Packers close out regular season with loss, but David Bakhtiari makes official return
The Packers pulled Aaron Rodgers and other key starters in the first half of their meaningless Week 18 matchup with the Lions, but David Bakhtiari finally returned from his ACL tear.
Good morning!
The Green Bay Packers closed out the regular season with a 37-30 loss to the Detroit Lions. The game, which saw Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, and other key offensive starters play only in the first half, had no impact on the Packers' playoff seeding. The team will next take the field in the divisional round two weekends from now.
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The biggest positive and negative coming out of Sunday's game are …
Jason B. Hirschhorn: On the positive end, David Bakhtiari made his first game appearance since tearing his ACL on New Year's Eve 2020. On first viewing, Bakhtiari held up well in both pass protection and in the run game, seemingly moving around without issue throughout return. The Packers pulled Bakhtiari after 27 snaps, a point which came in the middle of a drive, but he didn't appear to have any setback and seemed fine on the sideline.
Meanwhile, rookie Josh Myers returned from his knee injury to start at his customary center position. This development has larger ramifications than just Myers' availability, as the Packers shifted Lucas Patrick over to right guard. If Myers demonstrated enough to the coaching staff to reclaim his starting job, Patrick might stay at guard for the postseason, allowing inconsistent rookie Royce Newman to serve as a backup. That version of the offensive interior probably represents Green Bay's best option, especially with matchups with the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys potentially looming.
As for the negatives, Marquez Valdes-Scantling left the game during the first half with a back injury and did not return. Given the lack of playoff stakes, the Packers might have held back the wideout as a precaution, and the upcoming bye provides additional time for recovery. Still, for the premier vertical threat on Green Bay's roster, any health issue creates concern.
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Peter Bukowski: Getting Bakhtiari and Myers back stand alone, but for the sake of the newsletter, let’s go with the Packers’ first drive. They’ve struggled mightily in first quarters this season, checking in as a bottom-5 offense in the first before transfiguring into the best second-quarter offense in football.
They opened the game with a convincing seven-minute, 13-play, 74-yard touchdown drive. They didn’t have to resort to any gimmicks or tricks, nothing a playoff opponent could key, but got the start they no doubt stressed during the week.
The biggest negative for me was the trick plays, not because a playoff opponent will run a cadre of specials and fake a punt, but because the discipline on this team waxes and wanes under normal circumstances and a team noticed it enough to think to call multiple plays that take advantage.
If the Lions noticed, playoff teams will too. Backside contain is something the Packers will have to stress over the bye. It’s been a problem all season and appeared to be fixed last week by flipping Rashan Gary and Preston Smith. Getting De’Vondre Campbell back will help, but this is still an issue for Green Bay.
Assess Jordan Love's performance during the second half
JBH: Compared to Jordan Love's start against the Kansas City Chiefs, he looked far more in control and capable of moving the ball. Granted, the degree of difficulty offered by the Lions marks a significant step down from his last extended work. But, at least until the final sequence, Love kept the offense on track, making decisive reads and executing most of them well.
Love's best moment didn't go down in the stat sheet. Rolling out to his right, Love lofted a deep pass into the hands of tight end Tyler Davis to the right side of the end zone. Davis let the ball slip through his fingers, forcing the Packers to roll off six more plays to score, including a fourth-and-2 Love converted to Juwann Winfree. That drive represents Love's best to date.
Of course, the final two minutes went quite differently. The Lions intercepted a Love pass deflected at the line of scrimmage and then again, inexplicably, off wideout Amari Rodgers' hands. The fault for that turnover falls mostly on Rodgers, but Love's next pick occurred when the quarterback threw high and behind his target over the middle. A missed block from Newman didn't help, but Love has to either get the ball out sooner or eat the sack and live for another down.
All considered, Love provided more positives than negatives despite what the final stat line reads. Whether that convinces a QB-needy team to make inquiries this offseason — if Rodgers indeed returns to Green Bay next season — remains entirely unclear, however.
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PB: Love showed growth from the Chiefs game in recognizing and finding antidotes to blitzes, which will be key to his development.
As Jason noted, he also showed off some of his improvisational talent with the dropped touchdown pass.
Another important note: the plan for Love resembled what we thought we might see against the Chiefs but didn’t. There are far more under-center runs, hard play-action, jet motion, and moving the launch point. Rather than live in empty and let the Lions blitz Love, they let the offense do the work, ran the ball, and gave him a lot of simple looks.
For a young quarterback, that’s what he needs. As I explained in a Twitter thread, the miss to Equanimeous St. Brown that may have won the game was similar to a miss in the Chiefs game where the Packers had a would-be touchdown but blew the protection. Both the EQ play and the later interception came off blown assignments upfront. Give the young quarterback a chance to make a play.
What we're seeing/hearing
JBH: The Leap has documented Nathaniel Hackett's candidacy for the Jacksonville Jaguars' head-coaching vacancy since September, three months before the position opened. Nothing has changed on that front — Hackett remains an intriguing option for those making the decision in Jacksonville — but the up-and-coming coach should have other options as well.
Hackett comes into this hiring cycle with several advantages. Roughly a year ago, he interviewed for the Atlanta Falcons job, giving him some valuable experience he can apply to his meetings this time around. The Packers also sealed the NFC's No. 1 playoff seed with a week left in the regular season, a feather in the cap of the entire coaching staff. Aaron Rodgers' public praise of Hackett certainly doesn't hurt either.
Perhaps just as importantly, the current candidate pool doesn't have the usual number of hot-shot offensive coordinators, with Byron Leftwich and Kellen Moore receiving the most attention while the fervor for names like Eric Bienemy and Josh McDaniels have cooled. Those perceptions can and likely will change as the process unfolds, but the lack of a clear front-runner à la Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay in 2017 leaves the door open for a less-heralded coach like Hackett.
As of the moment, only the Jaguars have put in a formal request to interview Hackett. Expect the number of interested teams to balloon within the next 48 hours.
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PB: While Love was playing in the second half for the Packers, I texted a league source that the Pittsburgh Steelers should trade for Love rather than pray for Rodgers, who this source also believed would stay in Green Bay. The response from the source? “I was just thinking that.”
If Rodgers does return in 2022, there will be plenty of teams who lack a young quarterback around which to build. Could the Raiders hire Hackett and bring Love with him? Would Pittsburgh be the right spot or maybe their AFC North counterpart Browns?
It’s difficult to gauge Love’s market value and I continue to believe that, if Rodgers does return, it will be for ‘22 only and then he will retire which would leave the Packers with time to play Love. That said, Love has at least some experience in a system half the league runs, is a former first-round pick, and learned at the feet of Rodgers for two seasons. It’s not hard to imagine teams having interest.
Parting shots
JBH: Perhaps Amari Rodgers will grow into a key contributor in the passing game and on special teams. After all, he possesses a running back's build, a wide receiver's background, and the Packers used a Day 2 draft pick to secure him.
But, as this season has demonstrated, Rodgers currently looks like a liability any time he steps on the field. In addition to redirecting a pass from Love into the arms of a Detroit defender, Rodgers inexcusably ran a kickoff out of the end zone to start the Packers' final possession, costing the offense both yards and valuable time, as Green Bay had less than a minute and only one timeout left.
Sunday's game meant nothing to the Packers in terms of seeding, so giving Rodgers playing time ultimately didn't do any harm. However, when the team next takes the field, it would come as little surprise if the rookie wideout lands in the inactive list in favor of David Moore or someone else capable of delivering in his roles on offense and special teams.
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PB: Josiah Deguara just had the best game of his NFL career and not just because he had the best catch-and-run by a Packers tight end since Jermichael Finley (and the longest since 2012). Deguara’s blocking in-line, downhill, and on the edge has improved considerably since he entered the league and we are starting to get glimpses of why Matt LaFleur has been so high on him since they drafted him in the third down.
Remember, they took a lot of heat for “taking a fullback,” a position Deguara has never really played.
Still, he opened up a handful of runs with lead blocks against the Lions and has shown he can pick up yards after the catch on swing routes, screens and those boot plays the Packers love to run. Running tight-end screens with Marcedes Lewis elicit “Big Dog” cheers, but they’re not exactly dynamic plays. If they pick up 12 yards, it’s because Lewis dump-trucked a linebacker.
With Davante Adams WR1 in the NFL, Allen Lazard emerging as a more-than-capable No. 2, Randall Cobb expected back for the playoffs in the slot, adding Deguara to that mix suddenly adds another middle-of-the-field weapon. Rodgers appears to be gaining trust in him as well, even with the dropped would-be touchdown last week.