NFL Season in Full Swing

We're only three weeks in to the NFL season, but we've already seen storylines that could shape the rest of the season . The Eagles, with wins against the Cowboys, Chiefs, and Rams, look like defending Super Bowl champions. The Bills and QB Josh Allen have a high powered offense that is tough to stop. Upstarts like the Chargers, Colts, and Buccaneers have gone a combined 9-0. On the flip side, either the Chiefs or Ravens will be 1-3 after this week and be on the ropes early in the season.

In our 2nd issue this year, we'll take a look at the Packers season so far. We'll review what the addition of Micah Parsons has meant to the defense and also dissect what's ailing the offense. We also take a visit to our picking leaderboard for a recap on the results so far. As always, we take a trip to the Vault for the 2nd edition of the 1981 Post Pattern (keep your eyes peeled for proof that Dawn used to attend Packer games!) and wrap things up with a Buboltz Sports Kids roundup.

Parsons Project off to Sirius Start

Mixed Start for Packers Offense

If the Packers defense has received rave reviews through the first few games, the offense has experienced inconsistent results. Starting at home in Week 1, Green Bay came out firing. Green Bay shot out to a 17-3 halftime lead over the rival Lions and went on to secure a 27-13 victory that wasn't as close as the score indicates. Detroit seemingly intended to bottle up Josh Jacobs, but LaFluer dialed up an aerial plan that provided Love with open receivers at critical times throughout the day. Most impressively, Love threw from a clean pocket all afternoon and was never under any serious pressure vs Aiden Hutchinson, who was on an NFL Defensive Player of the Year trajectory before his injury last season.

In hindsight, perhaps the biggest development of that game was the injuries sustained by newly minted lineman Zach Tom and Aaron Banks. Both Banks and Tom sat out Week 2 vs the Commanders, but Anthony Belton stepped in at RT and was one of only 11 offensive tackles in the NFL to not give up a pressure...not bad for a rookie. Love threw for nearly 300 years, with TE Tucker Kraft being the primary benefactor. Kraft notched his first 100 yard game as a pro. Later the in game, the offense seemed to stall a bit though and Green Bay let Washington hang around before eventually closing it out. Unfortunately, that trend carried over to the Cleveland game.

Zach Tom, despite his best effort, was clearly still in pain, leaving after the first snap vs the Browns. Banks lasted 30 snaps but was pulled after a rough outing. Reliable Elgton Jenkins didn't live up to his standard, albeit playing at a new position this year. Jordan Morgan struggled significantly with 3 penalties (LaFluer has stated possibly moving Morgan all over the line wasn't the best of ideas...we agree).  All this combined to the OL unit allowing 15 pressures and the lowest pass blocking grade PFF has given any team in the NFL since the 2021 season. While Cleveland does boast the only DE that Micah Parsons would admit is better than him (Myles Garrett), the Packers inability to generate any consistent rhythm on offense will give LaFluer something to work on. Unfortunately, an ankle injury suffered in practice this week by Belton will leave Green Bay short handed on the offensive line and is the primary concern for the club heading into "Big D" for a Sunday night match up with the Cowboys.