Peter from Orland Park, IL

Hello Insiders, you responded to another fan about taking what the opponent gives you, “Dink and dunk is not a style they want to play, clearly, and they aren’t good at it. I can only surmise they’re not good at it because they don’t practice it enough.” If a team is letting you get 5 yards a pass, you move the chains every third play. You build a rhythm, get players involved and excited to play. The defense will eventually put additional players in the box, then you attack downfield. Thoughts?

It’s beyond a question of style now, because the Packers have shown they can move the ball any which way. The issue is mistakes. For the second game in a row, LaFleur said afterward the opponent was simply waiting for the Packers to screw up, and it worked. Whatever style, if you can’t avoid penalties and negative plays, you won’t score enough. The Packers have crossed midfield a dozen times in the last two games and have 20 points to show for it. That’s a head-exploding stat. They have to cash in or opponents won’t see any reason to adjust.

The talk yesterday reminded me of my own favorite Vic-ism, originally by Chuck Noll: Leaving the game plan is a sign of panic, and panic is not in our game plan. The run plays are doing enough. The receivers are getting open, and Love usually finds them. The O-line will gel or it won’t. The receivers will start catching the ball or they won’t. Sometimes you have to change the way you prepare, but this team, in my very professional opinion, just needs to play better. Plain and simple.

If only it were so simple. But I wholeheartedly agree.

I don’t want to be too critical because he was under a ton of pressure, but the first half was the first time I remember thinking Love was panicked. There were a lot of happy feet and looking for escape routes early. I think he needs to watch a bunch of old Tom Brady games. Jordan never seems to know where he can go with the ball for a throwaway to avoid a sack. Also maybe the coach needs to help him in a game like that with some rollouts.

I commented in the live blog at the time I thought the 11-yard sack on the opening drive that knocked the offense out of FG range, followed by the botched exchange with Josh Jacobs on the first play of the next drive, threw Love off his game for a bit. In the fourth quarter, I saw a much more confident QB make some high-quality throws in tough spots, not all of which were caught.

Steve from Stillman Valley, IL

I’m concerned with JL’s play. A franchise QB needs to show confident leadership when things are going badly. He also needs to see the whole field and find the open receivers. TV viewers were shown four different plays where he didn’t even see the open receivers. If he’s going thru his progressions shouldn’t he pick some of these up?

I’m reading a ton of these comments, so I checked the film and here’s what I saw. On the early third down when Romeo Doubs was open on a corner route, the pass protection didn’t hold up long enough for that throw to be made. When Love tried to look quickly for another option backside, he lost his chance to get away and took the 11-yard sack. On another early third down when he hit Luke Musgrave two yards short of the sticks, he didn’t wait long enough for Christian Watson‘s in cut over the middle, and the pass pro did hold up. He rushed himself on that one. Later, on a 5-yard scramble up the middle on second-and-long, Doubs was free out in front of him but he didn’t throw it. Not sure if he didn’t see him or felt he couldn’t set his feet right to be accurate. On the deep ball to Watson late, Dontayvion Wicks was coming free over the middle but Love was avoiding a sack back there and stuck with what I assume was the primary read amidst the chaos. Did he miss some chances? Sure, but they weren’t all on him, and offensive breakdowns on other plays were more instrumental in the results. It’s a team game.

I think if JJ turns the other way on that late-game screen he runs to Kaukauna … and back.

It was a checkdown not a screen, but yeah. The smallest happenstance can change any game when the margins are so thin.

Scott from East Helena, MT

Every comment section of every social media post regarding the Packers has a lot about Brandon McManus still kicking. No mention of it in II. The fans deserve an explanation of why Lucas Havrisik didn’t win the job.

I addressed this in my mid-week chat: Nobody on the outside knows what’s gone on in practice. If Havrisik were kicking better than McManus in practice, I believe they’d have waited longer for McManus to get healthy. I don’t know how else to view it.

I saw a good amount of film on X Tuesday, and my takeaway is not that the playcalling is predictable or stale. I saw WRs/TEs open and running lanes for the ball carrier. The takeaway is that the execution just isn’t there and everyone on offense has had a hand it in at one point or the other. Case in point, on that fourth-and-1 play the Iggles knew was coming, if RB1 runs where it’s designed to go, he likely gets the first down. The left side of the OL collapsed that DL. Just Do Your Job.

Right, but RB1 also had a blocker in his lap when he got the handoff, so he couldn’t get where it was designed to go, rendering multiple good blocks useless. All it takes is one.