The Green Bay Packers were a 14 point favorite against the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field Sunday but only wound up winning 28-26. They blew a pair of 14 point leads, turned the ball over in the second half, and hung on for victory. The outcome was a surprise because the Packers seemed to be headed for a blowout after scoring touchdowns on three of their first five drives.
Then the second half happened.
The Packers’ offense was held scoreless by the Lions after halftime. After going 8-9 with three touchdown passes in the first half, Aaron Rodgers went 4-8 with two interceptions. He was unhappy with the team’s offensive performance after the game and suggested a few changes. “Offensively we’ve got to find our identity again,” Rodgers said. “I think we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got our best players on the field at all times and find ways to get them the ball.”
Particularly, Rodgers wants to spread out the defense and exploit mismatches. He said afterwards “We had great production last week getting in the shotgun, spreading them out. Chicago is a tough scheme. I think Detroit runs their scheme well but I don’t think we gave them a chance spreading them out to find those mismatches.”
Between Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones, and Jermichael Finley, the Packers probably will have a lot of success spreading opposing defenses out. However, they also need to balance things out because it will be hard to run such an offense when the snow and rain comes later in the year. Additionally, Rodgers hangs onto the ball long as a quarterback, so a spread offense wouldn’t bode well for his health. Just ask Jay Cutler about that. The spread will be useful some of the time for the Packers, but they can’t do it all the time.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mike Roemer
