The Green Bay Packers aren’t a good football team right now. That much is certain following Sunday’s 27-22 loss to the New York Giants.
The Packers made their first trip to London, but the defense might as well have stayed home. After nearly losing to Brian Zappe last week, Green Bay gave up 27 points to Daniel Jones, who was missing his top three wide receivers.
Jones completed 21 out of 27 passes for 217 yards and finished with a higher passer rating than Aaron Rodgers. He also rushed the ball 10 times for 37 yards, including a couple of crucial first-down pickups. Once again, the Packers’ defense was just plain bad against an inferior opponent.
All offseason, there was talk about a dominant defense, however, through the first five weeks of the regular season, this Green Bay defense hasn’t clicked. The defense was supposed to carry the offense for the first half of the regular season, but that has not been the case so far and may never be.
It’s hard to ignore the Packers’ offensive struggles, as well. They are still without an identity, even though it should be fairly obvious. Run the ball and lean on the quick passing game, which worked well for most of the day.
Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon should have been the Packers’ ticket to winning on Sunday, but for whatever reason, they got away from the run once again. Hopefully, Green Bay will find the right formula soon, but right now, it doesn’t feel like they are even close.
Without further ado, let’s begin our list of weekly standouts, which is sure to be a short one.
RBs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon
New York entered the week ranked 28th in run defense. You would think the Packers were going to make a concerted effort to run the ball, yet Jones and Dillon combined for just 19 rush attempts. It should have been a lot more seeing that they were averaging over 5.0 yards per carry. Jones and Dillon should have carried Green Bay to victory, especially after taking a double-digit lead heading into the half. Instead, the offense took shots down the field, while Jones and Dillon had just eight touches in the second half. The result: zero second-half points.
WR Randall Cobb
Rodgers said he wanted to get Cobb more involved, and it came to fruition against the Giants. Cobb totaled seven receptions for 99 yards, which were both season-highs. Before his breakout game, Cobb had made a living on third down in 2022. Through the first four weeks, five of Cobb’s 10 catches were on third down. The Packers were facing 3rd down and 8 on the first drive when Rodgers found Cobb over the middle for a 35-yard pickup. Cobb also had a spectacular toe-dragging catch in the third quarter for a 14-yard gain. Even at 32 years of age, Cobb has shown he is still reliable.
K Mason Crosby
Surprisingly, special teams was one of the few areas that wasn’t a total letdown for Green Bay on Sunday. Amari Rodgers did fumble a punt that was fortunate to be recovered by the Packers. Kick and punt coverage was also solid, but more importantly, Crosby made both of his field goal attempts from beyond 45 yards. Crosby nailed a 46-yarder to start the game and then connected on a 48-yarder as time expired at the end of the second quarter. The latter showed the team’s improved field goal operations, as the kick occurred on fourth down with a running clock of fewer than 30 seconds and no timeouts. Crosby has made all six of his field goal attempts this season.
DT TJ Slaton
Slaton may have had his best game as a pro against the Giants. Slaton looked as disruptive as he has been in his two years with Green Bay, stuffing multiple runs for minimal gains. The former fifth-round pick out of Florida was selected to bolster the run defense, and he did just that on his way to four tackles, tying his career-high. Slaton was one of the only bright spots on defense and likely earned himself a few more snaps next week for his performance.
