The Green Bay Packers (7-3) turned the ball four times and couldn’t survive the angry return of the Indianapolis Colts (7-3) in Week 11, despite losing 34-31 in overtime despite He took a 28-14 lead. half time at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Here are six big takeaways from the defeat to Packers ’34-31 overtime:
1 A tale from two sides
When the Packers left the field at halftime, they left Colts with a 14-point lead. A 28-point first half against the league’s best defenses no doubt showed how explosive this foul can be when it clicks. The second half? St. Dickens. It was two halves of a fairy tale. The crime took place in three reverse turns to open the drive, and then their mistakes were complicated by a special team. In defense, the Colts made clear settings, the Packers simply couldn’t stop it. Jonathan Taylor, a former Borgers runner, took advantage of the Packers ’weak defense among equipment. Owned by four Colts in a row, Indianapolis found a way to put points on the board. Packers ’performance by Jekyll-Hyde — to continue the literary theme — was more of an anomaly than a season ago; however, they need to find greater consistency with more talented teams if they hope to succeed in January.
2 MVS experience
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What else to say? Marquez Valdes-Scantling is gaining a reputation as one of the most polarizing players in the organization. His raw speed and playfulness are enticing; therefore, Aaron Rodgers chose the late shot in the middle of the field, sharing safety, and punished the Colts for asking his midfielder to transport the mid-deep zone. There is no other player on the Packers list whose straight speed could jeopardize the top like MVS. That’s why it’s a fun player to watch. Again, groping for overtime is enough to test the faith of your most ardent supporters, which is why it looks like such an annoying game.
3 Passive pass coverage
Mike Pettine certainly knows a lot more than most people (including yours) who write contrary to coaching decisions, but at some point, the results are the results. In his 3rd year as Packers ’defense coordinator, it’s hard to say without clarity what this team is doing. On Sunday, there was pass coverage. For whatever reason, Pettine decided to play his defensive back 10 extra yards from the ball. The Colts have repeatedly taken over the easy money below to create easy conversions. It’s okay if the team wants to play soft coverage, but then the corners, security and defenders have to fight the defender at the catch point, which we just don’t encounter. The abuse was not cruel yesterday, yet they allowed Colts customers to squeeze their YAC as best they could.
4 Preston Smith continues
AP photo / Michael Conroy
If that’s not clear to the defensive staff, it has to be that way now – Rashan Gary has to be a bona fide beginner. Preston Smith must redeem for Gary and / or Za’Darius Smith to breathe. Smith simply doesn’t play near what the Packers pay for it. If Smith exceeded his contract expectations last year, he will be playing lower this season as well. His running guard was suspicious, he jumped off the side twice and didn’t keep pushing his pocket. Gary left yesterday’s game with PFF’s best defensive class. Not only is this good news for the Packers, who have a lot of capital tied up in Gary, but it’s also good that the Packers need to achieve higher production in the other external linebacker position. It doesn’t help if Pettine doesn’t ask Smith to cover the hard ends on an island, but it’s a team / system issue. From what we can reasonably expect from Smith, the return is too marginal to maintain its current momentum.
5 What to do with all traffic
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The Packers finished the match with four turnovers, two in the first half and two in the second half. It started with a Rodgers-Linsley snap exchange on the opening drive. Then Rodgers is captured by Rock Ya-Sin. The Colts scored exactly zero points in the first half from the Packers ’mistakes. However, the downward spiral continued. After the attack failed to get past the scandals for the start of the second half, the special teams exacerbated the mistakes when Darrius Shepherd coughed up football, his second special team disintegrated in two years. Eventually, the MVS groped in the overtime in the overtime to get the Colts into the immediate field goal range. It’s hard to win games when he turns the ball around, so it’s no surprise the Packers couldn’t scrape together the win. Interestingly, the Colts were unable to score a point for the first two, but the damage was undeniably occurring. After the Colts forced a pair of three or two, the Shepherd fumble exacerbated the Packers ’disadvantage of tenure. The defense began to gass in the middle of the third quarter, which was enough for the Colts to climb back and take the lead. When things went south for the Packers (and when the Packers went south, literally), they couldn’t overcome the mistakes. This defense just doesn’t have a lot of resilience. With only six games left in the season, it’s hard to say with confidence that defense could be the reason this team wins games, especially against tougher competition.
6 Silver lining?
The Packers did not win. They lost to a good AFC team with excellent defense. In the last match against the highest defense, the Packers seemed overwhelmed. This time they persevered. Rodgers instilled confidence in the team after the game. The defense, despite all its worries, still has a good physical talent that hasn’t come together in four quarters. The Packers have enough talent to hang out with the best teams in the NFC. There are real vulnerabilities; the same is true for New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Los Angeles and Arizona. The Packers can defeat any of these teams. The question is: do they find enough consistency to team up with victories against talented teams?
