With Bakh back (knock on wood), this offense could take off. Though I got really nervous when Hanson started warming up for Myers. If it happens, Hanson as center is going to cost them games.

"The Bucs game unfolded a lot like the San Fran playoff game last year. The offense disappears and the defense keeps them in the game."

I thought the same thing Al, even mentioned it in a comment on Monday. When Mercedes Lewis fumbled against the 49ers, the Packer's offense went into hiding. The same EXACT thing seemed to happen when Jones fumbled Sunday. I'm already getting nervous about MLF's ability to adjust. Hey when it's going good, it's great. But when a team adjusts to what you're doing, and the better teams always seem to do just that, I don't see the adjustments by MLF. I remember watching those Mike Holmgren coached teams. Whether it was an adjustment by him for the offense, or by Fritz Shurmer on defense, (What a GREAT DC) there was an adjustment coming at halftime or even mid-game.

I'm loving our special teams right now. Crosby's kicking the ball STRAIGHT, O'Connell is putting the ball inside the 20, and Rodgers hasn't done anything stupid and IMO has looked at least a little better. Nixon, Ford, and Leavitt have all made plays on ST. The blocking has also looked solid on the XP and FG attempts.

Bakhtiari looked great in his return Sunday. It couldn't have been easy playing in that heat for the first time in a year and 2nd time in 2 years. He looked a lot better than I thought he would. I can't wait for Jenkins to find his groove and then hopefully Zack Tom takes over the LG spot. Bakhtiari, Runyan, Meyers, TOM, and Jenkins are your best 5 IMO.

Al great article as usual.

Agree completely on the STs. I posted earlier this week that our punter deserves a game ball. His punting and great coverage (by Ford) helped us win the field position battle and ultimately the game.

I don’t understand the lack of adjustments in the second half. I must admit that I was a little surprised that Rodgers did go rogue at some point.

The officials should have picked up the flag on running into the punter. It was a bad call. They should have huddled up and reversed it.

I have always hated soft coverage and prevent defenses. Late in a close game is the exact time to pressure the QB and hit receivers at the LOS to slow them down or knock them off their routes. Why make it easy for the opponent to move the ball???

Savage and Campbell did a great job on the 2 point attempt.

Thanks for including the clips of Bak’s snaps. He looks pretty solid after all the time he has missed. Great to see him back out there.

GPG! Thanks, Since ‘61

Great article again, Jersey Al! I hope we do not get to the point that the Packers default to not making adjustments during the game. It seems to be an emerging trend. The coaching staff needs to adjust. Rogers needs to adjust. The lack of adjustment almost cost them the game. We have a long way to go so I hope we can anticipate what will happen and adjust accordingly.

Al, as always very interesting points you are pointing to. Some was already discussed here on this page, but your insight looks me each time you posted it more supported by arguments.

When Henson replace Myers I was screaming Nooooooo at my TV, but it looks like to me he played his snaps OK. Last sack on AR was not his fault, but Newman was beaten by man who was his responsibilty.

O'Donnell looks much improved than I can remember him from the time he was Bear. After all he is the second Bear for decade or more who is signed with Packers and what to say - both (he and Julius) was/is game changers.

'No Adjusting to Adjustments '. I have been preaching that for some time now. Lafleur even stated as much a day or so ago when he talked of doing the same thing again and again and waiting for some success. This is like bumping your head against the wall. Instead of waiting, why not make an adjustment. Other teams will continue to make adjustments and I don't understand why we can't, unless of course, we just plain don't get it.

Love the timing of being able to read this article as it is my favorite of the week. I need time away from the Weather Channel as my home in Fort Myers, FL is going to get hammered soon. Thank God we are still up north but I am hoping and praying for friends and family in the sunshine state that they get through this storm with their lives. Property damage is going to be great but, of course, the lives of so many is so much more important!

Definitely a jekyll and hyde performance. There was a lot of good particularly in the first half. Got to love Doubs. He is going to be a stud. The efforts of Lazard and Cobb need to be applauded - exactly what we need from our veteran WRs. I know that the offense disappeared, we've seen this happen many times before in big games. Defensive adjustments, no play calling adjustments, poor decision making by our quarterback - take your pick. I am going to throw 'poor O-line play' into the mix. The Bucs front four controlled the LOS, shutdown any run game and collapsed the pocket repeatedly. Poor O-line play has been part of every major loss. Yes we have injuries, but it doesn't matter against good D-lines. We are a 'B' grade line at best with weak interior line play and it is the death of our RBs. Our O-line was very much like the Bucs O-line and even the great Tom Brady couldn't overcome that.

I do like what Special teams is doing. Punting and trapping the opponent deep was the story of the game. Other than offensive miscues, the Bucs had to travel the full field on most possessions. O'Donnell is the real deal - thanks Chicago. On defense, I like this Keisean Nixon kid. He stepped up nicely. We are going to need some depth in the secondary. I fear that Alexander may be the new Casey Hayward,

I propose that we bundle up all our TEs and trade them for a new Jacuzzi tub for Christian Watson's rehabs. Does this offense use tight ends - other than to support the O-line? It would be nice to see a TE with burst that could open up the middle of the field. Tyler Davis did have a nice delay catch and run. We just don't see much TE in the Rodgers offense.

Two takeaways from your article. The first, why was there an uncovered receiver in the end zone on a crucial attempt at a two point conversion? The same thing happened several times in the Minny game, when Jefferson found himself uncovered at least three times. Are the coverage schemes too complicated? Are the players not being correctly coached? Is there a communication problem between the sidelines and the players? Whatever the problem, time to address it. Second, the lack of adjustments by LaFleur is something that has been noticeable since he became head coach, If the defense makes changes to stop the Packers offense, he seems to be unable to make his own adjustments to counter those moves. Why this happens is up for debate, but the results in the playoffs, in particular, are discouraging. And maddening.

Recent descriptions of Ford's ability as a gunner: dipping shoulder to avoid contact, fight through by swiping away opponents hands, good tackling technique by tracking the inside hip of ball carrier, uses jab steps and head fakes to get free from blockers, speed/strenght ( 4.3 speed, 20 rep bench press).

Special Teams Lesson Learned -
Can you remind me next year so I don't be freaking out.

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad... -
It really doesn't make sense to read it, but it is infact exactly what happened. After the fumble the offense just lost momentum and gave it all to the Bucs.
Special teams was the difference in this game. And if it wasn't for a missed holding call and changed to a horrible running into the kicker call, we likely score more points there.

Bad Situation -
I hated how they played the final 3 minutes. Essentially they were playing for the 2 point conversion. I get they don't want to give up something deep. But can't they play the safety's deeper and have the CB's playing up more. Sorry but the CB's don't need to be 10 yards off the ball. I just don't like how they play one way until the final drive and then play a different way allowing them to come back.

Rudy "the Flash"Ford -
This may have been Gutey's best move this year. Ford has been outstanding as a gunner.

Pinging the Punter -
That play could have been the game changing play in the game. Luckily our defense and special teams shut it down. That being said, the bad officiating could have changed the game. Refs have to be better!

No Two Points for You -
Savage got himself into perfect position! If Campbell doesn't make that play Savage does. It was a hell of a play by both players.

No Adjusting to Adjustments -
There were some penalties that they weren't able to overcome on a few of those drives. Some really bad calls too. The one on Lazard was a horrible call.

How did Bakh look? -
I really am happy with Yosh. Like he has been very good. He would be a starting OT on most teams in this league. But Bakhtiari is just better. I truly believe had he been able to play in either of the last 2 playoffs, we win those games. He makes that much of a difference.
Next question is who are our top 5 guys? Bakhtiari, Jenkins, Myers, Runyan are likely our best 4. After that Yosh, Newman, Tom are in the running for the 5th spot. What is our lineup on the OL?
Bakhtiari, Runyan, Myers, Tom, Jenkins? I personally prefer this lineup. Newman will likely continue to be our RG, but he is our weaklink imo. PFF also agrees as he has the lowest grade on our OL.

1) The prevent defense doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. First of all, it seems to have rarely worked. I wish someone would run the stats, but I can't remember the last time a prevent defense by the Packers actually stopped the opposing team from scoring. Admittedly, I don't have the kind of memory where bunches of plays and games stick in my head, but really, someone, please show me I'm wrong. If not, all you are doing is draining the clock and keeping the offense from having an opportunity. I get that the WR crops was decimated this weekend, but #12 has been pretty good at the two-minute drill over the years. So stop messing with a defense that doesn't really work, play ball, and if they score anyway give your O more time to work with, please.

2) The lack of in-game adjustments on both sides of the ball is worrying. I gave MLF a pass the first couple of years because I thought, "New coach, learning curve." He needs to grow past that now. Clearly he will never be the B-Chick in NE, but he can do a lot better.

3) I'll disagree with JerseyAl when he says "Ignore pre-season Special Teams." I think that misses the real issue. Special Teams looked bad against the Vikings and not much better last week. This week, against the Bucs, dare I say it, they actually looked really good. And yes, I had literally forgotten about the importance of the field position game because GB has been soooo bad at it for soooo long. So the real issue is that under Coach B-Cha in GB, Special Teams are actually getting BETTER week-to-week. Cool.

Thanks for the video on Bak, I thought he played very good on both run and pass, especially for his first game back. Not much rust there.

We were lucky to win that game. After all the bad 'luck' over the last few years, we deserve some. Yes, the D kept us in it and almost lost it when Barry started playing like he didn't trust his guys anymore. But without the unbelievable delay of game penalty on the 2 pointer, do we win?

ST - until we win the SB again, I'm not forgiving Gute or MLF for not realizing how important a good ST coach is. We could have easily had at least 2 more SB appearances with AR if not for ST.

Of course I'm not happy about the lack of offensive adjustments, but I point out AR's comment after the game that he thought he liked the play calls they just messed up the execution a bit. So maybe MLF gets a bit of a pass here. But he is still on my watch list.

Our gunners look like they’ve been watching Davante film on how to get off the line. One-on-one, they were almost never even touched. Only when they were double teamed vs. the Bucs did they get slowed down. Awesome!

Special Teams: Through three games last year, the special teams hadn't lost us a game and won a road game in SF with a last second FG. Through three games this year, the special teams hasn't lost us a game. It LOOKS better. But the fundamental, unchanging reality is that the special units are largely composed of 23 year olds who think lighting farts is fun. You have to be semi-nuts to go charging downfield against a bunch of large strong men trying to knock your block off, but being semi-nuts does have a downside. You are ALWAYS going to have mistakes, or a shaky call by an official. You are going to turn it over on returns. It's going to happen.

We LOOK better. The Long Snapper situation looks better. The holder/punter looks like a big upgrade. We haven't had a turnover yet, or a long return against us. We've already had some penalties. If you think it'll get better than this, I think you're going to be disappointed. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when. Hopefully, not in the playoffs.

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Nobody likes the soft, prevent defense. But coaches keep going to it. Why?

Then I try to remember the last time we lost a game because we played a soft defense with a lead. I don't think it's happened with LaFleur. None of our playoff losses were because of that, and I don't think any of our regular season losses were because of that. It has made games closer than they'd have to be, and we damn near lost this one because of that strategy,but the bottom line is we didn't, and we haven't yet. So I am forced to agree with the Conventional Wisdom on this, because it works. I don't like it, but that doesn't matter.

MLF takes a lot of heat here for abandoning the run too early. MLF takes a lot of heat here for not making adjustments. Changing the mix of plays sounds a lot like an adjustment to me so he is kind damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. That said it does seem like some suggestions here speak to adjustments being more subtle, like the rub roots. We did though see some of those and I loved the one where Lazard decked his back to free Doubs or Tonyan I think. In the end there may be very few viable adjustments against a defense that owns the LOS the way TB did in the second half.

Obviously you don't want to blitz on every play of an end of the game drive but I also don't think you can let the QB get comfortable either.

I'll say it again green dog blitzing is the way to go in that situation. Fournette is going to be in to block and only go out for a catch as a last second leaker. That's the perfect time to green dog blitz and make it 5 rushers on 6 blockers. Another option is to go with a 3 man front and send a blitzer or two. Yet another option is to go with a Mint Front with Walker as the single Edge rusher and then you have the option of dropping him into coverage and sending a blitzer. All of these can be done without being down a man in coverage and could cause a half second of hesitation.

Watching the video of Bachtiari was good. Hopefully he continues to improve and return to his former level of play. It would seem impossible but time will tell. Three knee surgeries and being over 30-years old does not typically bode well. Fingers crossed!