Packers Lost to Eagles: Three Reasons to Worry

The Packers were “destroyed” in the red zone and didn’t apply enough pressure against Jalen Hurts. Now, without Jordan Love, the Packers will need a much more well-rounded performance.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) scrambles against Green Bay Packers defensive end Kingsley Enagbare on Friday. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – It would have been almost impossible for the Green Bay Packers to start their season in a worse way than they did on Friday night against the Philadelphia Eagles.

First and foremost, Jordan Love was injured. Josh Jacobs averaged 2 feet per carry during the first half. Brayden Narveson missed a field goal. When it was time to win the game, Joe Barry stole the headset from Jeff Hafley.

It’s only Week 1. Oddities happen every year. Nonetheless, here are three reasons to worry.

1. Red Zone, Dead Zone

The Packers and Eagles engaged in a heavyweight slugfest for 60 minutes. Really, though, the Packers should have forced the Eagles to take a standing 10-count in the first 10 minutes.

The Eagles’ first possession ended with Xavier McKinney’s big-time interception. The second possession ended with Devonte Wyatt’s Johnny-on-the-spot fumble recovery of a mistimed shotgun snap.

The Packers started those drives at the Eagles’ 19 and 13-yard lines. Green Bay was a mediocre 19th in the red zone last year but No. 1 in goal-to-go situations. Defensively, the Eagles were 30th in the red zone and 28th in goal-to-go.

With a golden opportunity to score two touchdowns, the Packers managed two field goals and a hollow 6-0 lead. At that point, you sort of knew Green Bay’s goose was cooked.

And it was.

After the first takeaway, roughing the passer moved the ball to the 12, but Jacobs was stuffed on first down, Rasheed Walker was flagged for holding on second down and that was that.

After the second takeaway, the Packers overcame holding by tight end Tucker Kraft to get first-and-goal at the 3 after Jacobs broke a tackle and powered for the first down on fourth-and-2. Pass interference on Romeo Doubs and a checkdown to Kraft made it second-and-goal at the 5. On second down, Love was pressured into a throwaway. On third down, Christian Watson was re-routed by C.J. Gardner-Johnson, messing up the timing and resulting in an incompletion.

The scoring drive was epic: Eight plays, 8 yards.

In the fourth quarter, the Packers had a chance to take the lead when it was second-and-5 from the 8. Instead, two incompletions and another chip-shot field goal made it 31-29.

“There was a lot of opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “When you don’t do that, you get beat. Specifically, the red area was a huge problem tonight. I would say a year ago we were pretty damned good in that area, and we got destroyed in that area tonight.”

2. Where Was the Pass Rush?

According to Pro Football Focus, Love dropped back to pass 36 times and was pressured on 12 (33.3 percent). Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts dropped back to pass 39 times and was pressured on 16 (41.0 percent). So, from that perspective, Green Bay’s pass rush was actually pretty good.

But, as the game went on, the pass rush evaporated. Rashan Gary was unblocked for his only sack. Lukas Van Ness and Preston Smith had one pressure apiece. Kingsley Enagbare had zero.

“They were having their way with us, I would say,” LaFleur said. “It felt like Jalen had a lot of time to throw the football and I think anytime that you don’t get a pass rush – again, that is a really good offensive line – I just expected more from our pass rush tonight. And then when we did bring pressure, there were a lot of times when it looked like guys were uncovered.”

While LaFleur expected more from the pass rush, that didn’t really seem to be the plan, which seems like a bit of an odd disconnect.

Said Gary: “You just got to work on caging him in. … I feel like we made him be a quarterback the majority of the game. A guy like that, four equals one. You got to communicate. Make sure you’re not being too high, making sure we all got our lanes to the quarterback. That’s really it. Quarterback like that, you just got to keep him contained and let him be quarterback.”

Said Kenny Clark, who had a team-high four pressures, according to PFF: “Our plan was to keep him in the pocket and let him beat us with his arm. A lot of our rushes were power rushes trying to contain him, not try to get too crazy with our rushes and get too much up field.”

3. The Weeks Ahead

So, now what?

With Love out for a few games, it will be up to Malik Willis or Sean Clifford to save the day. It won’t be easy.

Week 2: Home vs. Indianapolis: The Colts, who lost 29-27 to the AFC South-champion Houston Texans, have offensive firepower with another dual-threat quarterback, Anthony Richardson, and another premier running back, Jonathan Taylor.

Week 3: At Tennessee: The Titans lost 24-17 to Chicago. Their offense was miserable, but they limited Caleb Williams and the Bears’ star-studded passing game to 64 net passing yards.

Week 4: Home vs. Minnesota: The Vikings demolished the Giants 28-6. They overwhelmed Giants quarterback Daniel Jones – no great feat, to be sure – and got 94 rushing yards by Aaron Jones.

Week 5: at Los Angeles Rams: The Rams lost 26-20 in overtime at the Lions. Matthew Stafford vs. Willis or Clifford could be a mismatch too great to overcome if Love isn’t quite ready to go.

Of course, it’s not just the quarterbacks. The rest of the Packers are going to need to rise to the occasion.

The running game is going to have to carry the load. Of course, the Colts know this and will prepare accordingly. Against the Eagles, four carries gained 105 yards and the other 17 gained 51 yards.

Combined, Watson, Dontayvion Wicks and Luke Musgrave caught three of 10 targeted passes for 10 yards. It was 0-for-5 to Wicks and Musgrave.

After the early takeaways, the defense gave up four consecutive scores. Then, with the game on the line, the Eagles clinched the victory with a 16-play scoring drive that consumed 7:25 of the remaining 7:52.

Let’s say Love misses three games. If the Packers win one, they’d be 1-3. Can a less-than-full-strength Love pull the Packers out of the hole? Of course; the Packers started 3-6 last year. However, they can’t afford to fall too far off the pace, especially during what looked like the soft part of the schedule.  

More Green Bay Packers News

In the aftermath of the #Packers' disappointing loss to the Eagles on Friday, here are:

Three reasons to worry: https://t.co/jTvK52OlHp

Three reasons for optimism: https://t.co/v8cqEZ1JFO

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 9, 2024

Ryan Tannehill to the rescue? | Can Willis save the season? | No ACL tear, no surgery for Love | Three Overreactions | Packers-Eagles report card | Offense stumbles in red zone | The latest on Jordan Love | Packers lose, Love injured | Four Downs | Live updates | NFC North power rankings | Narveson two-stepped his way to Green Bay | Three reasons for optimism in 2024 | Three reasons for disappointment in 2024