Clearly the default remedy for any team when it’s starting QB is hurt is for the D and run game to step up.

Unfortunately, our D just changed coordinator and formation and is likely to be a work in progress, probably till November based on historical experience.

That leaves our run game. The issue there is that we have long not emphasized run blocking and Jones, when healthy, masked the downside of that. Something he demonstrated well yesterday. We don’t have Jones, so our run game likely goes as far as our OL will let it.

Interestingly, Morgan had a better day run blocking than I expected. While Walker had a poor first half, he was better in the second. Unfortunately, yet again our problems started with Myers, both in keeping the pocket intact and running. I’m sure Stenavich will tell us Myers is playing the best football of his life, but he didn’t on Friday. Now he’s hurt.

It’s just possible that fate and injury leads to Rhyan at C and Morgan at RG and that we prove to be better in the run game as a result. That would help Willis greatly and finally at least offer the chance to address a multi season weakness. That assumes Rhyan plays adequately of course, which is not guaranteed, but I am More than ready to roll the dice on that against the Colts. Their pass rush is good, but their run D wasn’t. With Willis, we absolutely have to capitalize on that weakness and stunt the rush somewhat at the same time.

Let me start out with calling out the people that gave me a thumbs down when I predicted the Eagles would cover. So who was right. The Eagles are a very good team. The Packers have the talent to be a good team. Ok enough of tooting my own horn.

This game shows that starters need to play in the preseason more than one series even at the risk of injury. There are only 17 games and giving up the first game and maybe the second to get the starters started and running is too much to give up. MLF should have looked forward and thought that we are playing a division SB contender we need to be ready. This game showed the need.

First there is no reason that professionals should have a flag for 12 guys on the field. This was not 12 guys in the huddle this was 12 guys in on the field at the snap. The offensive line was terrible in the first half. Run blocking and pass protection was totally substandard. Love was inaccurate and did not look ready. The receivers dropped too many passes.

Now on to defense. Haflin is new and needs to learn his player's capabilities. He needs preseason games to do that. Alexander was not playing up to his contract. Most of the time the defense just seemed to be out of sync and not playing on the same page. The tackling was terrible.

Please let's stop the Tannehill talk. He is not much better than Willis and with the pass protection this line provided we need a QB who can run for his life. Yes I know Love is hurt but please stop putting the game on your shoulders. Do not throw that pass to Musgrave. Throw the ball out of bounds.

Our first round pick Jordan Morgan got trucked back all the way to the QB. I don't mind giving him the opportunity to start to see what he can do, but once you see that you have to realize he's going to be picked on until it doesn't work anymore.

Sean Rhyan came in at C, which raises the problem that Myers played much of last season hurt and got hurt again in Brazil. Will he ever be able to stay healthy? I don't know if Jordan Morgan was ever replaced but Sean Rhyan is listed as 20 pounds heavier based on his combine 3 years ago, he was the likely sub at RG.

Coaches need to adjust to things like this, and it's worrisome if they still have not improved at this essential skill. I'm curious to see tape of who on our O line contributed to letting JL10 get hurt. Last year they played in a way that would result in QB injury for too much time, and for all their improvement they never provided time for a coke and a smoke in the pocket. Even the most successful passes. JL10 had pressure right in his face immediately after getting the ball out. He was also the beneficiary of some calls for illegal hits.

Injuries prevented the ideal experimentation during TC to arrive at "the best five," but it wasn't good enough against the Eagles. It does make sense that the same personnel choice works against some matchups but not others. There's still work to be done, obviously; our O line is still the area that concerns me the most. The infusion of talent there should be enough, but coaches need to figure out the puzzle pieces.

Without film study, I thought I saw our tackles hold up in pass pro? I'd love to see analysis of our whole line in that game ...

So last week I gave a song that the NFL should have played for this game. After watching the game I will say they should also have played "Slip Slidin' Away".

How're fans feeling? We're doing great. Classic NFL football, entertaining game, competitive down to the wire, against a very very tough Philly team. Why would a Packers fan indulge in Teh Big Sad? I mean, a) it is football; b) you don't get to keep your pretty dreams of effortless dominant football on a golden escalator to the Super Bowl past the 1st half of the 1st game; and c) we got to watch the Packers go to work. Every team gots to work out the kinks. No, crying is not a valid substitute for appreciation, and is point-blank useless. Not seeing a downside to the fan experience here.
Of course, if Krim were big sad or big mad, he'd come right out and detail his priorities. Spell out how he's feelin' Big Yikes.

The KC game, if you saw it, the Chiefs looked mid season form. They ran a myriad of plays and that offense looked well honed and able to carry out a variety of schemes. The reason, Andy Reid, the smartest coach in the game, played his regulars. His theory, you got three games to practice plays, get in condition and find out who can and cant carry the load. He gets it.
Second, I realized this about three years ago when Reid drafted the fastest guy in the draft that year. He already had some fast receivers and scat backs and the big light when on "the old adage speed kills" is how Andy and the Chiefs keep winning, with speed guys you cant cover the whole game.
We have a slow Nixon coming out of the endzone to run kicks back. You have one receiver who is supposed to have speed doing mostly nothing for three years and your fastest RB you let go for an older guy?
This team is out of shape, not ready for prime time due to no play time, lacks speed all over the place and a new d coach who looks over his head and were expecting good things?
Gonna be a long season.

Replace McDuffie with Cooper , he was very productive with limited snaps .

"It looked a little different than Joe Barry’s product, but it didn’t produce different results."

3 turnovers looked more than a "little different", Jonathan.

The defense did what Barry Ball rarely did...get turnovers and give the ball back to offense. 3 huge potential game changers that were squandered.

Had the Packers turned those into another 8-21 points, this article would not have been written, Love likely would be getting ready for the the Lambeau opener, and comments this week would discussing visions of Lombardi's dancing in our heads.

The defense was going to be a work in progress while the offense was supposedly a finished product. Now both are in the blueprint stage going into game 2, with the OL, especially the IOL, the weak link in preventing frontal assaults. Tom was solid on the right flank. Walker was a liability on the left.

Stenavich seems to be a very inflexible coach. He has his favorite 5 and that's that. Matt seems content letting him run the OL (If Butkus is making the favorite 5 calls, that's a worse problem).

If Stenavich is not practicing with new combinations this week, he's also a weak link. Walker, Jenks, Monk, Morgan, Tom....Morgan, Jenks, Rhyan, Monk, Tom. Packers O need to be a run first team to open up the pass for Willis. At least Monk had real work in games this preseason and he fights.

Way too much doom and gloom in this article. It's too early to talk about needing to "save the season." It was one game. Let's see what happens in the next few weeks. One possibility that comes to mind is getting Edgerrin Cooper and Ty'Ron Hopper on the field sooner rather than later.

both LA and Detroit as well as the Ravens and KC looked much readier than the Pack. And face it: we do not have any linebackers who could start on a good D. I did not see much from Love in the game to warrant all the optimism of his being a top tier qb, but the Willis could not figure he had to throw a hail Mary. well all the pre-season hype can now be laid to rest. and did we strike out again on drafting number 1 like trip over his own feet Musgrove, or Invisible Van Ness?

The defense is what the defense is. First meaningful game against a talented, physical opponent. Philly's going to score in the 30s against a lot of teams. Can they play better? Absolutely. But there was good to build on here.

The Colts have seen Willis before--they play in the same division and have a little familiarity with him. They'll probably try to bottle up the run game and confine Willis to the pocket and make him run offense (which is what the Packers will try do to Anthony Richardson)...so if I'm the Packers, I lean into his arm and have him throwing downfield to make some chunk plays and try to open up the run game. He can improvise with his legs if things break down. The Packers can ask Malik Willis to be an accurate, efficient QB, but that's not what he does best. His preseason performances argue he's getting better in that regard, but he's a runner with a gun.

I think this injury has happened in a pretty forgiving part of the schedule...Indy at home, at TN, home against MN. If this team has any grit, these are still winnable games, even with a backup QB.

Do the Packers still run the ZBS? Or do they run a mix of zone and power plays? Do they want road graders? My (limited) understanding of zone blocking is mobile, agile linemen who can slide laterally rather than knock defenders back off the ball. Agile guys make better pass blockers, and the NFL is a passing league. The draft is usually heavy on guys who played LT in college, since that’s where most teams put their best lineman.
Don’t get me wrong: I am a HUGE fan of smashmouth football. I just don’t know if that is GB’s plan.

The line that was not built for run blocking, including the much-denigrated Josh Myers, opened enough holes for us to get over 160 yards rushing and a nearly 8 yards/attempt average.

We've started out seasons with worse losses and won 13 games. 38-3? Remember that? That was just a few years ago.

I thought it was a pretty good game for an opener. Yes, we were ragged, and that should have been expected. That's the tradeoff for having all your starters healthy by not playing them. But we scored 29 points and could have/should have had more.

Pipp, Majkowski, Love.

I think this week’s game is going to be a good look at this team’s resilience. Mike McCarthy always preached “overcoming adversity,” and LaFleur has echoed that as well. Love’s injury will spotlight everyone else. Are they up to it? I really hope the receivers make a big jump. Reed was the only one showing aggressive hands in Brazil; that’s the same problem they had at the start of last year.
Hopefully a better field will help them not be distracted.

I said last week that I was concerned about our pass rush; Gary is good, but Smith is aging, Enagbare isn’t dynamic, and VanNess has been disappointing so far. My only hope is that Cooper can add a dangerous blitzing element.

I like the potential of Willis, but I’m not going to judge him over the next few games, if things go badly. He hasn’t had any time in this system. He reminds me of Justin Fields; he can win games for us, but he’s going to need a lot of help.