The Green Bay Packers put an end to a disappointing season by rolling up nearly 500 yards of offense in handing the Lions their 16th and final loss of the year. The Packers offense rolled and the defense again looked pedestrian. In the end the Lions never had a chance against the Packers’ offense and quarterback Aaron Rodgers. In a stellar final game, Rodgers threw for 308 and 3 TDs. His 71-yarder to the incomparable Donald Driver was the the dagger.
The Packers also benefited from what may be DeShawn Wynn’s coming out party. His 73-yard touchdown opened the scoring and it showed his continued progress since being cut in training camp and subsequently signed to the Packers’ practice squad. The kid has skills but hasn’t shown the mental toughness. He may have seen the light now. Lets hope he stays healthy. Incumbent Ryan Grant needs a challenge. Grant never quite regained his penchant for big plays this year but still gained 1203 yards on the ground. He’s capable, but can he break the long ones like he did in 2007? Like Wynn did Sunday? We shall see. At least this year Grant will be able to go through the entire Packers’ offseason program, which certainly can’t hurt any. Might keep him healthier as well.
Another factor in the game was the Packers receiving duo of Greg Jennings and Donald Driver. Jennings had a couple of drops but the season he put together has been spectacular. He finished sixth in the NFL in yards with 1292 and had a 16.2 yards-per-catch average. He had eight catches of 40 yards or more, tops in the league. Jennings is the real Ocho Cinco. With Double-D adding another 1000 yards on the other side, the Packers are loaded at receiver, especially with James Jones and Jordy Nelson waiting in the wings. Even the tight end position looks a little more promising now that Jermicheal Finley made a few big plays. His touchdown catch was a beauty, I guess Rodgers found his “right side” finally. This offense has potential. Against the Lions they became the first team in NFL history to have two 100-yard receivers and two 100-yard rushers in the same game.
On the down side the Packers’ defense looked pretty much horrible again, even against one of the worst offenses in the league. When the Packers went ahead 24-14 the defense quickly allowed a 4-play 80-yard drive to let the Lions within three. Absolutely inexcusable. I don’t care if the Lions do have the best receiver in the NFL in Calvin Johnson, without a quarterback, you cannot allow a drive like that to happen. Inexcusable and certainly it should be another nail in Bob Sanders defensive coordinator status’ coffin.
Cornerback Al Harris had a bad day as well. After playing lights-out since coming back from injury after the bye week, Johnson tore him up. Johnson’s first TD pass happened 20 feet from me and it was a thing of beauty. Charles Woodson and safety Nick Collins both looked down at Johnson’s feet-dragging marks on the turf, shook their heads and jogged to the bench. It was classic. Harris was beat.
The Packers will obviously have to upgrade the front seven on defense big time if they are going to return to contender status in 2009. The other pieces are in place. I would like to find a quality insurance policy for the injury-prone Atari Bigby at safety and another backup cornerback. Woodson and Harris won’t be around forever. Also, it is time to re-sign Woodson to a new contract. Make a statement because Woodson’s veteran leadership cannot be understated. This team I think has Super Bowl potential in Woodson’s playing days and it can’t afford negative mojo with him.
If the Packers do make a change at defensive coordinators, the list of available candidates could never be better. Romeo Crennel, Rod Marinelli, and Eric Mangini became available today. Mike Nolan is also out there. I kind of would prefer Crennel at this time, but you know the Packers, they always hire no-names.
Finally, now that all is said (not!) and done, the Packers first post-Favre season in the books. Even at 6-10 I find it hard to argue the decision to go with Rodgers as the Packers’ starting quarterback. Rodgers finished the season as the sixth-ranked QB in the NFL with over 4000 yards passing, 28 TDs and only 13 picks. Favre ranked 21rst with 22 and 22. Favre’s Jets did win three more games than the Packers but they also had five more Pro Bowlers on their roster. In the end, the Packers got their quarterback of the future on the field, and he played great, plus a third-round draft pick. The Miami Dolphins got Chad Pennington, the league’s second-ranked QB and a division title. The Jets got increased jersey sales and a coach fired.
We know what the Packers’ weaknesses are, it is up to general manager Ted Thompson to fix them, and basically, he has one season to do so. I personally think the Packers’ executive management, a.k.a, Mark Murphy and the executive committee are not about to fire either figure even if the Packers don’t make the playoffs again next year. Too much money invested. I also don’t think that will be a problem. It won’t take much improvement on defense to turn this team around. Just a key stop here and there and the ability to control the opponents running game. To me it is all coaching. The scheme is bad and the coach is worse. There is no toughness on the Packers’ defense outside of Harris and Woodson. Fix the defense and give Rodgers and his offense more opportunities and this team will be back in the playoffs stat.
(watching the replay of the Lions’ game while writing this just makes it so clear how important DD is to this team)