Chargers 26 Packers 11: Game Balls & Lame Calls

The Green Bay Packers came to play checkers while the Los Angeles Chargers were playing chess.  In reality, the Packers didn't show up to play anything.  The result was Green Bay's second loss of the season on a day when, fortunately, the other three NFC North teams lost.

The only solace was that it was an AFC game and that the rest of the NFC North lost but what the Packers put on film wasn't helpful in keeping a mental edge over their opponents moving into the back half of the schedule.

On to the day's bad and even worse.

Game Balls

Too little too late.  And do you really want me to award one to the punter?  Let's just move on to next week.

Lame Calls

Jaire Alexander

Went for the ball on an early pass and got burned for a ton of yardage.  On the Chargers' last drive of the first half, Alexander misplayed an overthrow that, had he picked off, would have thwarted a scoring drive.  At the end of the third quarter, he gives up a deep ball.

Alexander hasn't done anything worth writing home about lately.  It seems so long ago he had asspirations of being a top cornerback in the NFL.  He didn't have his best game.

Packers Offensive Line

Just plain offensive.  Beaten like a drum by Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram all day long and the Packers offense couldn't get anything going.  Throw in several false start penalties to boot in a road game where the crowd noise wasn't an issue.

An ugly day for the big uglies.

Special Teams

A double team block penalty to back the offense up midway throught the third quarter, followed by a blocked punt to end the drive. 

An offside penalty on a field goal block attempt in the fourth quarter that the Chargers opted to accept and then score a touchdown on the following play.

Offsides and illegal formation on Tony Brown on the kickoff after the fourth quarter touchdown drive.

Shawn Menenga either doesn't have the right guys to be productive or he's failing in getting them ready.  This isn't the first week this area has been a problem. 

Come to think about it, when was the last time special teams were an overall strength?

The Green Bay Packers

It's been awhile since I've seen a Packers team play as lifeless-ly as they did in this game.  Gotta give every single person who got on the plane to LA a lame call.  There is no justification for a performance like that.

-------------------

Jason is a freelance writer on staff since 2012 and also co-hosts Cheesehead TV Live, Pulse of the Pack and Pack A Day podcasts.  You can follow him on Twitter here

13 points
 

Comments (51)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
jeremyjjbrown's picture

November 04, 2019 at 06:07 am

I totally agree with 0 game balls.

I never want to think about this game again.

8 points
8
0
Lare's picture

November 04, 2019 at 06:16 am

At least they were consistent.

11 points
11
0
Sureshot's picture

November 04, 2019 at 06:17 am

Huge disappointment in every area.
Offense was not in sync
Defense was to easy to beat, run or pass
And the special teams were once again awful

If possible, there is one change to make now is to get an experienced ST coordinator because this is unsustainable.

For the rest of the team, coaches and players, they should not burn the tape but look at it humbly and find ways to improve from this dreadful performance.

By the way, CMC comes to town next week and I don't want to witness a 300 yds all purpose game from him.

9 points
9
0
Swisch's picture

November 04, 2019 at 08:05 am

Maybe it would be good to force the team to watch this game from time to time -- in all of its agonizing ugliness -- as motivation to never do it again.

7 points
7
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Bure9620's picture

November 04, 2019 at 06:22 am

The lamest call was abandoning the run when Mebane and the other starter in the middle were out. Chucking it around letting Bosa and Ingram tee off didn't work......even down 9-0, would have like to have seen us pound it and hold the ball. People want to crap on the defense, that is fine but they were on the field the whole effing game.....I dont care how good your defense is, if you cannot gain yards on offense and posses the ball in this league your defense will get shredded if they are on the field the whole game. They were gassed.

12 points
13
1
murf7777's picture

November 04, 2019 at 07:00 am

I agree about the run. They would get 4 yards on first down and then pass. MLF has done awesome, but he is a rookie and rookie’s will make mistakes more often then a savvy Vet so I give him a pass. I hope he learns from this game and continues the trend he started as one of the brighter head coaches in the NFL.

4 points
4
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jlc1's picture

November 04, 2019 at 07:22 am

They would get 4 or 5 yards and then get penalized at which point you kind of have to throw. The Oline was scared of the Chargers and played like it.

5 points
5
0
Guam's picture

November 04, 2019 at 07:36 am

I thought the defense played adequately given the complete lack of help from the offense. I am not sure what the final TOP numbers were but they were certainly lopsidedly in favor of LAC. You can't leave any defense on the field all game and expect them to dominate.

The defense gave up too much yardage between the twenties, but were tough inside the red zone until they wore out. They really only gave up 22 points (the other four were due to special team's bonehead offsides on the FG which the turned into a TD) which is good enough in most games.

The offense was just plain awful, particularly the O-line and QB. The O-line couldn't pass protect (or run block in Q1) and Rodgers missed too many throws.

3 points
3
0
LayingTheLawe's picture

November 04, 2019 at 11:48 am

The run was working other than all the penalties. Get a 6 yard gain on first down but then a penalty makes it long yardage to go again.

Just a bad day by the offense all around.

0 points
0
0
RCPackerFan's picture

November 04, 2019 at 06:41 am

Game Balls:

Mason Crosby. He is the only legitimate player I can give one to. His 54 yard FG prevented them from getting skunked. At that point they had done absolutely nothing. He doesn't get enough credit for what he does either.

Lame Calls:

Literally everyone else.
This was just a klunker to put it nicely.

I think I have to put Pettine towards the top of this list though. I'm a Pettine fan, but I think he deserves some blame here. First Martinez is not a great coverage LB, so why keep him on the field down in and down out? How about trying to get Burks on the field. The guy who has the speed and can go sideline to sideline. Martinez simply can't do it.
Ever since Raven Greene got hurt the defense's play hasn't been nearly as good. Instead of changing the scheme to fit the players he has, he continues to try to run the same defense but uses players that aren't nearly as good. Sullivan and Redmond shouldn't be getting the amount of snaps they are getting IMO. Burks should be getting more. Goodson should be getting more. The run defense has not been good. Perhaps getting another ILB on the field more often would help stop the run. I really think they need to get Burks on the field more though.

The biggest lame call to me goes to the offense. They did absolutely nothing. The defense while weren't great did hold them to 4 FG's. Giving them a chance. The offense had plenty of opportunities and did next to nothing with it. They kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalties. And our OT's got their asses kicked all day long.

Notes:
I really think this team needs a couple of things. It needs Campbell to come back. They need an extra player that can play the ILB/S hybrid role. Sullivan and Redmond simply are not those guys. I'm not sure what happened to Josh Jackson, but I was hoping he could be a guy too.
I don't know if Campbell is ready to come back and play, if not they may need to look and see who is available to come in and play. I don't know who is available but they may need to look for some reinforcements.

Tony Brown really hurt this team on special teams. He had the offsides on the FG which then allowed them to go for it and scored. He cost them 4 points in a game where they couldn't afford to give up 4 points. Also he had the offsides penalty on the kickoff which gave them 15 more yards.

This was just an ugly game. Almost like the team forgot to play a game while in California. Hopefully this is a game they just erase and get back to GB and show why they were 7-1.
This is only the 2nd loss of the season. This game was in a way similar to the Eagles game. They just didn't show up. Hopefully like the game after the Eagles game they do the same thing. After the Eagles game they pretty much dominated the Cowboys. I'd like to see them do that again.
It will be interesting to see how the LaFleur led team reacts this week.

5 points
5
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jlc1's picture

November 04, 2019 at 07:20 am

Yes this is another measure of LaFleur. This, his, team needs to feel his sting this week and come out and tear into the Panthers. Statement one next week would be to not defer if they win the toss, to say that his offense is going to take the game over and not give it back.

4 points
4
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RCPackerFan's picture

November 04, 2019 at 09:49 am

Completely agree that is exactly what they need to do.

Will they? I hope so!

This will be a good test for the new coach.

1 points
1
0
splitpea1's picture

November 04, 2019 at 11:29 am

I'm with you on Pettine. He seems to be giving away third down conversions with soft coverage and inadequate run support. There was one situation in the first half where the Chargers had a third and 2 and the Packers had three distantly-spaced defensive lineman on the line of scrimmage and a linebacker a few yards back; naturally the Chargers ran the ball right through a middle gap for several yards and an easy first down. I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as some of the other fans on this site, but am I missing something here?

2 points
2
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defense's picture

November 04, 2019 at 03:25 pm

Sorry to tell you that, but Oren Burka is a bust.
Anyone with good eyes can see that

0 points
0
0
jlc1's picture

November 04, 2019 at 07:16 am

Yes without a doubt the whole team sunk to the level that special teams had previously had all to themselves. Unfortunately they sunk to Jets level. Let's hope the team does not follow them there too.

1 points
1
0
ALLGASNOBRAKES's picture

November 04, 2019 at 07:25 am

Game Balls...Packers Red Zone defense. I really thought the Packers would get the offense going and make a comeback attempt. The offense who absolutely STANK thanks to the defense holding the Chargers to FG's still had a chance midway through the 2nd half thanks to the RZ defense.

Lame Calls... The entire coaching staff and 45 of the 46 who dressed (Crosby is excluded). Rivers said after the game they kept giving us the same look...No shit Phillip.

BUT... I have to look at this as "One of those days" which was bound to happen. It happens to EVERY team where they put up a stinker and it happened to the Packers yesterday. Now I didn't ever think it would be the entire team to have a game like that at once, but again, I'll look at that as a blessing and get ready for them to reset.

One game isn't changing my mind about this team or MLF. Tony Romo made a comment about it, and I agree that MLF will make it happen. He's got to take everything the Packers did the previous 4 weeks, and mix that in with Adams talents. When they do that, look the F*** out.

GO PACK GO!

#ALL GAS NO BRAKES!!

5 points
5
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Booner's picture

November 04, 2019 at 07:32 am

STINK STANK STUNK! The whole team and coaching staff! Crosby the only exception! LaFleur must have found McCarthy's playbook in his office!

3 points
4
1
PeteK's picture

November 04, 2019 at 09:08 am

hahahah-- thanks I needed a good laugh

0 points
0
0
LambeauPlain's picture

November 04, 2019 at 07:40 am

Sadly, it is clear Pettine has conditioned his players that run defense just is not important and plays second fiddle to pass D. They are pathetic tacklers and get pushed around up front. Kenny Clark is playing like a 3rd stringer. Dean Lowery is invisible. High draft picks Burks and Jackson are busts.

So opponents are now pounding the ball on the ground to set up long chunk plays through the air.

This defense is quickly fading.

STs are now Zook 2.0. Mennenga probably coaches the way he talks.....muddled. Murphy and Ball low balling Rizzi was a serious, arrogant mistake. They even called him back a few days later to offer him what he asked for in the first place. The insulted Rizzi, one of the best ST coaches in the NFL said “no thanks, I am moving on”.

There is little chance, with this D and STs, the Packers go deep in the playoffs. If the make the Tourney, they could be one and done.

2 points
3
1
jannes bjornson's picture

November 04, 2019 at 05:07 pm

No doubt, Pettine is playing it soft for whatever reason? Amos looked out of position more than normal and kenny Clark has to be hurting. Gutekunst did the Pack No Favors by not seeking help for the D line or an ILB with cover skills at least to augment sp teams. The mark of Ted is still lingering at 1265 Lombardi Ave. Absolutely spot on with the low-balling of Rizzi. Beyond amateur level negotiation.

0 points
0
0
mrtundra's picture

November 04, 2019 at 07:56 am

After watching this game and how badly the Pack stunk things up, 7-9 is within the realm of possibilities. I highly doubt that will happen but based on yesterday's game...

-4 points
0
4
rjwh23's picture

November 04, 2019 at 07:59 am

Lambeau Lame's comments are an accurate summary, especially his remarks on not hiring Rizzo. Since Murphy started running the organization, special teams have been horrible. Where are the "high standards" leadership says applies to everyone in the organization?

1 points
2
1
Handsback's picture

November 04, 2019 at 08:01 am

Jason, I agree with much of what you said except this...."It's been awhile since I've seen a Packers team play as lifeless-ly as they did in this game."....which I think is wrong. Last year we saw this effort constantly and maybe like yesterday all in one game.
This is on the coaches first and players second. The players were mentally thinking get to the bye with one loss. The coaches are looking at the next game and worrying about structure verses content. When Lombardi took over as coach of the Packers he had to mentally gear his team to the fact they could win. The Packers also had to do that this year. Now they have an example to show the team...do it this way or you will be beaten like a red-headed step-child.

Next game is key in that if the offense or defense are sluggish at the game's start the lesson may have not been learned.

One concern I have is that some players yesterday have shown a slip in their play week to week: Alexander and Clark. I don't know if its injury or their play is just inconsistent. Either way, they have to have a better trend going forward.

3 points
3
0
PeteK's picture

November 04, 2019 at 09:14 am

I'll add the two Smiths to that list. They're not putting consistent pressure on QBs since the Dallas game.

1 points
1
0
ALLGASNOBRAKES's picture

November 05, 2019 at 04:42 am

I couldn't agree more with your last paragraph. WHAT happened to the Alexander who was always STUCK to his man ready to break up a pass. WHERE did the Kenny Clark go who was being called one of the best young D-Linemen in the NFL and a building block for this defense.

Alexander hasn't stuck to his man in weeks and Clark hasn't looked like that since last season. Those 2 HAVE TO STEP IT UP if the Packers are going to have any substantial success on defense.

0 points
0
0
Swisch's picture

November 04, 2019 at 08:13 am

I knew there was something wrong with the Packers, and that the team was heading for a big disappointment, but I forgot to mention it.

0 points
1
1
edp1959's picture

November 04, 2019 at 10:18 am

At least the rest of the North lost. Everything about this game was ugly. This is the defense we have seen the last six games and unfortunately it is what we have for the remainder of the year. Nothing will change.

0 points
0
0
imnion's picture

November 04, 2019 at 08:16 am

To me it seems like Pettine is not good at making "in game" adjustments. Whatever the game plan is, he's sticking with it Dammit!

Why are our receivers never open? Feels like every pass is a tight window.

It's to the point where if Graham does make a catch, it's like, "Oh, that's nice". You never expect anything out of him. Not a weapon.

Trumane Smith is an upgrade at returning anyway.

The O-line is better than this. I'll chalk it up to one bad game.

1 points
1
0
PeteK's picture

November 04, 2019 at 09:18 am

Claude MVS Rains

1 points
1
0
Houndog's picture

November 04, 2019 at 08:25 am

After that game I'm not sure what to think, Crosby is the only one you can't bitch about, along with maybe a few guys that suited up but didn't play.
While the defense was again it's normal version of a sieve with a hole in it they did hold LA to field goals more often than not. But hey, where is the team that caused so many turnovers early in the season, and why is it OK to just give opposing receivers an 8-10 yd cushion before any coverage whatsoever, whatever happened to bump-and-run? The last time we've seen a DB jump in front of a receiver for a pick might have been Charles Woodson, and running up the middle is almost a guaranteed first down?
What is really the $hits about all this is that the offense was worse, they didn't even bother to show up, maybe they stayed on the plane and slept with the Special Teams!
If Gutekunst is still sitting in his office thinking he did the right thing at the trade deadline they should usher him into that same closet now occupied by TT.
Hell, bring back Mohammed Wilkerson, maybe by now he weighs 450lbs and can't run, but opposing running backs might be slowed enough by running around him that the rest of the defense (playing 10 yds deep) can get there to stop them for only an 8 yd gain.
Gilbert Brown and B. J. Raji must be pissing in their pants watching this.

1 points
1
0
Since'61's picture

November 04, 2019 at 08:24 am

Game Ball: Jamaal Williams with some tough running on the Packers late TD drive. I don't think that we had any injuries.

Lame Calls: OL and DL lost the LOS badly for much of the game. The defense was good in the Red Zone but after they gave up long time consuming drives which were mostly the result of losing the LOS followed by poor tackling. The Smiths made a few plays but the rest of the defense was just awful. Did Pettine make any adjustments???
Offense, too many penalties and poor blocking for the run and the pass.
Special Teams: Blocked punt and stupid penalties.

Team needs their bye week and it showed yesterday.

I guess yesterday's loss means that we won't see any articles for MLF as Coach of the Year this week.

Thanks, Since '61

1 points
2
1
jannes bjornson's picture

November 04, 2019 at 05:16 pm

You cannot be called a defense when you have the opponent at the 7 and 6 yard line as their starting position.
Those conditions require three and outs. It would have given the Offense solid field position instead of the psychological shit storm of watching your defense plowed over for the length of the field.

2 points
2
0
flackcatcher's picture

November 04, 2019 at 06:55 pm

This was a tired and distracted team on the field yesterday. While the defense played poorly, they did hold the Chargers to 3 FG, so the game was in reach at the beginning of the second half. And then the Packers fell completely apart. I don't know what happened, but this game fail is all on MLF. Period. Special Teams play is dangerous to this team, who has a very narrow window of victory in each and every game they play this season. If MLF had any guts, he fire the ST coach now, and send the message that incompetence will not be tolerated in this organization. But hey, at least Tony Brown got on the field this week./////////////////////////////////..... :-(

0 points
0
0
pacman's picture

November 04, 2019 at 09:10 am

This is why many of us were not 'just happy' and enjoying the 7-1 record. The team won but was rarely dominant against a good team on O or D. Shutting down the Bears in game one does not define you as a good defense.

We saw the D getting soft and falling into Capers old bend but don't break mentality. How is it that our opponents run crossing routes and get wide open but we never seem to? You have to be able to play man. When Matt Moore tears up your D, you better start bringing pressure. Can't blame this loss on D, but I'm not happy with bend but don't break.
We saw Zook reincarnated in the special teams coach and was an error waiting to happen.
And we saw an aging, slow TE costing the team big $ and and yesterday we saw AR fall into his old habit of chucking it deep on 3rd and long. At least he didn't underthrow MVS again. He overthrew everyone. And they weren't open anyway.

I'm really curious what the half time speech sounded like.

And I'm not happy that with MLF's or AR's press conference after. There should have been a lot of anger and emotion, not just 'we got served some humble pie' talk and we have to be better.

So don't burn the tape. They should force everyone to watch the entire replay before every game. There should be a battle cry of - "no more Charger games"

Ok, I feel better.

4 points
4
0
Swisch's picture

November 04, 2019 at 10:42 am

I don't know how many seasons I've been wondering how other teams get their wide receivers running wild and free and wondrously wide open, while we can't do the same.
It perplexes me; it exasperates me; it maddens me.
For one thing, I'm not sure if the Packers really do much in the way of receivers crossing the field in different directions, which -- without illegal picks -- seems to naturally cause congestion and confusion to regularly get guys open.
I wonder if our receivers would be much better if our schemes were much better.

1 points
1
0
PeteK's picture

November 04, 2019 at 09:32 am

Coaches make their reputations on how they recover from losses. This team is too good to not rebound in a big way next week.

3 points
3
0
haymaker's picture

November 04, 2019 at 09:54 am

Mason Crosby at least deserves a game ball for nailing a 54 yarder I feel

2 points
2
0
navydisposaleer's picture

November 04, 2019 at 09:55 am

The loss Sunday started in Green Bay!?! How so. The Packers packed up for California to be there Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday. It was a short VACATION. Obviously, the team spent their time sitting around in the sun. Obviously, again, their failure to play a coordinated game; lack of direction, timeing was way off, tackling, a missing element, showed up big, offensive line MIA!

3 points
3
0
ILPackerBacker's picture

November 04, 2019 at 12:00 pm

I really think this is what Rodgers was repeatedly referring to post game. Bad decisions and lack of focus in the 48 hours before game

1 points
1
0
dobber's picture

November 04, 2019 at 10:33 am

"Shawn Menenga either doesn't have the right guys to be productive or he's failing in getting them ready.

This isn't the first week this area has been a problem. "

And the award for understatement of the decade in a sports blog goes to...<<tears open envelope>>...JASON PERONE!!!

2 points
2
0
Qoojo's picture

November 04, 2019 at 11:45 am

To summarize this game, it was "a team fighting for its survival" vs. "a road team that showed up for a paycheck". The OL really screwed over the entire offense with dumb penalties or turnstile blocking. Then you have to look at the coaching, as it was plain to see that the OL was not up to the job, so it required an adjustment.

Then there's the sad excuse for a defense. All talk and nothing to back it up. They looked so much like a Capers' defense with all the yardage given up. Those "all out blitzes" plays don't fool me, so I doubt it's fooling any nfl coordinators. Tendency shows that at most 1 guy might blitz, and it appears pretty easy to pick up which guys are rushing.

The defensive trend this year is to give up easy run yardage on 1st down which gives an offense favorable down and distance to do anything. Then eventually give up a big play. This defense seems predicated on luck.

One huge final lame call, Chargers gained more yards on the ground yesterday than their previous 4 games combined. Hey Pettine, you have to stop the run once in a while too.

1 points
1
0
LayingTheLawe's picture

November 04, 2019 at 11:51 am

Maybe one game ball to the kicker making his log chance.

A road game to forget about - this happens in the NFL sometimes. I have started to trust the offense enough to just say it was a bad game and just how it all went. They would make a good first down run then get a penalty and make it 2nd and long again anyway.

The defense is a bit more scary that they cant seem to cover anyone anywhere on the field anymore. I guess we have to just be happy they made the Chargers kick field goals to give the O a chance if they had played at all.

0 points
0
0
ricky's picture

November 04, 2019 at 11:57 am

I still remember the quote from "Semi Tough", where the head coach is addressing his team at halftime of the championship game: "You guys played like flops from tall cow's *butt*" (edited for content). That about sums it up.

0 points
0
0
Pauly's picture

November 04, 2019 at 12:03 pm

Lets move Fackrell to ILB next to Martinez. Fackrell is a big body run stuffer and experienced in coverage, plus fast enough to cover most TEs.
Certainly can't be any worse than what's happening in the middle of the field now!!

2 points
2
0
PatrickGB's picture

November 04, 2019 at 12:15 pm

Pauly, At first I laughed at your comment, but the more I think about it I can see why you wrote it. He looked active in coverage. I did see him move well against TEs. But I think that a real coverage MLB is needed. I thought that Burks was supposed to be that guy. Perhaps the loss of Greene and Campbell is hurting this defense more than expected.

0 points
0
0
PeteK's picture

November 04, 2019 at 04:20 pm

It worked with Matthews. He's a good tackler with some burst.

0 points
0
0
mnbadger's picture

November 04, 2019 at 12:53 pm

Get the ball out quickly, as seemingly every other team does to us. Snap the ball with 15 seconds on the clock, so their defense tires. Don't try to outsmart everyone, just out play them: aka Vince Lombardi. One last thing, cut jimmy graham.

0 points
0
0
wildbill's picture

November 04, 2019 at 01:12 pm

It stunk really bad. I remember the Lions in 1962 tear the crap out of what is possibly the best Packer team ever. That stunk even worse but it’s only one game and there is plenty of football left to make amends. Sunday is the start of a new winning streak! Go Pack Go!

1 points
1
0
Barazinho's picture

November 04, 2019 at 04:03 pm

Nagler pointed out that the defense commonly has 2 linemen, with the Smiths, which makes them very easy to run on. I saw it commonly too. That sets the D up for failure - give up a decent gain on first down, and then you have to defend the run and pass. It's a pattern - if the D doesn't get favorable down and distance, they're just not good.
Others noted the "fake blitz" thing, that doesn't seem to fool anyone either.
At this point, the D seems like it's: 1) turnover or bust; 2) hold them in the red zone. If the O is clicking, it works, but if not, they're going to give up yards and points.

0 points
0
0
jannes bjornson's picture

November 04, 2019 at 05:25 pm

The question was draft Wilkens or Gary?

0 points
0
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Fubared's picture

November 04, 2019 at 06:06 pm

My take is different in that I don't think our d backs are that talented, or Petines scheme ain't working. Second the o line is a mess and may be due to injuries were not hearing about. Last I don't get getting away from the short passing game that worked well and going right back to the McCarthy playbook, everyone go deep, Rodgers drops back to find the open guy. My take those are the plays Rodgers wants to run for some reason.

0 points
0
0