Packers press on without playmakers
Posted: Dec. 28, 2005
Rick Braun
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Green Bay - Forced by the rules of employment to spend the better part of Christmas Day watching the Chicago Bears wear down and put away the Green Bay Packers, the realization hit: Just who do we expect to make the game-winning plays for the Packers?
Seriously.
Fans and the squawkers on sports talk radio can say what they like about perceived quitting in the Monday night debacle at Baltimore. But once Samkon Gado went down, who was really left to make plays for the Packer offense?
The short answer is Brett Favre and Donald Driver. And that's not nearly enough.
On Sunday night, when David Martin went down in the second quarter with a head injury, the Packers' passing game was down to one tight end, Donald Lee, and Driver, Antonio Chatman, Andrae Thurman and Rob Gardner.
Chatman entered the season as the No. 4 receiver. Had the Packers not had injuries to Javon Walker, Terrence Murphy and Robert Ferguson he might have finished the season as No. 5 receiver, depending on the development of the rookie Murphy.
Thurman didn't make the final 53-man roster in September. Gardner was just picked up last week on waivers.
Walker, Ahman Green, Najeh Davenport, Terrence Murphy and Bubba Franks all were expected to be significant parts of the Packer offense in 2005. All are on injured reserve.
Robert Ferguson also was expected to be a significant contributor, and while he isn't on injured reserve, he's been injured much of the season and not nearly as effective as hoped when he wasn't injured.
And that doesn't even take into account the woes along the offensive line with the departed Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle and the playing-in-pain Mike Flanagan.
So the question is: What did we really expect on Sunday?
Truthfully, the Packers are quite near that well-noted assessment of former general manager Ron Wolf, who said they were playing with a bunch of NFL Europe players.
Now that's not to dog all of the fill-ins, either.
Chatman has been valiant as the No. 2 receiver. But he's not a No. 2 receiver. He can be a heck of a No. 4 receiver, maybe even a good No. 3 receiver if need be. But he's not a No. 2.
Driver has been valiant as the No. 1 receiver. His six-catch, 107-yard performance on Sunday put him at 80 catches and 1,103 yards for the season. One can argue that those are numbers good enough to deem Driver a No. 1 receiver. The numbers are good enough to make that case.
Still, when all the attention is focused on Driver as the No. 1 receiver, the Packer offense seems to bog down.
Winning in the NFL comes down to making plays. And the biggest plays are the ones that score touchdowns.
Once again, the Packers moved the ball on Sunday. They racked up 365 yards of offense to just 292 for the Bears. They've out-gained the opposition in 12 of their 15 games.
But it's all about scoring points, and the Packers aren't doing enough of that.
Packer coach Mike Sherman couldn't have stated it more plainly when it was pointed out that the Packers out-gained the Bears, had a 24-16 edge in first downs and 6-minute edge in time of possession.
"I think it's obvious that we didn't score enough points" he said. "I don't mean that facetiously, but that's what this game came down to. All that yardage and what-not is irrelevant when you don't score points."
The Packers moved 50 yards on their first possession, but turned the ball over on downs.
Their one true offensive conquest came on their second possession, a 15-play, 84-yard drive. Of course, they nearly blew that one, too. After a holding penalty negated a touchdown for - of all people Mark Tauscher - the Packers needed a pass-interference penalty in the end zone to give them a first-and-goal at the 1.
On their third possession they went 51 yards in 11 plays but couldn't turn it into points.
On their final scoring drive, they had a first-and-goal at the 8 but never came near penetrating the end zone. To do that consistently, playmakers are required.
And with the list stopping at Driver and Favre, the Packers simply don't have the firepower to do it.
Simply put, the Packers can move the ball. Sadly, they can't score points.
Since defeating Atlanta, 33-25, on Nov. 13, the Packers have gone six games without scoring more than 17 points. They're 1-5 in that span.
With Gado gone they don't have a running game. Even with Favre and Driver they don't have a consistent passing game.
In the end, the only thing that can save the Packers in 2005 is the season ending. In 2006, Walker should be back. And Murphy and Franks and Gado and maybe even Green or Davenport.
But for now, thank goodness the 2005 season ends on the first day of 2006.