Packers Beat Giants But Big-Picture Problems Remain Unsolved

The Green Bay Packers went 1-0 this week. You might have heard that winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. Ultimately, the only thing that matters from Sunday’s game at the New York Giants was that they won 27-20.

“Obviously, just extremely happy with a win,” coach Matt LaFleur said after the game. “We definitely didn’t make it easy on ourselves, but bottom line is we overcame a lot of adversity and found a way, and that’s sometimes what it takes in this league.”

Extremely happy or extremely relieved?

Yes, the Packers “found a way.” They found it against a two-win team that had just fired its coach, was starting a quarterback who hadn’t thrown a pass since the preseason and had most of its best players out with injuries.

It would be almost impossible to have a less impressive victory.

The Packers were outgained 336-296 against an offense playing without its impressive rookie quarterback, starting running back and premier receiver.

They lost the time of possession by almost 12 minutes against a defense playing without one of its premier linemen, its top cornerback and its best safety.

“Definitely being able to walk away and have a dub definitely feels good, but we also understand a win is not going to mask all our problems,” said safety Evan Williams, whose interception allowed the Packers to escape with the victory.

“There’s a lot of steps we need to take if we want to be holding that Lombardi at the end of the year. We’ll get in the film room and make those corrections and come out better.”

The Packers are a talented team, which is why they’re 6-3-1. They’re also less than the sum of their parts, which also is why they’re 6-3-1.

Everything is so difficult. It’s excruciating, at times. LaFleur is playing whack-a-mole. The running game had been terrible. So, the Packers averaged 5.6 yards per carry against New York. On the other hand, dropped passes on both sides of the ball were a chronic problem.

Even when the offense spun its wheels in the back-to-back losses to the Panthers and Eagles, at least the defense kept the team in the game. On Sunday, the defense was the problem. The Giants ran for 142 yards. While it was only 3.7 yards per carry, it was enough to constantly keep the Giants in good down-and-distance situations and play ball-hog football.

New York had a touchdown drive of nine plays, a touchdown drive of 11 plays, a turnover-on-downs of 16 plays, a touchdown drive of 15 plays and a final drive of 10 interceptions that ended with Williams’ game-saving interception. Before Micah Parsons’ game-ending sack-strip, the Giants’ three second-half possessions consisted of 41 plays.

Credit the Packers for keeping the Giants off the board on the 16-play drive and getting the enormous interception to end the 10-play drive, but the Packers probably won’t be so fortunate against a better offense.

On the ground, with Cam Skattebo on injured reserve, running backs Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary moved piles again and again and again. Heck, quarterback Jameis Winston gained 10 yards on a sneak.

Through the air, Winston is a credible quarterback, to be sure, but look at his receivers. Isaiah Hodgins caught five passes for 57 yards. He hadn’t even played in a game this season and had only two catches last season. If the Packers can’t stop Hodgins, what are they going to do on Sunday against Justin Jefferson on Sunday and Amon-Ra St. Brown on Thanksgiving?