Detroit has won three straight after starting the season 1-7, essentially taking the opposite path through their season as the Packers. What is happening during games continues to confound Green Bay, especially lately with its once-potent offense. The four-time defending NFC North champion Packers have gone haywire.
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Their offense hasn’t been as efficient – passing or running – and the defense hasn’t been as dominant in the recent stretch. They’re at least getting a full week to prepare after having just a three-day turnaround between the win a week ago at Minnesota and the Thanksgiving night loss at home to the Chicago Bears.
“As a ball carrier, that’s what you don’t want, especially when it turns into points for the other team”, Lacy said Monday as the Packers prepared for Thursday night’s game at Detroit. “In this case a lot of times Tracy is on top of it and is actually making calls before us”.
We all know about the rookie wall.
“But the reality where I come from is we’re 7-4, and you are what your record is”.
“Defensively, you have to hand it to them”.
Throughout the first 11 games of the season, Jones has caught 30 passes for 592 yards and seven touchdowns. And don’t laugh at one of them, that might have been unthinkable a month ago. Matt Flynn started at quarterback for the Packers. But he admittedly felt the hatred flowing for his second Bears-Packers game, thanks to the words from Rodgers. That has become apparent over the last couple of weeks and there is no chance that he can improve that area of his game.
On Sunday, the Packers held an hour-long jog-through as their week of preparation began for Detroit.
Offense: Much of the focus on what ails them falls on the offense. This was present on the minds of many Bears, including receiver Alshon Jeffery, who broke from his normally reserved tone last week to assure that there would be no drubbing this year. The result has been to make Rodgers look nearly mortal. He said after the Thanksgiving loss to the Bears he would be ramping up his own preparation, though he declined to go into details. Matthew Stafford completed 27 of 38 passes for 337 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Lions. Not only did the Bears spoil Brett Favre’s jersey retirement celebration, they held Rodgers to his worst passer rating as a starter at Lambeau (62.4). That’s a span of 94 games.
“There’s only so many things you can emphasize (in practice) that you want your team to reflect each and every time you line up”, McCarthy said.
“The instruction tapes, the coaching points, the video – I could promise you the preparation part of it is intact”, McCarthy said when asked about his tight ends. “C’mon, the quarterback said he loves beating up on us”.
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Nelson sustained a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. The games that are close always come down to details. In 2014, he had 12 through his first 10 games.
