The Green Bay Packers lost to the Seattle Seahawks last night in a game that was never really close. Yes the Packers actually held the lead at one point, but for the most part they were dominated. But is there cause for concern? In a word – no.
You could have ran any team in the league out there last night and the outcome would have been the same. I know that from experience. In 2011 it didn’t matter who came into Lambeau Field on that Thursday night to start the season after the Packers won the Super Bowl in 2010. The Packers were going to win the game.
You have to take the circumstances into account when looking at the results. It was the Kobayashi Maru of the NFL and James T. Kirk was not at the helm. While idiots like Chris Wesseling of NFL.com calls the Packers pretenders instead of contenders after one game, we all know the truth is a little bit different.
I myself, saw nothing last night that causes me any great concern. Yes, there are the Bryan Bulaga and Eddie Lacy injuries but at the moment it’s possible both will play against the Jets next week, so we’ll wait and see there. James Starks is certainly a capable fill in for Lacy. Derek Sherrod, who gave up two huge sacks, might be an issue but head coach Mike McCarthy said he is the man if Bulaga can’t go and said he will play better. I agree.
There simply is no denying that the Seahawks are a great team. I’ve never seen defenders blanket receivers like that. The Packers did have a few drops that contributed to the outcome, but between nobody being open and shaky pass protection Aaron Rodgers either fired too quick or had nobody open. And the crowd was unbelievably loud, it was clear the Packers were not able to communicate.
The Packers’ no-huddle offense will work but not in an environment like Seattle. I was way wrong on that. I thought they could hurry up and beat the crowd noise but it was just the opposite. Now I think huddling up and setting the play and snap count and even using the clock would have been better. I think we might get a another shot at it in January.
The Packers are home against the Jets next weekend and there is really no way the Packers should lose that game. Following that they have games at Detroit, where Aaron Rodgers has never lost a game he started and finished, at Chicago, where Rodgers has only lost one game ever and then home against Minnesota Oct.2. Should be no problem winning all of those.
Long time Packernet fans are probably shaking in their boots at my positivity, but I still think this is going to be a special year.