The Packers beat the Jaguars; Trouble brewing for the lions

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers were terrible in the red zone, failing to tackle and getting destroyed on a series of big plays on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Oh, and they lost their error-prone franchise quarterback to a groin injury.

Here are five takeaways from the Packers’ win and what they mean for this week’s NFC North matchup against the Detroit Lions.

1. Too many big plays

The Jaguars passing attack is good. Brian Thomas, Christian Kirk and Evan Engram form a talented trio for quarterback Trevor Lawrence, whose disappearance has been greatly exaggerated. Thomas will dominate the NFL for a long time, Kirk is an established playmaker and Engram caught the second-most passes for a tight end in NFL history last year.

Lawrence destroyed the Packers on Sunday. It’s not just that he threw for 308 yards even when Kirk and Thomas left with injuries. It’s the barrage of big plays. The Jaguars had eight completions of more than 20 yards. And that was with Jaire Alexander in the lineup; PFF charged Alexander with a completion for 2 yards on Sunday, but he limped off the field after the Jaguars’ final touchdown.

Lions quarterback Jared Goff has thrown 10 touchdown passes and 13 incompletions in the last four games. Yes, that is correct. He is one of three quarterbacks in NFL history with four consecutive games with a passer rating over 125. He ranks first in the NFL in yards per attempt and second in passer rating.

The Packers have allowed 26 completions of 20-plus yards this season, sixth most in the league. Even playing one less game than some quarterbacks, Goff is eighth in 20-yard completions and first in 20-yard touchdowns.

In the end, Green Bay beat the Jaguars because Jeff Hafley’s defense forced two more turnovers, with Xavier McKinney’s interception and Edgerrin Cooper’s sack/sack scored for short-field touchdowns.

“That’s a good football team,” coach Matt LaFleur said of the Jaguars. “They have a lot of playmakers. They have three really good receivers, a great running back, a great quarterback and a great tight end. We knew they were going to get their vaccines. It was just about staying resilient.

“Obviously, you could argue that the sequence in which we had the sack/fumble and the recovery at the 5-yard line and our ability to go in and score was the difference in the game. Twice our defense set up great field position for us and we were able to take advantage of it, which was great.”

The Lions, however, have only given away five all season. Goff hasn’t been intercepted since the third quarter of Week 3 and the Lions have only one turnover in their last four games. The Packers better figure things out. Quickly.

2. Terrible entrance

Green Bay’s tackling has been good all season. It is not problematic but not exceptional either.

He was terrible against the Jaguars.

By our unofficial count, the Packers missed 19 tackles, eight more than their high from the previous season. Isaiah McDuffie, Edgerrin Cooper and Javon Bullard each had three. They couldn’t take on the appropriately named Tank Bigsby. They couldn’t take Thomas down. On Lawrence’s touchdown run, Packers defenders moved away from the quarterback like rain on a freshly waxed car. Green Bay missed eight tackles on that series alone.

Lions are famous for their physique.

Their thunder-and-lightning backfield, consisting of the powerful David Montgomery and the electric Jahmyr Gibbs, are two of the best at breaking tackles (50 combined, according to PFF) and gaining yards after contact on running plays. Additionally, they rank 10th and 11th, respectively, in yards after the catch per catch.

At tight end, only Green Bay’s Tucker Kraft averages more YAC than Detroit’s Sam LaPorta. As a receiver, Amon-Ra St. Brown is a bulldog who ranks among the leaders in missed tackles and Kalif Raymond is third in YAC by sack among receivers with at least 10 receptions.

With playmakers everywhere and a creative offensive coordinator in Ben Johnson to get the ball into space, Goff is YAC’s second-biggest beneficiary.

The Lions are really good. They are going to move the ball. Packers defenders, at the very least, have to take them down.

“We didn’t play well enough today,” McKinney said. “I think as a team we didn’t play well enough and we know it. We’re going to enjoy it, but we have to come back tomorrow. We have a great game ahead of us. We have to be ready for next week.”

3. Red zone problems

The Packers gained 422 yards, were plus-1 on offense and gained time of possession by more than 9 minutes. And yet, they needed Malik Willis’ late goal on Jayden Reed to beat the Jaguars.

Why was it so difficult?

Easy.

The Packers found a dead zone in the red zone.

They were 1 for 4 in the first half, when they dominated the action but only led 13-10, and finished 2 for 6. (Actually, they were 2 for 5; the last miss in the red zone came on the winning drive.)

After consecutive punts to start the game, Green Bay drove from its 8 to Jacksonville’s 15. On second-and-11, Jordan Love threw his league-worst ninth interception. Perhaps it was the groin injury that ultimately kept him out of the game, but his pass to Romeo Doubs didn’t have enough power and was intercepted.

McKinney gave Love another chance moments later with his sixth interception. A 21-yard pass interference penalty on a pass to Doubs set up Josh Jacobs for the touchdown.

Green Bay then drove from its 20 to Jacksonville’s 9. An illegal switch by Christian Watson on first-and-goal put an end to that, with a handoff screen to Emanuel Wilson on third-and-goal going nowhere. The field goal made it 10-0.

After Jacksonville’s first touchdown, Green Bay started at its 30 and drove to the Jacksonville 19. On third-and-6, a deep throw from Love to Watson took him out of bounds for an incomplete pass. The field goal made it 13-3.

Early in the fourth quarter, Cooper’s forced fumble gave the offense the ball at the 5-yard line, and Willis hit Tucker Kraft for a 3-yard touchdown to make the score 27-17.

The Packers were fortunate to beat the Jaguars and wasted three chances in the red zone. For the season, Green Bay’s red zone success rate is 50.0 percent. Only five teams are worse. The Lions are eighth in red zone defense (47.4 percent) and third in goals scored (53.8 percent). That season-long problem needs to be resolved quickly.

4. Pass Rush disappears without permission

Usually it’s “Three Overreactions”, but let’s add two quick attackers.

Needless to say, the Packers can’t mount another weak pass rush against Goff. After dominating last week against Houston, Green Bay’s front generally went nowhere against Lawrence. The only sack was Cooper’s pivotal play. Lawrence was pressured on nine of 35 dropbacks.

Preston Smith had a quarterback hit on the first pass play; However, the Packers’ defensive front was not visible for most of the rest of the game.

Worth noting: Goff’s clean pocket passer rating this season is a top-ranked 123.9.

5. Josh Jacobs to the rescue

Packers running back Josh Jacobs will have his own story but, again, it goes without saying that he was the driving force behind Sunday’s victory.

He carried 25 times for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Jacobs always runs hard. The line always blocks hard. But there seems to be an understanding when Love is out that the running game needs to go from good to dominant.

That was the case against Jacksonville. Jacobs broke two tackles on the 38-yard touchdown run. He forced five on that drive and three on the next, a drive that stalled as Doubs fell from a potential big gain.

The Lions rank 22nd with 4.66 yards allowed per carry. Part of that is the scoreboard (loose scores sometimes mean easy rushing yards), but the Packers will need Jacobs and his line to be at their physical best, regardless of who plays quarterback.

“I think we still left a lot on the table,” Jacobs said. “They were a couple of races that I wish I could have had back. I wish I could have pressed it a little differently and stuff like that. I’m still chasing that, man. “I’m definitely proud of what we’ve done as a team.”

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Packers-Jaguars Report Card | Within the completion of the winning game | Brian Gutekunst’s final moves win the game | ‘High level’ of concern for Jordan Love | Packers-Jaguars: Stock Report | Packers-Jaguars: History of the game | Packers-Jaguars: Game highlights | Packers-Jaguars: Live updates | Packers-Jaguars: great confrontation | Three reasons why the Packers will beat the Jaguars | Packers miss several top receivers (including one from Detroit) | Brian Gutekunst’s genius was on display this week