Green Bay Packers: 3 Takeaways vs Philadelphia Eagles

Here are three big takeaways following the Green Bay Packers first loss of the season at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Green Bay Packers hosted the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night, their second Thursday game of the season, but first one on short rest. Unfortunately, it looked like a game that was played on short rest-at least by the Packers. They struggled to stop the run and were lacking energy on defense throughout the game.

Green Bay also lost several players to injuries at various points. Jamaal Williams suffered a head/neck injury on the Packers’ first offensive play. Davante Adams, Bryan Bulaga and Kevin King all exited as well and all were unable to finish the game. Overall, it wasn’t a good result for a league who supposedly preaches player safety, yet continues to value the bottom line and Thursday Night Football over rest.

Regardless, the Packers will now have 10 days to prepare ahead for their game against the Dallas Cowboys. Before we look ahead, here are three takeaways from the Eagles’ game.

The Packers struggle in the run game on both sides of the ball.

Despite early season success on defense, Green Bay has already shown a propensity for failing to stop the run. That continued on Thursday, as they were gashed on almost every attempt. The Eagles racked up 176 rushing yards on 33 attempts. There were constantly huge holes for the running backs and Green Bay struggled to tackle even when they got their hands on Miles Sanders or Jordan Howard.

Conversely, the Packers run game was equally as poor. Aaron Jones couldn’t get anything going and was often tackled behind the line. They finished with 20 “carries” for 77 yards. However, Aaron Rodgers accounts for 46 of those yards. Jones, himself, ran 13 times for 21 yards. Yuck.

The pass interference replay system is broken.

To be clear, the Packers lost this game because of their poor defensive play and their inability to score within the five-yard line (they had two possessions inside the five and failed to score each time). However, everyone walked way being even more confused about the pass interference system, especially when it comes to replay.

In the third quarter, Aaron Rodgers tossed a ball down the sideline for Marquez Valdes-Scantling on third down. The cornerback clearly made contact with Valdes-Scantling including a hand on the chin. It wasn’t called on the field and it wasn’t overturned when Matt LaFleur challenged it either. On the Packers final play from scrimmage, the defender clearly got to the receiver early and had him wrapped up before the ball got there. The Pass ended up being tipped and picked off by the Eagles in the endzone to secure the game. The booth didn’t initiate a replay and that was the game. Both plays were incredibly confusing and the NFL has some explaining to do.

Aaron Rodgers still has it.

As dominant as the defense was through the first three games, they needed Aaron Rodgers to step up this week. And he almost did it. Rodgers proved to the world he can still be an elite quarterback, as he threw for 422 yards and two touchdowns. He could’ve added a couple more touchdowns to his night if they could’ve converted inside the five.

Despite the loss, Rodgers proved his demise may have been overstated. The fact that he flashed his greatness makes Packers’ fans everywhere feel better about the potential of this team. Now, the two units need to put everything together at the same time.