With the first Sunday of the National Football League regular season behind them, the Green Bay Packers find themselves with a 1-0 record and some encouraging developments heading into their first divisional game. He extended plays with his feet, escaped sacks and had precision accuracy all over the field.
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“One of the things we looked at was the number of explosive plays, and a lot of their explosive plays came off extended plays”, Bradley said. “When it comes down to it, we want to finish out the game and get these wins”. This is an easy question for me because I would always rather make the playoffs and not win a Super Bowl. While Bortles connected with a couple of solid passes, the first sack of the game prevented the Jaguars from crossing the 50-yard-line for the first time in the game.
The second half digressed into a field goal kicking contest with both teams fizzling in the red zone. Nelson didn’t show his usual big-play ability, but he found the end zone and probably gained some confidence in his surgically repaired right knee. Eventually they managed to corral Jaguars wide receiver Allen Hurns to secure the victory on (what else) fourth down. Rodgers would finish 20-of-34 for 199 yards, with his TDs going to Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams. “We kind of had an idea that they are a really good combination”. I should have done something differently.
“For us”, Bakhtiari said, “just week in and week out, understanding each other better, knowing where we’re going to be, our mannerisms and communications, and just fit. If you don’t, you lose”.
Bortles finished the game 24 of 39 for 320 yards with one perfectly thrown 22-yard touchdown to tight end Julius Thomas in the first half. Adams got up and pointed to the back of his jersey several times. “We have to get the play call in, get the right personnel in and execute better”. “That’s the caliber of receivers we have here and that’s the standard we hold ourselves to”. Joe Thomas, working as the dime linebacker, chased down a ball thrown by Blake Bortles that got tipped into the air by Quentin Rollins. “It was not a wide-open window”.
PACKER PICKS: Jaguars RB Chris Ivory was inactive after being admitted to a local hospital Sunday morning.
The timeout usage was very bad for the Jaguars and it showed on the offense’s fourth quarter drives.
Too much time for Rodgers.
They have plenty to fix between now and then, most notably finding a pass rush. The 2015 Pro Bowler took the high road. Jacksonville had run nine plays to move the ball to the 14 when McCarthy wisely used his final timeout to give his defense a chance to catch its collective breath.
There will be even more important and impactful decisions for McCarthy to make as Green Bay traverses its regular season (and hopefully) postseason schedule.
“I was ready for it”, said Taylor, who started at left guard in last season’s Week 17 home loss to Minnesota, which ended the Packers’ five-year reign atop the NFC North.
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Newton was repeatedly battered, but only one penalty was called against the defence (and it was negated when Newton was called for intentional grounding).
