Excellent analysis! An ugly game overall but a game with a few sparkles. The run game in particular looks legit and may be a big, big part of the Packers offense going forward, especially the next few weeks. The biggest concern I had about the defense was their lack of pass rush without blitzing. The contrast was very sharp while watching Jalen Hurts have all the time in the world versus Jordan Love having pressure from virtually everywhere along the line. Maybe against lesser O-lines things will improve but if not look for more exotic and consistent rush strategies from Halfley. The 'dagger' was the excruciatingly familiar final drive from the Eagles. Just can't happen like that anymore. Halfley must 'do something' in this situation. Instead he played it exactly like the man he replaced, safely. The result was the same, can't get off the field and lose the game without your best player having a chance to respond. Change personnel, blitz, distract...something.

Great article Mark albeit too short. Needed more ground to be covered.

In future years, due to Matt LaFleur's stance on not playing starters in pre-season games, look for the Packers to lose "many" 1st and possibly even 2nd games.

The most successful football coach in my time on the planet (aside from Vince) has been Bill Belicheck. So given his past track record for playing starters in preseason games...I just can't figure out why the light hasn't gone off in Green Bay?

Greater chance to get hurt? I guess but, that chance exists in every practice. Just ask David Bakhtiari.

Wow. " catastrophe avoided, " maybe.

Reminds me, of course, of the Bakhtiari debacle: monstrous contract signing in 2020 ( never should have offered him that much money in the first place ) and then down he goes a couple of weeks later, essentially gone for good as far as playing time for the Packers.

" More tests being done. " Uh huh. Okay. So we don't know, for sure. Maybe Love is out only a couple of weeks. Or three to four. Or. . .

So maybe signing Malik Willis was a good idea after all, huh?

Just one game into the season, and it's already a pretty interesting season.

And Hafley still has lots to prove. Joe Barry must be walking around saying to himself, so far at least, " I told you so. "

My 5 key takeaways-
The packers over-paid Jordan Love.
Most here bitched about paying Rodgers.
Well the New Bitch will be paying Love.
The only way to push him now.
Is find his replacement.
Because the Accuracy just isn't there.

Sloppy start was more about Roster turn-over.
And I’m looking right at Gute’s draft replacement.
The OL never gave Love time.
Unless they improve. Any QB will go down hurt.
And I say Jones was missed!

Reeds Best game.- Best hands on the Team??? #1 fits.

This defense isn’t a work in progress-
It’s just poor tackling.

Give Wilson the ball more.

Game was lost in the trenches...that same old cliche that endures because it is the essence of football.

The eagles DL is impressive. Ours OL is not. The interior continues to be leaky on pass plays...wheel spinners in the run game.

The Philly OL is still solid, but all game long the Packers rush was within a second of a pressure or sack. They did a good job collapsing the pocket but not enough to stop many throws by Hurts under duress...often to whoever Alexander was covering. He needs to start walking the walk.

Mark, that was a very good article. Thank you. Those were the most salient takeaways from the game.

Here are some lesser observations:

- MLF can be too clever by half sometimes, like talking points off the board on the extra point when the Eagles were off-sides.

- with all the pass-catching talent we acquired the last 2 years, is the cream rising to the top? It seems Kraft is surpassing Musgrave - he is just a natural. I might be in the minority, but I am not sold on Watson as a go-to option, except in the red zone and on go-routes. He doesn’t look like a natural. I’ll show my age here, but it’s kinda like watching Madonna dance - she always looked uncomfortable, mechanical, and like she was counting her steps, lol.

- ditto the Madonna analogy when watching LVN. It’s obviously too early to tell, but each game that goes by, he’s looks more and more over-drafted. I HOPE I’M PROVEN WRONG.

- really hoped to see Evan Williams play some defensive snaps. Now HE looks like a natural, a disrupter. I was very surprised he didn’t get any snaps on defense.

- and give me some more Edgerin Cooper!

Blessings everyone.

We’ll have to hold our breath the next few weeks for sure with Love out. But I do recall historically that the Packer’s frequently are sluggish in Game 1. And one game in recent years that we got crushed!!

Lots of factors in this game like playing a good Eagles Team, playing a new defensive scheme and playing against a new defensive scheme, and playing in a less than stellar environment. This game was not a blow out by any means which should give us hope for improvement but all contingent upon playing a stable QB.

Knock it off, with the "wide receiver one" crap. We are deep at WR and no one is going to be the "number one" guy every week. Reed had a very good game on Friday. Lots of other, usually dependable guys, dropped passes that hit them in the hands. Maybe next game, one of those guys will be "the guy."

New Defensive Coordinator.
New highly drafted defensive players.
New high-priced defensive free agent.
Same old, same old soft, poor-tackling, physically-dominated, crappy Packer defense.

Joe B got canned after 2023, but his defense never gave up more than 34 points in any one game last season.

Halfley better watch his back, because we know Gute (who drafted all those studs we saw on D like Jaire, Stokes, Wyatt, LVN, and Quay Walker) and MLF sure ain't taking responsibility for Green Bay's annual defensive dumpster fires.

Catastrophe avoided. Glad it isn’t season ending and all, but I would have just rubbed some dirt on it, heaved the Hail Mary, and brought home the W.

Sorry, but the glass half full theme of the article belies the reality. The Packers are very likely to go 0-5(or more) until Love returns and the offense returns. Willis and Clifford simply aren't going to move the offense. Willis was inches away from being cut by the Titans before the trade and Clifford was battling a rookie to hold onto a spot on the team.
The offensive line was exposed as less than good. The Eagles defensive line simply ate them alive. Then you flip to the defense which looked a heck of a lot like Joe Barry returned. The Eagles offensive line opened gaping holes and Hurts barely got his jersey dirty. With a couple of exceptions Stokes and Alexander looked not only over-classed but just plain dumb.
There were some positive points on both sides of the ball, but not enough to show me this team, outside of Love, is capable at this point of doing much of anything except trying hard and losing.

I’m going to talk PFF for a moment. With all its failings, I think their highest rated offensive player list is thought provoking.

1. RT Zach Tom: 92.0
2. WR Jayden Reed: 89.2
3. LG Elgton Jenkins: 78.4
4. RB Emanuel Wilson: 69.4
5. RG Jordan Morgan: 67.7

Tom doesn’t surprise, nor Reed or Wilson (criminally underused by LaFleur). We knew that Walker had a bad game, but in a night when we could not consistently run block or hold up in the pocket we see that PFF at least saw both Jenkins and Morgan standing out.

Jenkins was solid in the run game in their assessment and allowed zero pressures. Morgan allowed a single quarterback hit over 19 pass-blocking snaps and was solid in the run game.

If PFF is right, then Morgan needs to play more. Thats a real positive. He’s got a lot of dismissive comments, but for a rookie having to tag team that’s a very positive sign on a tough day against a good front.

However, when you look through, Walker’s bad day, particularly in the first half is not the worst. Once again, our problems started at C in both the run and pass game. This has been a perennial reality since Myers arrived. Yet he’s rarely been allowed to be challenged. Yet again the weak link is right up the middle (and culpable on the play that got Love hurt). Myers is their third worst graded offensive player and by far the worst OL player.

I don't think Green Bay has the horses (personnel) in a few position groups, sadly.

-Linebacker room-
-Offensive Line is porous and I have not trusted their coach, Butkus, for his entire tenure
-Cornerback room. Jaire wants to intercept but he whiffs on 60% of tackles and has character issues, IMO-Stokes is fast but small and doesn't tackle either.
-The D-line is not comparable to high calibre teams.Gary and Smith were overpowered most of the game.

I am one Packer fan who does not feel Gute has done a good enough job on personnel choice other than the receivers & Kraft (not
Watson) and Love? Alexander, Stokes, LVN, Walker, Wyatt are not living up to their draft positions--- and more from the past-Savage, Amos, Deguara and Co.
Jacobs looked nothing like Barkley but then the O-line couldn't open up lanes either.

MLF admitted he and his coaches were responsible and some of their choices were 'trickling down' to the players??? Whatever that means.

Coaching staff seems to be unsupervised by MLF-he often looks shocked and surprised on the sidelines as if this is the first time he's seen the poor play.

I think the Packers REALLY have to look at the O-Line. Not just the holding calls and other metal mistakes, they don't have a couple of those "Road Grader" type O-Lineman. Those Packers teams of previous regimes had some real studs. Remember those days? If you needed ONE stinking yard to get in the endzone or make a first down, you had more than one O-Lineman to run behind.

I'm not blaming Gute, I think he's done a great job building this team up in no time with depth in multiple areas...Just not the O-Line. Meyers isn't good but we knew that. BUT, there's been too many times I've watched him get blown back and the ballcarrier has no chance. Overall it's a PASS blocking O-Line. All in all one of the better ones on a normal fucking field. But Friday night that was ugly. Uglier than I expected.

When you don't play the starters in the preseason, the starters play WILL SUFFER. I'm not ready to just bag on the defense and say it's not going to be better. The Eagles are LOADED and played a defense really playing for the first time in 9 months. It's going to happen. Same thing on offense. If you don't play for 9 months together, you look like THAT!

" Catastrophe Avoided "

How is it avoided when losing the only QB of any worth is going to miss, at minimum,3–4 weeks if being told the truth which is always suspect with the Packer Org in regard to these issues.

No, the catastrophe has just begun.

Now we get to see MLF in crisis mode..does he have it in him?? And whoever starts at QB cant be as inaccurate as Love was in that game...missed way too many throws for a dude being paid what he is paid...still that was a winnable game with better coaching and QB play against a really good team...but many of the same old problems showed up...oh yah, these NFL greed games in other countries suck just like the commish...

Once again-no QB could have thrown accurate balls with 2-3 300 lb men in their face most of the game.

My suggestion:-

-Scour the planet for 2-3 capable O-line men and find a better O-line coach. Stenavich needs to focus on the O-Line.
-Demand that players tackle. (and that icludes Prima Donna, Alexander)

Just say NO to an 0-4 start! Everyone has try to be at least little optimistic.

Of course there isn't much in Willis's resume to base this on, but it is possible that we can win two of the next three games. Two are at home against the Colts and Vikings, and Willis should be somewhat familiar with the Titans' defense. If he can at least avoid game-changing mistakes, get the ball into the hands of his play-makers often, and do a Lamar Jackson impersonation, then we have a chance.

The game and play is what is to be expected when the starters don't play in game situations (pre-season). In time, things will look better and the players will jell as one could say. It was competitive but sloppy against the best from the NFC, sans the Niners.

Just an observation here- why is it that when a player signs a big contract, an injury occurs within a month or two of the big money signing? I've seen it with Favre, Rodgers, Jones, Jenkins, Bak, and now Love. It's not just the (packers) offense. It happened to White, Matthews, Clark, Alexander, Stokes, and more.

Do the players become too relaxed or is it complacency? Is it the coach not getting the players ready to start the season of hitting? I would like to see the %'s or a study of this for the Packers vs. NFL averages in general. I bet it's more common than we think, and could be as high as 20% of the time.

Why isn’t anyone talking about why Love was seemingly completely dehydrated for much of the game?

It is not normal to see a QB on the sidelines repeatedly having both calves massaged by trainers and eating bananas in between every offensive series.

Did he have the flu? Did he stay out late partying before the game? Other?

This is in my opinion a question that is just as important as “how long will he be out?” And it seems like NOBODY is talking about it.

I have seen elsewhere that the time missed for Love will be 3-6 weeks.

The upside is that 4 of the 6 weeks is at home which can help ease the damage. Half-full glass.

The downside is that we just lost home field advantage and the wins that could have been. Half-empty glass.

However one looks at it, half of whatever never bodes well, period.

Using the field and the refs as an excuse for this loss is weak. I saw the Eagles slip a lot more than the Packers in the first half. The refs made questionable calls both ways, but twelve men on the field costing the Packers a TD isn't questionable, it's obvious, sloppy and stupid. HUGE advantage, the Packers didn't just win the turnover battle, it was extremely lopsided in their favor. Love had two easy interceptions dropped, one for a sure pick six, and a fumble forward that almost gave the Packers a first down. That combined with the Eagles "give away program" should've been enough to get this supposed "Super Bowl contender" a win.

Colts and Vikings at home, Titans on the road. The upcoming schedule could be a lot worse. But Malik Willis, "Exciting skillset with the ability to make big plays with his legs." You just described Justin Fields and a lot of other "QB's" that couldn't play the NFL QB position. Well, he's going to get his shot now. Let him prove everyone, especially the Titans, wrong.

No more "The D can carry this team for a few games" until they do. We've been hearing that for years. Now would be a good time to finally have it happen. Alexander, after his interception in the endzone, looking like he had no idea what to do, was embarrassing to watch. Yeah, I get it, It's a new system, but the result is the same.

I still saw enough of the good QB play from Love to think he is going to be a very good QB. And I'm not hanging Narveson out to dry after one missed FG. I thought his kicks were really strong. If he misses consistently, they know what they have to do.

The Defense needs to tackle. They should spend every waking moment till the next game insisting on tackling. A lot of tackling comes down to technique and the understanding of fundamentals.
I think players who refuse to tackle should be pulled from the game.

A grade 1-2 MCL tear/sprain is a minimum 3-6 week injury. Given how cautious the medical staff in GB is, the odds favor a minimum of six weeks on the sideline. Colts, Titans, Vikings. Week 2-4. Maybe 1 win at best. Weeks 5-7 Rams, Cardinals, Texans. Maybe 1 win at best. 2-5 if the team is lucky. If they are 0-7 which is more likely than not I don’t see Love on the field until after the bye in week 10 at which point the season is over anyhow. How in the hell did the front office fail to find a respectable backup QB? Inexcusable for a team with superbowl ambitions. The up side is the draft in Green Bay will have the hosts picking in the top five.

Plenty of individual efforts on defense to rag about. But that rusty untested with a new scheme defensive unit did create multiple turnovers and give the offense some really good field position which they did jack shit with. It was after those first six points were scored that I had a bad feeling about the game and did not feel confident about a win. When it really became apparent was the failed 2 point conversion. They were getting nothing on short yardage up the middle and they tried what? Yeah, nice adjustment there Matt.

When there was a discussion thread about draft wishes I posted - willing and able tacklers. This game was irritating to watch for craptacular tackling. I was asking if Kevin King was back on the team with the dreaded shoulder whiffs.

Some grace yet for Narveson. He came in very new to the team and the ones he made were right down the middle. I didn't find myself holding my breath as much. With the field position the offense had, he should have been chipping in XPs instead of kicking FGs.

For all the hype and high hopes people had for this season this game exposed a bit more work to be done. Hopefully some of that was just - not being ready. Injured QB or not, they still need to get it together and play much better and in the next few weeks the measuring stick might not be wins but, if they are coming together and playing better than they did in this game.

1. Play your guys in preseason for a change. Be ready to start Game 1 with known quantities. The starting O will look more in synch, and the starting D will get more legit tackling work.

Iron sharpens iron.

2. You draft a LT in Round 1 with historically effective numbers his last 2 consecutive seasons and you play him at OG, Matt LaFleur? WTAF? Your teams often suffer from poor decisions in establishing a starting 5.

3. Why is Josh Myers still on this team?

Not one word regarding Barkley? Did you really watch the game?