It was almost exactly what I expected. A tight game that went down to the wire.
Jaguar fans have to be crying a bit over the lost opportunity, while Packer fans breathe a sigh of relief and set our eyes on the land of 10,000 lakes.
Jacksonville converted several fourth down opportunities down the stretch when a stop on any of them would have effectively ended the game.
Instead, the game came to its end when the Packer defense - hot and tired after an afternoon of hard work in the bright sun - stopped the play short on 4th down and a yard to go from the Green Bay 14 with just 16 ticks left on the game clock.
Whew!
It felt like the Packer offense didn't find its rhythm until the second quarter as Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson became reacquainted after a year with Nelson on the shelf recovering from his ACL tear of August, 2015.
Rodgers scored on a scramble to start the scoring and completed touchdown passes to Nelson and Davante Adams. Mason Crosby added the extra points and a couple of field goals.
There is much to improve before the second game on the schedule.
It's tough to tel how much of the issues Sunday were due in part to the heat and the lack of game repetitions during the preseason (when starters sat on the bench the vast majority of the time).
My guess its a combination of both, combined with a rising team laying everything on the line in search of a victory in the first game of the season.
Jacksonville isn't a bad team, and the Packers didn't play poorly. It was far from Green Bay's best work, but that's not unusual in the season opener.
Next week in the Vikings new home will require a better effort.
1 - 0. Packers get to celebrate, then prepare for Minnesota, Sunday night on NBC, kick at 7:30.
Comments
Post a Comment