Green Bay Packers @ Kansas City Chiefs: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
By Paul Bretl
The Green Bay Packers move to 7-1 on the season after a win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from their performance.
Even with the Kansas City Chiefs missing a number of key players, this was a close football game up until the end. And with Andy Reid as the head coach along with a home environment as daunting as Arrowhead, that should have been expected. However, as they’ve done all season long, the Green Bay Packers would persevere and came away with the 31-24 victory to move to an impressive 7-1 on the season.
There were a number of positives from Sunday night’s game but also plenty of negatives and things to work on moving forward. As always, I’ve put together the good, the bad, and the ugly from Green Bay’s performance. So let’s dive in!
The Good
Aaron Jones
With Davante Adams out once again and the receiving core struggling to produce, just as he did in Dallas, Aaron Jones was the workhorse for this Green Bay Packer’s offense. Jones finished the night with 13 carries for 67 yards at 5.2 yards per carry, but he was at his best Sunday night in the passing game. He would catch seven of the eight passes thrown his way for 159 yards and two touchdowns.
In total Jones would have more receiving yards than the rest of the receiving core and tight ends combined. Also, his 226 yards from scrimmage is the second most in Packers’ history, just shy of Ahman Green’s 227 in 2003. It was truly a remarkable performance when Green Bay needed him most.
Aaron Rodgers
Since the Green Bay Packers’ comeback against the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football, Aaron Rodgers has been masterful and that continued in Kansas City. Despite being roughed up constantly by the Chiefs’ defensive front and his receivers struggling to get open, Rodgers would finish 23/33 for 305 yards with three touchdowns.
Rodgers also had six rushes for 29 yards and a few of those runs were him willing this offense to first downs when nothing else seemed to be working. Not to mention that we saw a couple of ridiculous throws, including this one to Jamaal Williams in the back of the endzone:
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The Bad
Special Teams
At this point as a Green Bay Packers fan, I’m not even sure what a decent return looks like. They would try something new with Chandon Sullivan returning the kickoffs but he would total an average of just 16 yards a return. Then on punt returns, Darrius Shepherd still appears to be scarred from his fumble against Detroit and it looks like it is time to give someone else a shot back there. And because he’s been so fantastic all season, we will give J.K. Scott a pass, but this was his worst game of the season as well.
Pass-Blocking
Coming into the game, this Green Bay Packers’ offensive line unit had been one of the best in the NFL all season long and that includes going up against some very good competition most weeks. However, this Chiefs front without Frank Clark and some creative blitz schemes really gave them trouble. In total, Rodgers was sacked five times which ties a season-high and for a while, the pressure looked like it would be too much for Green Bay to overcome.
The Ugly
The Defense
With no Patrick Mahomes as well as Kansas City missing both their left tackle and left guard, prior to the game one would have thought that the Green Bay defense would have had a massive advantage. But as the game unfolded, that wasn’t the case at all.
It was evident that the Packers’ were terrified of Kansas City’s speed – and rightfully so – as they played incredibly conservative in coverage. Green Bay rarely blitzed and they played soft zone, doing everything in their power to not give up the big play. But with so much space and some horrendous tackling, instead, they gave up a ton of yards after the catch, both underneath and on the outside.
With just a four man rush, Matt Moore had plenty of time to find an open receiver and he was able to pick the defense apart. Although Kansas City finished with 337 total yards of offense, which is somehow less than what Green Bay gives up on a per game average, it felt like the Chiefs had over a million.
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However, as they’ve been able to do for much of the season, the defense forced a key turnover in the second-half that shifted the entire momentum of the football game. It certainly wasn’t pretty but the bend but don’t break mentality of this defense did just enough to help secure the win.