Three overreactions after the Packers beat the Cowboys: Collapse like a house of cards?

Here are this week’s overreactions

1. The Packers’ incredibly bad running game

If ever there was a chance for Green Bay’s sleepy running game to at least open its eyes, yawn, stretch and change positions, it was this play.

On offense, the Packers entered the game ranked last in the NFL with 60.4 rushing yards per game – nearly 20 yards fewer than any other team – and second-to-last with 3.05 yards per carry. On defense, the Cowboys entered the game ranked last with 168.4 rushing yards allowed per game and ranked 29th with 5.10 yards allowed per carry.

Instead, the Cowboys looked like the Doomsday defense of the Tom Landra era and the Packers looked exactly like they had all season.

The Packers ran the ball 26 times for 57 yards. Even with Jordan Love’s 13-yard run putting cologne on a pig, they averaged 2.2 yards per carry. The 20 handoffs to running backs generated 36 yards, or 1.8 yards per carry.

The offensive line didn’t provide many openings. When there was a flash of daylight, the backs behaved as if they were blindfolded in a cave trying to find a lost black sock.

The Packers’ running game has gone almost impossibly from bad to bad – the intentional massacre of the English language fits perfectly with the massacre of the cornerstone of offensive football. Green Bay is down at 59.8 rushing yards per game (Dallas is next at 76.0) and 2.87 yards per carry (Las Vegas is next at 3.03).

The 2000 Chargers set the dubious NFL record with 66.4 rushing yards per game. Over the past 70 seasons, only the 1994 Patriots’ 2.79 ERA was worse.

The Packers have 359 rushing yards in six games. Thirteen individuals have more rushing yards.

“Certainly, there are things we can fix when maybe we don’t win a block or whatever, or we miss a cut,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “But we have to keep hammering it because it’s essential in today’s football to be able to run the football at a decent level.”

A “suitable level”. What a damning statement. Not a top 10 level. Not a winning level. The Packers, who are so far down in the standings that they must be hitting the bottom, would settle for decent.

A decent racing game would open up a world of possibilities. Against Chicago last week, Love in the play-action game completed 12 of 14 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown. Against Dallas, these play action simulations drew laughs, with Love going 1 of 6 for 7 yards and being pressured four times.

Maybe the vision and power of Josh Jacobs will be the salvation. At least he’ll be fighting for a 3 yard gain rather than running sideways for a 3 loss.

“I think it definitely hurts a little bit, especially when we’re trying to sell running action and they’re sitting there waiting for you to throw passes,” LaFleur said. “You have to get the running game going.”

The Cowboys showed the rest of the league how to beat the Packers. Complete the action play and attack the quarterback. The Packers better figure it out quickly or the offense will fall like a house of cards.

2. Take advantage of Jonathan Gannon’s time as defensive coordinator

The main reason I predicted the Packers would finish 8-9 is because I didn’t think they had a snowball’s chance in a broiler to pull out a win or two against the Micah Parsons-less Bears, Cowboys and Lions.

The Packers beat the Bears, but they didn’t have Caleb Williams as their quarterback. So whatever. The game against Dallas would be an infinitely more difficult challenge. Dak Prescott is an elite quarterback. CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens might be the best wide receiver duo in the NFL. Jake Ferguson is a quality tight end and Javonte Williams is a quality running back.

Without Parsons to protect the secondary, how on earth could the Packers beat teams with real quarterbacks?

This was the defining question of the season for me. Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon delivered a categorical response Sunday.

It’s a shame that a phantom passer roughing penalty on Lukas Van Ness led the Packers to give up a meaningless touchdown in the final minute, because they entered the final drive having given up seven points and fewer than 200 yards. It was a defensive masterpiece for a team that entered the season with a suspect cornerback and a suspect pass rush.

Green Bay’s cornerbacks helped limit Lamb and Pickens to a combined 4.9 yards per target. The traditional four-man rush was weak, but Gannon created enough of a pass rush to make Prescott uncomfortable. The confusion created by Gannon led to two more interceptions.

“I was really happy overall with our defensive performance, especially against that offense,” LaFleur said. “If you told me before this game that you were going to score 23 points, I was like, ‘Ah, we have to score more than 30.'”

Turns out the 17 points in the first half were more than enough.

After six games, LaFleur’s hiring of Gannon seems awesome. The problem with hiring a good coordinator is that he ends up becoming a head coach, as was the case with Jeff Hafley. Gannon has bombed in his three years as Cardinals coach, but any team in need of a coach at the end of this season should be smart enough to recognize that his tenure was torpedoed by the lack of a quarterback.

“I really think he does a good job mixing things up,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “Putting guys in different positions, putting guys in different spots on the field, whether it’s deep zone, whether it’s in the half, blitzing, so it’s kind of mixing it up. It’s tough for opponents when they’re watching film and trying to figure out who’s going to do what. So, I think it’s been a good mix of all of us doing different things.”

3. Playing with fire will burn the Packers down

The Packers are showing signs of being a very good team. But this is not sustainable.

The Packers were penalized a league-high 57 times for a league-high 465 yards. They are first with six roughing the passer penalties, tied for second with four unnecessary roughnesses and tied for third with 10 offensive downs.

The Packers are No. 1 in dropped passes. According to Pro Football Focus, Jordan Love dropped 19 passes; no other quarterback has more than 11. Every other quarterback in the NFC North has seen 15 passes dropped.

They improved against the Cowboys, but they’re still tied for the second-most fumbles per game.

They had seemingly cleaned house in terms of pass protection, but Love faced pressure on 45.5 percent of his losses against Dallas — the fourth highest of his career, according to Next Gen Stats.

The Packers have the second-highest stuff rate, with 29.0 percent of their running plays gaining 0 yards or worse. Their first down rushing average is 2.25 yards, more than half a yard less than any other team. It was an even lower 1.47 yards against Dallas.

Green Bay’s offense depends almost entirely on Love. It is up to Love to navigate the dirty pockets. It’s up to Love to make the offense work without a running game. It was up to Love to follow up a perfect pass that was dropped with another perfect pass. It’s up to Love to take over due to the ineptitude of the first attempt.

Love has been great for most of the season. It’s obviously true for almost every team that the season will go as far as the quarterback can take it. This is especially true for the Packers because of all the surrounding issues that continue to fester.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER

Add us as your favorite source on Google

Follow