On Sunday, the Packers dropped the season opener 23-7 against the Minnesota Vikings. Overall, the Vikings played a great game and the Packers struggled to find any consistency. Rodgers and company looked frustrated with themselves and that should lead to a more prepared team next week.
Now that week 1 of the NFL season is over, ESPN has released their week 2 power rankings. Along with each ranking, analysts gave a rookie from each team that stood out.
Packers Slide in Newest Ranking
The Packers were ranked second overall last week, behind only the Bills, and started the preseason ranked sixth. However, this week Green Bay slid all the way down to eighth after their loss, which isn’t bad considering the circumstances. The ugly loss could’ve dropped them out of the top ten, and as long as Green Bay gets back on track next week they won’t have to worry about it.
The outcome of the game and the performance was clearly not what fans and Packers players wanted. It is hard to ever step away from a loss and feel good or productive. Especially for Christian Watson, who Rob Demovsky selected as his standout rookie.
Demovsky wrote “No one said standing out was a good thing” and pointed at the bitter would-be touchdown. It certainly wasn’t the impact the rookie wanted and he surely won’t hear the end of it. However, Watson is a rookie for the Packers, and it is a rookie mistake. As Aaron Rodgers said “..drops are going to happen,” and as such, Watson shouldn’t be criticized as much.
Week One Losses Aren’t as Meaningful
As Packer fans remember, last season Green Bay was blown out by the Saints, and it led to crazy overreactions about the team. Analysts dropped them in the rankings and left them out of deep post-season conversations. Although, losing week one doesn’t mean as much as fans think.
The #Packers lost 38-3 in Week 1 last year against a worse team in the Saints.
They finished the season 13-4 and the #1 seed in the NFC.
Let's not overreact to one bad performance.
— Eli Berkovits (@BookOfEli_NFL) September 11, 2022
The Packers are entering this season with a whole new offense. Adam Stenavich is in his first year as an offensive coordinator with the Packers after Nathaniel Hackett left for the Denver Broncos vacant head coach position. Stenavich is still working his offense, and he had a lot of moving parts for the game.
The Packers were without David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, and Allen Lazard against the Vikings. The team had to shift around the offense to fill in for the injuries, and the backups didn’t necessarily do well. Jake Hanson in particular struggled and allowed a sack, but the offensive line overall struggled and that is something that happens without the two anchors of the line present.
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