There was naturally a lot made in the media about Aaron Rodgers facing the Green Bay Packers for the first time this past week. And, for Rodgers’ part, he generally downplayed it, as did Jordan Love. Rodgers mentioned that there was no “revenge” element to the game at all for him. Love mentioned it would be great to get the victory, but emphasized that there were only positive feelings between him and his former mentor.

And yet it did feel like there was some significance to the way the game played out on Sunday night.

The Packers got off to a characteristic slow start. Penalties and self-inflicted errors (drops, missed field goals, other miscues) prevented the team from scoring more than 7 points in the first half while Rodgers and the Steelers moved down the field relatively freely–at least until they hit long field goal territory. 

But all throughout the evening, Love continued to heat up. None of the struggles of the first half were remotely his fault, and once the team around him began to put it together, he put on an absolute show in the second half. At one point, Love had completed a franchise record-tying 20 consecutive passes. Of his few incomplete passes on the evening, almost all of them were either drops or throwaways. He hit a wide variety of receivers from all different platforms. There was no throw Love couldn’t make. 

It felt like a big deal that Love put on such a dominant display in front of Rodgers. While it was not Love’s finest game (that honor has to be his coming out party in the playoffs in Dallas), it was certainly among them, and it came on the road against a good team with plenty on the line. Fair or not, the microscope was going to be on Love in this contest, considering Rodgers was on the other sideline, and he showed a primetime football audience exactly why he’s one of the game’s most underrated players on the national scale at the moment. 

Broadcasts have made a point to show just how similar Love’s stats are as a starter to Rodgers’ first 40 starts, and it is certainly fascinating to note. But there’s also an air of 2009-2010 Rodgers around Love at the moment, where Packer fans are starting to realize that he’s a special player, but the rest of the football world hasn’t quite caught on yet. 

But if they haven’t yet, they will soon. Love has been consistently very good to excellent this entire season so far. Currently for this season he’s on a record pace for completion percentage (70.9, previous best was 66.7), yards (256.9 per game, previous record was 244.6), yards per attempt (8.4, previous best was 8.0) and rating (112.8, previous full season best was 96.7). He’s near a PR pace for touchdowns (on pace for 31, best is 32) and has only thrown two interceptions (11 each of the past two years). 

Love has shown he’s capable of this for stretches in the past, but now he’s proving week in and week out that he’s exactly who the Packers were hoping he could be. And he’s been doing all of this without his full complement of receivers.

And what’s more: he’s still getting better and better.

So this week was something of a torch passing. Yes, Love has already been carrying the baton for the last several years, but for him to have this kind of game in front of Rodgers felt truly symbolic of the arrival of a new era. Rodgers’ career is just about at its close, but the future with Love has never looked brighter. 

It’s time for another long, fun ride to begin.

Wisconsin Beer of the Week

Explorium Brewpub here in MIlwaukee has been seeing some expansion lately. What started as a location in a dying mall in Greendale (which still exists, by the way) turned into another location in the third ward in Milwaukee, and now has led to Explorium purchasing Good City Brewing earlier this year. Good City had seen some momentum with its east side location and its stint in the Deer District, but with the shakeup in the local craft beer scene that’s been happening for the last year or so, it seemed natural that there would start to be some condensing.

This particular beer is Explorium’s Milwaukee County Stout. Generally I’ve had more of Explorium’s lighter offerings, so when this can was gifted to me, I was surprised to learn it was brewed by that same mall brewery I’d occasionally stopped at. And I have to say, its quality was a pleasant surprise. 

Weighing in at a hefty 12 percent ABV with 65 IBUs (putting this on the slightly more bitter side for a stout), this was a beer brewed for a black friday 2024 release. I’d expect, then, that we’ll see it (or something similar) again this year.

Explorium writes that those tasting should “expect a full body with complex wood, vanilla, and molasses notes drawn from the barrel.” The beer also contains lactose.

The Explorium folks are locals themselves, so it’s always good to be able to support. Check out their stuff if you’re looking for a new brewery in the Milwaukee area to try!

Pass rush will have to continue doing the heavy lifting

It continues to be clear just how crucial it is for the Packers’ front seven to carry the team on defense, because the secondary (or, more specifically, the cornerbacks) are not up to the task.

I’ll give Carrington Valentine some credit; he got the start on Sunday night and was a clear improvement over whatever it was Nate Hobbs was putting out there. But in general, the cornerbacks are easily the weakest link on the team, and it has shown regularly when the pass rush isn’t able to consistently get home.

Now, to the credit of that front seven, the team did a pretty solid job of rushing the passer on Sunday evening. The Packers sacked Aaron Rodgers three times and had some success in generating pressure in the second half when bringing additional rushers. Micah Parsons’ sack on the evening featured him getting the better of three different blockers. Rashan Gary continues what has been the best season of his career when it comes to the pace with which he’s racking up sacks (almost certainly due to the presence of Parsons on the other side). Even players like Kingsley Enagbare are getting good looks in the rotation.

The rest of the front seven has continued to generally play well. Edgerrin Cooper was all over the field on Sunday night, making plays that included a critical forced fumble. Quay Walker has matured into a strong player with outstanding lateral speed and solid instincts, but perhaps most impressive was the growth he showed in refusing to react to the dirty poke to the eye he took from D.K. Metcalf. Past versions of Walker would have retaliated immediately or escalated the situation (remember, he was ejected from two games his rookie year), but this version of Walker was completely collected and calm, and drew a 15-yard penalty.

Finally, having Devonte Wyatt back, though perhaps not at full strength, has clearly made a difference. His presence in the middle gives opposing offensive lines yet another force they need to be worried about.

But when those guys aren’t making their magic happen… it’s a struggle. Keisean Nixon has had a couple very solid games this year, but also some moments where he’s been completely exposed in coverage. Nixon, for all the benefits he brings to a football team in his toughness and attitude, is not a top-flight cornerback, and cannot be expected to put the clamps on teams’ top receivers with consistency. Valentine needs more time in the lineup to assess where he’s at now in the third year of his career, but as mentioned previously, he at least seems to be an upgrade over Hobbs.

It’s clear that the Packers are going to need to go hard on corner in the offseason, but until then, it’s unlikely any help is coming. This means the pressure is really going to be on that front seven to keep their level of play consistently high. They’re certainly capable, but they cannot afford to disappear in big games. 

Tucker Kraft is the best Packers tight end of my lifetime

In fact, I’m not sure there’s really anyone I’d put on a level close to that.

It’s famously been a long time since the Packers have had a truly high-quality player at the tight end position, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one with Kraft’s difference making ability. Obviously, Kraft’s abilities as a pass catcher are going to make the headlines, and especially his ability after the catch. But he’s also a great in-line player, capable of being a difference maker in the run game. 

When you think about Packers tight ends who have played during my period of football consciousness (just over 30 years, as I’m 37), there aren’t a lot of guys who would even be in the conversation. 

In the 90s, you had a couple years of Keith Jackson, who came to the Packers well into his career and was primarily a receiving threat. You also had Mark Chmura, who was a reliable receiving target and blocker, but probably didn’t do either as well as Kraft does.

In the 2000s there was Bubba Franks, who was a great redzone threat but was never the kind of guy who would stretch the field, and despite his size was not a guy who was necessarily the greatest run blocker. 

After that there was Jermichael Finley, who had a ton of unrealized potential. Finley’s talent was immense, but it was pretty much solely limited to receiving; he tended to play more like a slot receiver than a tight end, and was not a three-down player like Kraft.

There was a single year of Jared Cook, and Cook was solid, but certainly not what one might consider a dynamic threat. Maybe in comparison to predecessors like Richard Rodgers and Andrew Quarless, I guess.

No, it’s pretty clear that Kraft is the best the team has produced in the last several decades. Old heads can point back to Ron Kramer as possibly the best point of comparison, but when you start looking back that far, it’s nearly impossible to compare players across eras.

Kraft is going to be a very rich man very soon, and hopefully the Packers are able to be the ones to afford him.

Around the NFC North

As always, it’s time to go around the NFC North. 

• The CHICAGO BEARS finally saw their four-game winning streak snap at the hands of a desperate Baltimore Ravens team, and they looked pretty bad in defeat. Caleb Williams was particularly uninspiring, and while he’s had some promising moments, he’s still looking far too overwhelmed for a guy who was supposed to be a generational #1 pick. Still, the Bears have very obviously improved from a season ago, and at the moment, they don’t seem to be a *bad* football team any more. But they definitely have a lot of improving to do before they can hope to push for a playoff spot.

• The DETROIT LIONS are coming out of a bye at 5-2 and have an important divisional clash against the Vikings awaiting them. The team seems to have recovered from its rough start to the season, but that week one Packers loss combined with the Packers’ tie could both be factors that come back to haunt this team. The Lions need to start picking up some steam now, because the Packers also seem to be improving after some stumbles, and Detroit certainly hopes to be able to at least draw even by Thanksgiving when these two teams have a pretty significant clash.

• The MINNESOTA VIKINGS have a problem at quarterback. Carson Wentz is broken and bad, and nobody knows exactly how seriously JJ McCarthy is injured. When McCarthy first went down, Adam Schefter reported it would be a two to four week injury. Now it’s been five weeks, and Schefter is saying that the plan was “always” for it to be six, which just feels fishy. There has been a lot of speculation floating around about the extent of McCarthy’s injury and whether he was simply just benched, but with how the team has performed with Wentz under center, they’re going to have to make a move back sooner or later. The question just becomes whether McCarthy is actually any better. 

Mr. Backes’s “This or That”

Every day I put a different “this or that” poll up on my whiteboard and have students leave tallies throughout the day. I then compile this information and post it here for laughs.

Here’s what we’ve seen over the last week:

• Volleyball defeated basketball
• Wordle defeated connections
• Big city defeated small town
• Sour patch defeated Skittles

Week 9 NFL Picks

The Panthers are an improved team over the last couple years, no doubt about it. However, the Packers are back at home, and hopefully starting to find themselves in a rhythm. A noon on a Sunday; boy, that’s going to be refreshing. To me, there’s no reason to expect the Packers to not win this one.

Packers 30, Panther 13

The whole slate:

RAVENS over Dolphins

49ERS over Giants

CHARGERS over Titans

LIONS over Vikings

PATRIOTS over Falcons
COLTS over Steelers

BRONCOS over Texans

BENGALS over Bears

PACKERS over Panthers

RAMS over Saints

RAIDERS over Jaguars

BILLS over Chiefs

COMMANDERS over Seahawks

COWBOYS over Cardinals