Post Game: Eagles defeat Green Bay 40-33

Mark87 said:
Mark is working on the next DC thread, we can get into it more there. These Monday mornings after a holiday are bad enough... stick a late FB game and new coach at WI at it geez. More coffee needed
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Going to be interesting if JL maybe waits around until mid January to see if Barry gets fired and the Packers DC opens to him again. I could see him wanting that now as he can keep his family located in Madison and not have to relocate them for a new job.
 
GBP4EVER said:
For the first time like ever on social media I actually saw people praising Love saying he did good and that perhaps he should be given the rest of the season to show what he has and that people think he can be a starting QB.
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Over reaction on social media like everything else. He played one quarter. Yes, he threw on time and was accurate for the most part but he also only had 4 guys rushing him. The Eagles were allowing passes in front of them.

If he plays this next week and the rest of the season, I would like to see how he does against defenses that are disguising coverages and blitzing him.
 
GBP4EVER said:
Going to be interesting if JL maybe waits around until mid January to see if Barry gets fired and the Packers DC opens to him again. I could see him wanting that now as he can keep his family located in Madison and not have to relocate them for a new job.
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My gut says he sits out 2023 and sees what the landscape is for jobs in 2024 both pro and college. Just from an emotion point of view a year off just makes sense. And Madison is 2hrs from GB so forget the family life from July to December
 
Aaron Rodgers took a hit to the ribs in the second quarter of the Packers’ 40-33 loss Sunday night against the Eagles, and the subsequent landing compounded the injury. On his third play of the third quarter, Rodgers took another blow to the ribs when he was sacked for a drive-ending 5-yard loss.


The quarterback, who turns 39 on Friday, played the rest of Green Bay’s 10 offensive snaps in the third quarter before jogging to the locker room with trainers as Mason Crosby’s 29-yard field goal cut the Packers’ deficit to 34-23 with 2:03 left in the third. Rodgers never returned, leaving third-year quarterback Jordan Love to finish Green Bay’s loss at Lincoln Financial Field.

Rodgers said after the game that he had difficulty breathing and rotating his upper body. He was also concerned about a potentially punctured lung, but said his lung is fine. Rodgers added it was hard to tell on the initial X-rays whether he suffered broken ribs, so additional scans will be taken Monday. Rodgers said he might not be able to practice on Wednesday, but he expects to play next Sunday in Chicago “as long as there’s no major structural damage.” Head coach Matt LaFleur also said he expects Rodgers to play if he’s able to.

“This is one of the toughest dudes that I’ve ever been around, so I don’t ever for one second question his toughness, his desire to be out there, his desire to compete,” LaFleur said. “Matter of fact, he apologized to me and I’m like, ‘Don’t ever apologize to me.’ Like, I’ll never question that. This guy is the ultimate competitor and he’s been battling through a lot of stuff all year long. It hasn’t been just this year. It’s been the last, I would say, the last few years that we’ve been together and he doesn’t say anything about it and he just keeps competing and doing the best he can.”

Rodgers has played with a broken right thumb since suffering the injury on his last snap against the Giants in Week 5 in London, but the “intense” pain in his ribs that he was still experiencing while standing at the podium was too great for him to continue playing Sunday in Philadelphia. Rodgers said his right thumb feels “definitely better” than it did in last Thursday’s loss to the Titans.


In Rodgers’ place, the 24-year-old Love completed 6 of 9 passes — one incompletion was an Aaron Jones drop — for 113 yards and a touchdown, a 63-yard connection with Christian Watson, in which the rookie took a slant to the house to make it a 37-30 game with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The team now has a decision to make. According to FiveThirtyEight, the Packers (4-8) have a mere 3 percent chance to make the playoffs. They’re only one game ahead of the Bears, who currently hold the No. 2 pick slot in the 2023 NFL Draft with a 3-9 record ahead of next Sunday’s matchup vs. the Packers at Soldier Field. The Packers can put their banged-up starting quarterback on injured reserve and get their first consistent regular-season look at Love before making a decision on his fifth-year option in the offseason. Or they can ride with Rodgers if he’s healthy enough to play.

“As long as we’re mathematically alive, I’d like to be out there,” Rodgers said, later adding, “there’s obviously a lot of other conversations that come into play once you’re eliminated, and I’ll be open to all those conversations. Pride comes to mind. Love of the game. But there’s other factors that, obviously, would come into play should we be mathematically eliminated.”

Perhaps Rodgers would want the final five games to continue building chemistry with young receivers such as Watson and Romeo Doubs ahead of next season, but Rodgers said he will not decide whether he’ll play the 2023 season until after this one concludes.

Rodgers, who ranks 24th in the NFL this season in offensive pass EPA per dropback, completed 11 of 16 passes for 140 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions on Sunday night. Does he give the Packers a better chance to win than Love? His past success suggests he does, perhaps even with a broken thumb and tender ribs. But what Love did in his brief stint against the Eagles — the impressive accuracy, zip and composure in the pocket — figures to pique the interest of Packers fans and even the team now tasked with deciding whether they want to see more from him in 2022.


Love entered with the Packers trailing 37-23 and 11:11 remaining in the game after getting an encouraging high-five from Allen Lazard and a handshake from Randall Cobb on the sideline. He acknowledged the Eagles might’ve been playing softer coverage because they knew the Packers had to throw to make up a two-touchdown deficit that late in the game, but Love was encouraged with how well the offense moved the ball. After the Packers started 0-for-5 on third downs with Rodgers at quarterback, Love hit Lazard on an out route for 7 yards on third-and-5 in Love’s first drive. His biggest play, and the Packers’ longest touchdown of the season, came when he hit Watson over the middle and the rookie turned on the afterburners down the left sideline for a 63-yard score.
“I think he did really well,” Watson said of Love. “He was really calm and composed. I thought he came in and didn’t skip a beat. I feel like when he came in, it felt like he had been in there before with all of us. I think we had a good shot with it.”

Added Rodgers, who watched the end of the game on TV in the locker room after his checkups: “Proud of our offense, proud of Jordan. We moved the football basically most of the night against a good defense … kind of feel like he’s become much better in timing up his drops with the routes. When you do that, it allows everything to kind of flow smoothly from there and the accuracy improves and the decision-making is easier ’cause you’re just playing on time all the time.

“He was on time. He threw the ball in rhythm and threw the ball accurately.”

Love has played sparsely in the regular season through his first three years in the league. He didn’t dress for a single game in 2020 while serving as the third-string quarterback behind Rodgers and Tim Boyle. In 2021, he handled garbage-time snaps in a 38-3 season-opening loss to the Saints in 2021, a full game against the Chiefs while Rodgers battled COVID-19 (Love played poorly in a 13-7 loss) and the second half against the Lions in a meaningless Week 18 game. And this season, he took spot snaps in blowout losses against the Vikings and Jets before playing the fourth quarter against the Eagles on Sunday.

“I’m not shocked, to be honest with you, that he went out there and played well and showed great poise,” LaFleur said. “We see it on a daily basis in practice. And I know people might not necessarily agree with that, but I see it every day and I think he’s a guy that has continued to get better and better each and every day in practice and just does a great job against our defense, giving ’em fits and giving ’em really tough looks.”

Perhaps general manager Brian Gutekunst already has his mind made up as to whether Love is good enough to be the Packers’ next quarterback. If not, he might want to see Love over an extended stretch in games that count for the first time before deciding whether to guarantee Love’s 2024 salary of approximately $19.8 million (per Over The Cap). That decision might also hinge on what Rodgers decides after this season, whether it’s retirement, returning for at least one more season or committing to another two. There’s also a chance Rodgers decides to play through the 2024 season, in which case the Packers can’t have two pricey quarterback salaries on the roster at the same time. They also face the dilemma of perhaps not knowing whether Rodgers will play that long by the time they need to decide on Love’s fifth-year option in May 2023 if Rodgers continues approaching his future on a year-by-year basis.

In short, there are two questions in play: whether Love is good enough to be Rodgers’ heir and, if he is, how Rodgers’ decision on his future affects a potential transition to Love as the full-time starter, whenever that may be.

If Rodgers’ follow-up scans on his ribs come out clean enough, though, Sunday night’s fourth quarter may end up just being a tease. Love could end up right back where he has spent most of his career — on the bench — for a length of time nobody truly knows.

“It’s tough,” Love said. “Obviously I want to be on the field, but the situation is what the situation is. The toughest thing is trying to stay mentally prepared and stay locked in because you never know what might happen. … I’m walking out of here the same. I’m going to prepare as if Aaron won’t be able to play. I’ll go out there and I’m going to prepare this whole week like that. Who knows what will happen? I’m not sure, but that’s pretty much how I prepare every week. It’s obviously a little different this week given the circumstances, but I’ll prepare the same.”
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I really don’t care how tough Arod is. If his injury inhibits his play he shouldn’t be out there. He’s won four games this year. Not like he’s leading a playoff run.

The defense is atrocious. Guys have given up and are making plans for January. Which is pretty damning indictment of Barry as a coach and leader.

Love played well. Poised and confident. Yes it was only a few series but it showed promise. Now start him next week and see how he does.

Why it took so long to move on from Amari I’ll never know but it bears a good move.

This team has lacked a legit TE since probably Finley. Would make everyone’s job easier if Gb had a legit TE.
 
Cheesedog said:
I really don’t care how tough Arod is. If his injury inhibits his play he shouldn’t be out there. He’s won four games this year. Not like he’s leading a playoff run.

The defense is atrocious. Guys have given up and are making plans for January. Which is pretty damning indictment of Barry as a coach and leader.

Love played well. Poised and confident. Yes it was only a few series but it showed promise. Now start him next week and see how he does.

Why it took so long to move on from Amari I’ll never know but it bears a good move.

This team has lacked a legit TE since probably Finley. Would make everyone’s job easier if Gb had a legit TE.
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I agree, cheese.

TE is huge for this team. My draft need order goes like this:

1) TE
2) DL
3) S
4) OL
5) LB (Only reason it is this low is because Campbell is still with us another year)
6) WR

We have tons of holes so you could probably interchange these as far as most importance. RB could be in there as well if we do not resign Jonesy.
 
ChampionshipBelt said:
I agree, cheese.

TE is huge for this team. My draft need order goes like this:

1) TE
2) DL
3) S
4) OL
5) LB (Only reason it is this low is because Campbell is still with us another year)
6) WR

We have tons of holes so you could probably interchange these as far as most importance. RB could be in there as well if we do not resign Jonesy.
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The thing with TE is that it's never worth high draft capital. The top 3 TE in the league are absolute difference makers, but then numbers 4-15 or 20 are relatively interchangeable. For GB it's a huge need but not worth a first. There is a talent gap at OT and S that need to be addressed no matter what, and could certainly always use pass rushers and corners, but until we know what they're doing scheme wise on defense next year it's hard to say what the real holes are in the front 7.
 
Cheesedog said:
I really don’t care how tough Arod is. If his injury inhibits his play he shouldn’t be out there. He’s won four games this year. Not like he’s leading a playoff run.

The defense is atrocious. Guys have given up and are making plans for January. Which is pretty damning indictment of Barry as a coach and leader.

Love played well. Poised and confident. Yes it was only a few series but it showed promise. Now start him next week and see how he does.

Why it took so long to move on from Amari I’ll never know but it bears a good move.

This team has lacked a legit TE since probably Finley. Would make everyone’s job easier if Gb had a legit TE.
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I guess it comes down to how you prioritize a position. As much as I would love a TE, good chance you have to replace #69 so LT becomes more of a priority. Watson and Doubs look legit but I’m not spending $$$ on #13 so WR while not a top priority is a need. Safety needs a complete rework and I’m not sold on Campbell as the answer inside. And a DC, hopefully brings a new scheme so might change the dynamics there.
 
rpiotr01 said:
The thing with TE is that it's never worth high draft capital. The top 3 TE in the league are absolute difference makers, but then numbers 4-15 or 20 are relatively interchangeable. For GB it's a huge need but not worth a first. There is a talent gap at OT and S that need to be addressed no matter what, and could certainly always use pass rushers and corners, but until we know what they're doing scheme wise on defense next year it's hard to say what the real holes are in the front 7.
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I give you Pitts as the poster child for overdrafting a TE. Great talent but not at that spot
 
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