TimesFour

As it is often with professional sports, the team with the best players usually wins the game. And while it does not always hold true with football (look at last year’s Super Bowl), last night’s thrashing at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys was a reminder to the Packers that the Cowboys really are the most talented team in the NFC and they face an uphill climb to match them come January.
Felix Jones and Marion Barber III running for 217 yards contained a very specific message- the Packer defensive line is a potential long-term problem.

Packer Management rolled the dice in a big way when they kept just 3 defensive tackles on the roster after training camp (with Harrell on the PUP list into October), the thinking being that Cullen Jenkins will be able to fill a Justin Tuck-like role and Mike Montgomery or Kabeer Gbaja Bialmila adequate to fill in outside. On the Felix Jones 60 yard touchdown, it was Montgomery that allowed Jason Witten to seal him inside, allowing Jones to cut back and have nothing but green Lambeau Field grass between him and the end zone. Contrast that play to later in the game, with the exact same play run and Jenkins at right defensive end, the play resulted in a 5 yard loss.

After getting manhandled by that big Cowboy offensive line, the Packers may come to regret this roster gamble. Granted, the Cowboys offensive line will probably pound away at a lot of teams this year- they have 3 Pro Bowlers and a very good running back in the Pro Bowler Barber- but if the Packers have aspirations for Super Bowl glory (and they should) they had better address this or it will be their demise. Run defense always starts with the front, and last night they were gashed, pounded, and shredded.
The Packer front also failed to get pressure on 3rd down (Dallas was 7 of 14 on 3rd down) and didn’t capitalize on opportunities to change the game with sacks and turnovers (Jenkins’ potentially game-changing sack and unrecovered fumble stands out).

Criticism of Ted Thompson for not only trading away Corey Williams (reducing depth) but also not pursuing a few marquee free agents at the defensive tackle position seems to hold water at this point.

Without consistant pressure on Romo, the Cowboys exposed the middle of the Packer secondary. Jason Witten is easily the best TE in the NFC (and possibly the NFL), and he demonstrated his stature with 7 catches for 67 chains-moving yards and a number of key blocks. With the big-hitting Atari Bigby out, the inexperienced Aaron Rouse was left to handle the difficult task of not only helping contain Witten, but also giving help against Dallas’ vertical attack. He failed in both aspects. The game-clinching touchdown pass to Miles Austin occurred with the Packer defense playing safety help over the top, but when the 6’4″ Rouse took a terrible angle to the ball he took himself out of the play and Tremon Williams had no chance. With that play, a 3rd string wideout from the special teams unit delivered the knockout punch.

As bad as the Packer defensive line looked, their offensive line was (again) worse. The talented Cowboy front manhandled them on 3rd down (the Packers were just 4 of 14), did not allow the Packers to get into favorable down and distance positions on first down, and pressured Rodgers into 5 sacks and several errant passes.
As it was at the start last year, the Packer running game was pedestrian. It was the lack of running game that caused the most problems. The Packers managed just 84 yards rushing and weren’t able to attack the Cowboys defense with play-action. This season, the Packer run game is averaging 115 yards/game, but 23 of those yards each game have been on Aaron Rodgers scrambles. Even more concerning are the weekly barrage of penalties on the line. The Packers lead the NFL in penalties (tied with Dallas, ironically), and many of those have been of the drive-killing or big play-negating variety. The holding penalty negating the big gain on a screen pass to Brandon Jackson was a major drive-killer and likely took away points. Other penalties gave the Packers impossible down and distance scenarios that limited Mike McCarthy’s play-calling. Once again, Ted Thompson eschewed free agency to get veteran help for the offensive line when potential difference-makers were available.
Ultimately the more talented team won. While the Packers may be a playoff caliber team in the NFC, they still have a long way to go where it counts- in the trenches. There was a glaring difference in talent on the field against the Cowboys, and despite the ability to spend the money Ted Thomspon elected to develop from within. This has kept the Packers in solid financial position, but against the Cowboys it was obvious that there was a good distance between them on the field. Mike McCarthy will need to get the offensive and defensive lines figured out if that gap is going to close.