The good news: The Green Bay Packers have 11 more games to right the ship.
The bad news: Now 3-3 and losers of two straight games, the Packers are facing true regular-season adversity for the first time under coach Matt LaFleur.
The New York Jets confidently walked into Lambeau Field and beat LaFleur’s Packers by three scores on Sunday.
Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly coming out of the Packers’ second consecutive defeat:
The Good
First half defense. This was as dominant a stretch as the Packers defense has played all season. The Jets were 0-for-7 on third down, went three-and-out five times over their first eight possessions and had just one drive gaining 20 or more yards. Rashan Gary ended one drive with a sack. Jaire Alexander broke up two passes ending drives. The lone points scored by the Jets over the first eight drives came after the Packers offense fumbled the ball away on their own 34-yard line. It all came crashing down for Joe Barry’s defense over a three-series stretch in the second half (198 yards, 17 points), but the first half was another glimpse of how good this group can be when everything is going right.
The Bad
Special teams malfeasance. Sure, the Packers blocked a punt, the team’s first since 2018. But Rich Bisaccia’s special teams were directly involved in a 10-point swing in favor of the Jets thanks to a blocked field goal and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown. A poor snap and poor protection led to the blocked field goal; Dallin Leavitt’s missed block led to the blocked punt. Without the special teams breakdowns, the score could have been 20-13 entering the final stretch. Instead, Jordan Love got playing time in a three-score game. The margin for error for this team remains razor thin.
The Ugly
Offensive line play. It is hard to remember a game in which the Packers were dominated so thoroughly up front on offense as they were Sunday. The Jets held the Packers to 3.0 yards per rush while also sacking Aaron Rodgers four times and hitting him five other times. It got so bad for right guard Royce Newman that he was pulled in the first half; he returned only because Jake Hanson suffered a game-ending injury. The Packers struggled mightily on stunts and slanting attacking play from the Jets defensive line. Newman was a weak link, but so were Jon Runyan and Elgton Jenkins. Quinnen Williams John Franklin-Myers and Sheldon Rankins lived in the Packers backfield on Sunday.
