Packers vs. Chiefs: Quick Takes from the Preseason Finale
The Green Bay Packers closed their 2013 preseason schedule with a 30-8 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs Thursday night in Kansas City.
By Zach Kruse
The Kansas City Chiefs used three Tyler Bray touchdown passes to defeat the Green Bay Packers, 30-8, in Thursday night's preseason finale. The Packers finished the exhibition slate with a record of 1-3, and will travel to San Francisco for the regular season opener Sept. 8.
It was over when…
When Josh Bellamy caught a 43-yard touchdown after Packers cornerback Brandon Smith fell down on a vertical route in the third quarter. The score put the Chiefs up 20-6 with just over six minutes left in the period. But keep in mind, the score of the preseason finale means relatively nothing.
Game Balls
- Mason Crosby: After winning the kicking job this week, Crosby put together a perfect 2-for-2 night in Kansas City. He made kicks of 45 and 48 yards. His first kick was straight and true, a perfect strike. Maybe confidence is starting to build in the Packers kicker.
- Jeremy Ross: While the Packers didn't give him any returning responsibilities until the second half, Ross flashed as a receiver early. He made three catches for 50 yards, including a 26-yard back shoulder completion on third down.
- Jamari Lattimore: The Packers most active defensive player Thursday night, Lattimore was second on the team in tackles (six) and disruptive rushing the passer. He also defensed a third down pass. His roster spot should be locked up.
Key Stats
The Packers quarterbacks finished 16 of 37 passing for 163 yards and one interception. Young and Coleman rotated every other series in the first half; Young took every snap in the second...The running game produced just 61 yards on 24 attempts. Green Bay finished the preseason with a rushing average right at 3.0 yards a carry...Micah Hyde, Nate Palmer and Johnny Jolly had sacks...Mike Neal tallied two quarterback hits in the first half...Tramon Williams intercepted Chase Daniel on the Chiefs first play from scrimmage. Later, Brandon Smith picked off Tyler Bray...Speaking of Smith, the former receiver gave up all three of Bray's touchdown passes...Former Packers linebacker Frank Zombo had two tackles and an interception of B.J. Coleman...Tim Masthay had a nice night, kicking nine times for 295 yards (32.3) and three kicks inside the 20-yard line.
Other Notes
– Rookie running back Johnathan Franklin likely eliminated himself from a role on offense to start the 2013 season. While he ran put together a couple of encouraging runs, his work in pass protection was distressingly poor. On at least three occasions, he failed to stick his block and allowed a free runner at the quarterback. There will be no way the Packers offensive staff can look at this film and feel comfortable having the fourth-round selection pick up a blitz for Aaron Rodgers.
– Micah Hyde didn't get another extended look Thursday night, but his roster spot wasn't dependent on it. He still looked active during his brief stint, especially near the line of scrimmage. His stat line included a tackle for a one-yard gain and a sack. Hyde continues to play like a poor man's Charles Woodson.
– Vince Young is still the most likely candidate to be the Packers backup, but he didn't exactly lock down the role Thursday. Maybe it's hard to fault him while playing behind a poor second- and third-team offensive line. But he did finish the night just 14 of 30 passing for 144 yards, good for a 60.0 passer rating. While he can still make plays with his legs, Young still holds the ball too long (two fumbles) and struggles with accuracy. Who knows what to take from his performance.
--The Packers depth on offense bordered on comical Thursday night.
Zach Kruse is a 25-year-old sports writer who contributes to Cheesehead TV, Bleacher Report and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He also covered prep sports for the Dunn Co. News. You can reach him on Twitter @zachkruse2 or by email at [email protected].
Comments (25)
August 29, 2013 at 10:39 pm
"The Packers depth on offense bordered on comical Thursday night."
Rodney Dangerfield rose from the grave and said.."I get no respect but you guys don't deserve any."
August 29, 2013 at 10:40 pm
Neither of our two back-up QB's pass very well. Let's face it, if ARod gets hurt we're screwed.
The back-up o-line is horrible. Hope the Pack are trying to build the excitement throughout the season because this preseason was unusually boring.
August 29, 2013 at 10:47 pm
First three games will the toughest part of the season. This team will need a little time. Cow will be mooing in full force. Win the division, make the playoffs.
August 29, 2013 at 10:47 pm
Franklin in my eyes showed just a taste of what he is capable of. yes I saw he wasn't perfect in pass blocking. But he is a weapon with the ball in his hands in space. McCarthy will find ways to use him.
August 29, 2013 at 10:52 pm
Players that made the roster tonight for me are: Ross, Lattimore, Banjo.
Player that deserve a roster spot but might not have room, Jordan Miller. He has been impressive. I just don't know how there is room to keep him.
August 29, 2013 at 11:04 pm
Let's hope the poor OL and offensive output in general doesn't spill over into the regular season.
August 29, 2013 at 11:06 pm
There is a huge difference between the backups and starters...
Big difference going from arguably the best QB in the league to what the 60th best? Huge difference going from Jones, Nelson, Cobb to Ross, Walker, White.
Just saying, the preseason games won't show you what your team looks like, it shows you individuals and what they can or can't do.
August 30, 2013 at 01:46 am
The Packers starting offensive line is made up of 3 Forth Rd draft choices and two UDFA. Maybe Lang is a 5th rounder, i dont recall and frankly dont care, he's not worth close to half of what he was extended for. I know Thompson has drafted two in the 1 st round but anyone who thinks this line will keep Rodgers up right in the regular season has their Homer Hat on to tight. They showed exactly where they are against a big physical front against Seattle. The games against the 49ers and Bengals I thought were victorys for the Packers. With EDS at center, Lang and Barclay on the right and a rookie on the left side it will get ugly in a hurry. Lacy will be met in the backfield and Rodgers just may not have the time to throw even in a 3 step drop. This season could get really ugly if that line doesn't improve in the 10 days before San Francisco. Go ahead and bash now, I have think skin. I have to while making up a endless stream of excuses why the Packers get their ass handed to them with every playoff loss and every time they play a big physical team like the Giants, 49ers or the Bengals on this years schedule. That's without mentioning McCarthy has become as predictable as knowing the sun will rise in the morning.
August 30, 2013 at 03:20 am
I don't think the outlook is THAT bleak, but I do think the O-line is terrible, for the same reasons you said. It's a bunch of late round guys strung together. We tend to overvalue packers players because we follow the team so closely and hear someone like Lang get praise a lot, when in reality he's average in the league. Thus we think this 4th round Bahktiari kid who is thrust into the starting left tackle spot could be something special, because he's had a good camp. O-line will not be a strength of this team, I'm almost certain of that. Rodgers probably will get hit a lot, and our running backs won't have room to run a lot of the time.
That being said, the line has NEVER been a strength on this team as long as Rodgers has been here, and the offense has still produced enough to where a lot of teams with good O-lines would be jealous.
Still a playoff team, still most likely division winners. But the o-line is not very good.
August 30, 2013 at 08:23 am
I agree. The O'line this year is not good. The difference this year is all the weakness is at the edges and up the middle. As good as Bak might be, he is a rookie and he will make rookie mistakes. Once the season starts he will be up against the best pass rushers in the NFL giving all they've got every week. From what I've seen so far, EDS has been having a difficult time controlling his man by himself. If he doesn't get help from either Sitton Or Lang, his man beats him. Barclay has been inconsistent.
This leads me to my biggest concern this year: the health of Rodgers. All it takes is one bad hit and his season is over. We obviously have no viable option if that should happen. If we do manage to make the payoffs this year, I'm afraid it will be by luck more than anything else.
August 30, 2013 at 09:15 am
I agree with both you guys but hoe Seattle just tossed our boys out of the way, it could be brutal. This schedule this year is filled with big physical fronts which seem to give them problems. Obviously with Rodgers playing they can't crash the line for the RB but its still reall concerning. If there was ever a season where we need Bulaga and Sherrod it's now. I like Bahatieri (sorry for the spelling) but he's going to have issues with Guys like Aldon Smith, Brian Orakpo, speed rushers. I hope I'm jumping the gun but that O Line coach should have been gone long ago. That and lack of play time with Cobb, Nelson, Jones, and Boykin as a group, well lets hope Rodgers is even more amazing than we thought and made of Kevlar.
August 29, 2013 at 11:23 pm
The backup Oline is really bad, but let's not forget...
1 - we have two 1st rd OTs on IR/PUP, another expected upgrade in Tretter on PUP, and our 6th Olineman (Newhouse) didn't play (or play much) with the 2nd team.
That's 2/5 of our possible 1st/2nd team depth out...requiring 2/5 of our 2nd/3rd team depth to move up, Newhouse makes it 3/5, and then with Tretter we lose our 4th probable 2nd teamer.
So we had 4/5 of our third team line playing as our 2nd team, most of which will likely not make the team, and possibly none of which would make it if we didn't have three 1st/2nd teamers injured.
If anyone can actually follow what I just typed, you win a handee from cowtard.
August 29, 2013 at 11:29 pm
Save the cowterd... But I get exactly what your saying. Take 3 of the top 7 OL off SF and see if they aren't suffering a lack of depth?! Been saying it for a month or so already. Now w/ Bulaga out its even more noticeable.
August 30, 2013 at 09:20 am
They weren't world beaters WITH BULAGA, they went from below average to just plain bad. My wife can see that Rodgers covers up the Huge weaknesses this team has. With this line, it may be to much to cover.
August 30, 2013 at 06:28 pm
Too that I say in my sexieat cow voice, "moooo".
August 29, 2013 at 11:44 pm
Gotta keep 8 DL or 5 TEs and trade for an OL. Too many injuries to draft and develop replacements.
August 30, 2013 at 04:30 am
I think we need to look with where guys are at, and not the round they were drafted in. Josh Sitton was a 4th/5th, who cares? He's a top 10 guard in the NFL by anyone's estimation. EDS and Lang are entering their second full seasons as starters. They look average, and with any amount of improvement at all will be average. Barclay is below average. There is no doubt about that, but he is entering his second season in the league and is looking better than last year. A year in the strength and conditioning program alone could produce a step forward for him. Bakhtiari is the wild card in a lot of ways. He needs a year of strength training, but he has the feet and surprisingly good technique.
Is this a stellar line? Absolutely not, but I don't think it's a bottom five line either. There are so many teams out there (Bears, Lions) who don't even have legitimate tackle prospects on their team that I just can't call this a bottom-five line.
It will take a few games for them to jell. The running game will take a few games to jell too. The Packers will face a very rough start to the season. But I'm not writing off the line yet.
August 31, 2013 at 04:21 pm
I'm sorry but my point was this and based on something I read, maybe even here. 90% of teams tackles are taken in the 1st or 2nd round, especially LT. Considering its one of the highest paid positions in the NFL, there must be good reason. Remember, Ted signed Lang to a extension in 2011 I believe. In 2012 he gave up 12 sacks, how many from the tackle position I'm not sure. Either way to have 12 sacks of your QB because of your pass protection speaks volumes. Sitten is the only decent lineman on this team.
Bulaga after this season will have missed the last 27 games at the least. Sherrod has been out since the Packers were 13-0 in 2011. Like I said earlier, it sucks that this has happened to both tackles but there should have been a better plan in place. The fact that you use the Lions and Bear in comparison of any sort is sad, a new low to measure the Packers.
I'm sure McCarthy will devise something, he'll have to or Aldon Smith will take our rookie and make him lunch. They have to try a quicker rhythm passing game, one where Rodgers has more 3 step drops and the ball is gone, a truer form of the west coast system. That and keep a few of those TE you have on the roster to chip on the way out. Just a opinion guys. For the first time since 2008 there's some really large issues on this team, maybe more that Aaron can cover up. Then again when all the odds are against him he tears you a new one so I certainly hope he's in the mood to tear it up.
August 30, 2013 at 04:34 am
Heard same gloom & doom last time team got sized for SB rings.
I'm not even going to say "relaz Francis" this time. Enjoy it.
August 30, 2013 at 08:55 am
6-10 type talent.
August 30, 2013 at 10:01 am
1-15 type comment.
anyone recall how this team has handled a heap of adversity? anyone recall how they handled a 15-1 season?
i'm just hunching, but i think this will be a challenging, but ultimately a rewarding season. go ahead and bail before it even starts. if you're wrong, you'll look like an idiot. if you're right, you'll look like a miserable idiot who made an accurate prediction.
after living in NY for a handful of years, i will avoid becoming fickle at all costs.
August 31, 2013 at 04:48 pm
Who the F are you to call anyone anything? If a fan sees their team in a certain light who are you to call them idiots? See its guys like you that take all the fun out of participating in these. No one here wants the Packer to fail. Trust and believe if I'm wrong, I'll be the first one here to say "Hey guys, was I ever wrong", man am I a idiot. If that happens I'll be one happy idiot to because it probably means the Packers had a successful season. But at the end of the day, I'll call myself the idiot, I don't need someone to point it out, especially with a screen name like yours!!!!! WTF???
August 30, 2013 at 10:13 am
i mean, i get it. cow is filling an archetypal sorta role -- the Chicken Little, the Eeyore, the Marvin the paranoid android. i'm glad you're here making sure we don't all subsist on hope and dreams and positive outlooks - i just imagine, for your sake, that it's an alter-ego, and that you're a zesty, smiling, go-getter in real life, always impressing your family and co-workers with your can-do attitude and endless enthusiasm.
i don't think you deserve some of the verbal beatings you get around here, but sometimes, even the perspective-givers deserve some perspective giving. this is not a 6-10 team.
August 30, 2013 at 12:07 pm
Cow understands that conflict is often entertaining, just like in the movies. Also think he enjoys tweaking certain posters. Plus, it gives him the opportunity to use hyperbole to express legitimate concerns with the team which then often elicits exaggerated responses the other way. Your right Joshy, he fills a role - a necessary evil so to speak.
August 30, 2013 at 06:31 pm
Nice Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Reference.