Meaningless or not, the Green Bay Packers have now played two ugly preseason games in a row.
No, Aaron Rodgers didn’t play Saturday night against Philadelphia. Nor did three of Green Bay’s starting offensive linemen. But none of those four play defense or special teams, and those areas of the game were far worse than anything that was put on display offensively.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Packers’ 39-26 loss to the Eagles:
1. Disaster averted
Green Bay’s season outlook came very close to being in serious jeopardy. Randall Cobb fell hard on his right shoulder while attempting to make a catch. When he got back to his feet, his right arm was hanging down by his side. Already without Jordy Nelson for the entire year, the Packers couldn’t afford to lose Cobb. Even for an MVP quarterback like Rodgers, he can’t be expected to perform like a superstar if both of his top receivers are sidelined.
Fortunately for Green Bay’s Super Bowl hopes, Cobb’s injury is believed to be an AC joint sprain. That should not keep him out of action for too long. Cobb might even be back in time for the regular-season opener.
2. Full-strength starting defense got destroyed
The Packers had every one of their defensive starters on the field to begin Saturday’s game. Clay Matthews was out there for the first time in preseason. So was Mike Daniels. This was the exact group that Dom Capers would have used if it was a regular season game.
Yet Philadelphia’s offense made Green Bay’s starters look completely overmatched.
In a span of six minutes and 50 seconds, the Eagles ran 18 plays for 152 yards and scored three touchdowns. All of that before the first quarter was over.
Inside linebacker Sam Barrington was especially picked on by Philadelphia QB Sam Bradford. Barrington was targeted in coverage five times and allowed five receptions for 59 yards and two touchdowns, according to data from ProFootballFocus. But Barrington certainly wasn’t alone.
There was almost nothing positive for the Packers’ starting defense to take away from their performance.
3. More specials teams issues
Green Bay’s special teams got off to a bad start from the very first play of the game, allowing a 67-yard kick return to an undrafted rookie. It only got worse from there for Ron Zook’s group.
The Packers were called for a total of eight penalties on special teams. One time they had too many men on the field. Another time they played with just 10 men on the field. And Tim Masthay didn’t punt the ball much better, either.
Head coach Mike McCarthy didn’t hide his displeasure after the game for how special teams played. After firing Shawn Slocum in the offseason and promoting Zook as coordinator, Green Bay doesn’t look any better on special teams right now than it did throughout 2014. That’s quite the feat, considering the Packers had the NFL’s worst special teams units last season.
4. Brett Hundley improving quickly
Hundley had the pick-six, but the vast majority of his work was quite impressive. It’s even more noteworthy when considering Hundley played against many of the Eagles’ defensive starters and did not have the benefit of playing with most of the Packers starting offensive players.
Hundley completed 22 of 31 passes for 315 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and a passer rating of 111.6.
In 57 snaps, Hundley showed that Green Bay has a more competent No. 3 quarterback than what most NFL teams have at their backup QB spot. If Hundley had David Bakhtiari, Josh Sitton and T.J. Lang protecting him, as well as Nelson and Cobb catching passes, his efficiency and productivity likely would have been even better.
5. Rajion Neal securing No. 3 running back job
Looking at Neal’s rushing stats alone doesn’t do justice to his overall performance. He carried the ball four times for 23 yards, but he also caught five passes for 61 yards and scored a touchdown. Neal was also solid in five snaps of pass-protection duty.
With Alonzo Harris injured and John Crockett appearing not yet quite ready for the active roster, Neal’s versatility and strong showing might have locked him into one of the coveted 53 spots.
