Well, today’s game between the Packers and the Chiefs was kind of a flat affair. While there were some bright spots, I guess I expected too much of the rest of the team. Including maybe the coaches. It seemed as if a few of the players were mailing it in – pretty much having given up without Rodgers quarterbacking. It was a bit disappointing.
So here, just to run it down, are a few observations:
1. I think Jordan Love is going to be just fine. He had some jitters. He had some accuracy problems. Of course. It was his first NFL start. He now gets a chance to go back and work on a few things, and the next time I think things will go better.
2. I think a bit of a loser today was Davante Adams. He was showing his frustration for sure, but I didn’t see him open a whole lot. And the real deal is that maybe today was a bit of a demo of what teams without quarterbacks named Aaron Rodgers can expect of him. Sure, he’s a great receiver, but the best in the game? Not really. His stock may have taken a slight hit today. But who knows? A few games with Love, and they may be in better order. It was Adams’s first game back from COVID, and he didn’t get a lot of practice time with Love, so we’ll see. Love could very well be starting next week too, so we’ll see what a week together will do for their chemistry.
3. Wow. Special teams. What a disaster. The only good thing they have going for themselves is the punter. After being absolute money for last year and the start of this, Mason Crosby leads the league in misses over he past few games. A miss and a block today changed the game a bit. If it were one-for-one, no other considerations, it would have been a 13-13 game. But even worse, Malik Taylor getting handled on a punt and touching the ball cost the Packers 3, which means it could’ve been 13-10, Green Bay. Of course, points never work out that way. If the Packers had handled the punt cleanly, Love could’ve thrown a pick-6 on the next play. But if you want to win football games, you’ve got to avoid the stupid mistakes, and special teams could’ve cost the game just as much as Aaron Rodgers.
4. But face it. The Packers lost because of Aaron Rodgers. Like I said in a previous post, I’m not into the hand-wringing over him “lying” about being vaccinated. I expect that out of people, but narcissists especially. And I’m fine with him not getting vaccinated. That’s his choice. But after all of the drama he’s caused lately, he can’t even take precautions to prevent himself from getting the virus. And face it – he was playing with fire. A lot of sports stars have wording in their contracts that prevent them from doing high-risk activities. You don’t want your team superstar breaking a hand screwing around or pulling a hammy at a pickup basketball game. And yet here was Rodgers, unvaccinated and at a Halloween party. Or whatever else he was doing that got him sick. So yeah. His fault. And to tell you the truth, I think he helped answer the nagging question as to whether he’d be back next year. He won’t. And good riddance to him.
We’ll see next week I suppose.
