By Packrphan
For what looked like a so-so first half, the Green Bay Packers kicked it up a notch in the second half, especially on offense, to beat back the Buffalo Bills 34-7 in the Lambeau Field regular season home opener. The offense started to click and the defense shut down what little offense the Bills might muster. Whatever the butt-kicking was that Packers’ head coach Mike McCarthy gave at halftime certainly did the trick. According to reports, several players indicated that it was a colorful halftime: McCarthy’s language was blue and his face was red. If that’s what it takes, coach, keep on being colorful.
LB Clay Matthews, again, put huge pressure on the opposing quarterback. The guy is a beast. Three more sacks to go to six on the season. In 15 regular season games, Matthews has 15 sacks. At this pace…wow. (By the way, two of the most popular nicknames now being floated for Matthews are “Manimal” and “Claymaker.”)
With the linebacking corps still in mind…for as much as some folks want to package and trade LB A.J. Hawk for a running back (and, yes, it has also been mentioned by this writer), Hawk performed very well in Sunday’s game. He seemed to always be around the ball one way or another. According to final stats, Hawk tied LB Nick Barnett with a game-high nine tackles. Hawk also had two quarterback hits and was very close to a sack or two, as well. Hawk was very solid in this scheme, a scheme other than that which was played in Philadelphia a week earlier and during which he saw no snaps at all. For those fans who think the Pack would part with Hawk for a running back, especially after Sunday, don’t hold your breath. He may not be as flashy as Matthews or Barnett, but he is solid. That’s more than can be said for many LBs in the league. Was he worthy of being a #5 pick overall several years ago? I think we just have to lay that question aside and see what Hawk does when used in those schemes which permit him to do what he does best…and then he’s pretty darn good.
The Packers’ secondary took Bills’ WR Lee Evans entirely out of the game. Bills’ QB Trent Edwards threw in Evans’ direction only once; it was not a completion and CB Charles Woodson was flagged for interference on the play. The Bills’ best receiving threat was totally shutdown. And let’s also be honest: Edwards is just not a very good quarterback (sorry, Bills fans). The Pack’s defense also didn’t allow the Bills’ running game to do any significant damage. No big break-away runs by any of the running backs used, including the curious start of Marshawn Lynch. Even the TV announcers were speculating that perhaps the Bills were trying to showcase Lynch for purposes of a trade. It’s widely known there is not a happy arrangement there right now between Lynch and the Bills.
Speaking of running backs, the total yardage gained by Packers’ running backs Sunday was thoroughly underwhelming. When FB/RB John Kuhn gets more yards than the back (Brandon Jackson) who supposedly is now the featured back following Ryan Grant’s season-ending injury…and with all due respect to Kuhn…that’s not good. Yes, the Packers are and will be a primarily pass-oriented team. But even with that same mentality the last few years, Grant was still able to chalk up two 1,200+ yard seasons back to back and over the last three or four seasons be one of the top total-yardage backs in the NFL. Jackson is going to have to kick it up a notch to help keep defenses honest and to keep them from all-out blitzes on QB Aaron Rodgers every single play. With another week under his belt, newcomer Dimitri Nance might get more playing time. He was in for a couple plays Sunday. No mistakes, that was about the best that could be said. Head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters after the game that running back by committee is not ideal, as if we didn’t already know that. But at the same time, he very much sounded as if that would be the way it goes in Green Bay at least for a while. Hopefully, someone will step up and make the running game at least an occasional threat. Right now, the jury is still out on that front.
Still on the offense, the venerable veteran LT Chad Clifton may be on the outside looking in, at least until his ailing knee allows him to perform at a better level than he did Sunday. Or until rookie Bryan Bulaga falls on his face replacing him, which isn’t very likely. Given that Bulaga held up well against the Bills, I would speculate that Bulaga will get the starting nod against Da Bearz on Monday night. Yes, it will be an entirely different level of competition than versus the Bills; Bulaga will be matched up against Chicago’s $91-million-man, Julius Peppers. It would be great to have Clifton available for that game. But given the problems Cliffie was having against the Bills’ defense because of the swelling in his knee, Bulaga’s time might have already come. The Packers still need Clifton and, in fact, head coach Mike McCarthy made it clear in his press conference Monday that Clifton was still the starting tackle regardless of his game availability this Monday night. But an ailing knee might just be Bulaga’s opening, with Clifton then serving in the backup role. Clifton’s got a lot of pride, so whether that’s a role he would willingly take or not, remains to be seen. Seems like that is not a question at all right now for coach McCarthy. But if Bulaga can hold his own against Peppers it will go a long way to making McCarthy’s life a lot easier regarding those kinds of decisions.
Oh, and isn’t it interesting that things are so quiet in terms of chatter about the Packers’ special teams? An area coming into the regular season that was a huge question mark? Guess that means folks are generally happy with what they see. Certainly Jordy Nelson is doing a very good job so far of setting the Pack up in good field position following kickoffs. Tramon Williams has been steady if not spectacular handling punts. And, with a late exception Sunday, the coverage units seemed to be holding up fairly well. K Mason Crosby demonstrated in the first game that he can be relied upon again to make long kicks; that team record-setting 56-yard field goal against the Eagles would have been good from 70! Still, when Crosby kicked his first field goal against the Bills from the right hash — where Crosby had problems last year — and it seemed to barely squeeze in the right side goal post…well…it was good, but I think at least a few fans were wondering if we were going to have a replay of last season’s problems start to arise again. Let’s leave it at that and hope Crosby’s old bugaboo doesn’t rear its head as the season goes on.
Oh, my pre-game prediction…how’d I do? Well, as loyal readers of PackerFansUnited.com are aware (because I keep reminding them), I had the score of last week’s game right on the money, calling it 27-20 for the Packers (of course!). On Sunday, I had called it 34-13 in favor of the Packers. So, for the second week in a row, I called the Packers’ score exactly. Yes, I’m even starting to scare myself! OK, I can be kept humble because I gave the Bills more credit than they were due in the form of 6 extra points. Mea culpa. I’ll try to do better next week. When, of course, the Packers take on Da Bearz who, courtesy of the officials’ gift they received the first week vs. Detroit and their upset win in Dallas on Sunday, are tied with the Packers at 2-0 atop the NFC North. The upcoming Monday night game will be a biggie as it usually is when the Packers meet Da Bearz, regardless of records.
Stay tuned!
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