your line play up to speed, because that's what its all about. Vince always did.

there is no solace in 'it's only one game'; a loss in game 1 counts as much as a loss in the middle or late season. this game was for the taking had the play calling been remotely rational, and head the tackling been at a pro level, but neither the coaches nor the players looked ready. watching the 49er game showed in no uncertain terms the difference in talent level both among players and coaches compared to the packers, let alone the jets. MLF kind of peter-principled himself into a head coaching position he is really not up to. his teams only start to get ready to play ball around midseason. and then there is letting the one person who was the heart of whatever offense we could have mustered average more than 9 yards a carry for the Vikings. and all the hype regarding Love? he looked very much the average qb he is.

this week run the ball , use the tight ends and get this defense to play angry is the formula for a win.

Matt La Fleur strikes me as an incurious fellow. He lacks the consistency, drive, intellect and curiosity one needs to match wits with he likes of a Reid or Shanahan. I get the sense he rarely ventures out of Green Bay and doesn't keep pace with the 'outside world.'
At least he could send 'spies' to successful camps to soak up (and report back) their secret sauces, cultures, intangibles, their cutting edge approaches--anything to raise his overall game.

Very true that our big money guys did not earn their pay on opening day. That's bound to improve, right? We are in trouble if it doesn't.

I like your idea of more designed rollouts for Jordan Love.

The handoff up the middle on the 2-point attempt was really painful to watch.

I'm thinking Stokes played a decent game because I didn't see much of him on my TV screen. Jaire Alexander, on the other hand, got way too much screen time.

I watched about half of Dusty's video. He's insightful but could probably condense his analysis into about 1/4 of the time without losing any content. He really tests my patience. I have other things to do, like get back to work ha ha.

The lack of blitzing was frustrating and is all the more reason to get Edgerrin Cooper onto the field ASAP and maybe Ty'Ron Hopper as well.

It seems like field goal kicking standards have been raised a lot in the past few years, or maybe it happened gradually and I didn't notice it for awhile. Field goal percentages of kickers from even ten years ago have become less relevant when compared to kickers nowadays.

Add a two hour bus ride from the hotel plus substandard field conditions, and it's amazing they did as well as they did.

How does Kenny Clark get a “false start” penalty????!