Green Bay Packers vs. Denver Broncos: Green Bay Grades, Notes and Quotes

The Denver Broncos handed the Green Bay Packers their first loss of the season Sunday night in the form of a 29-10 trouncing at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

After falling behind 17-0 midway through the second quarter, the Packers (6-1) could neither find a rhythm on offense nor a solution on defense the rest of the way as the Broncos (7-0) dominated the competition.

Not only did defensive coordinator Dom Capers' unit allow 500 total yards for the second straight game, but Aaron Rodgers also had one of the worst games of his career statistically.

All in all, there were poor performances all over the field for Green Bay as its quest for a perfect season came swiftly to a halt. 

It won't get much easier for the team, either, as a matchup with the undefeated Carolina Panthers looms next week. 

First, though, let's hand out some grades and go over some notes and quotes from the Packers' Week 8 loss in Denver. 

Position Grades for Packers

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Position	Grade
Quarterback	B-
Running Back	B
Wide Receiver	C
Tight End	D
Offensive Line	C-
Defensive Line	C
Linebacker	B-
Defensive Backs	C-
Special Teams	A
Coaching	C

Quarterback

The numbers—although bad—don't tell the whole story for Rodgers. Every time he dropped back to pass, it seemed the Packers signal-caller was either dodging defenders in his face or blankly scanning the field for open receivers. Still, it's hard to ignore Rodgers' horrendous stat line—his 77 passing yards on 22 attempts is the lowest single-game total in his career. 

Running Back

Back in his normal role as the lead back, Eddie Lacy finally found the end zone for the first time since Week 1. Yet, he managed just 38 rushing yards on 11 carries as the offensive line struggled to create holes in a stingy Denver run defense. James Starks added only nine yards on five carries in a far cry from his 112-yard outburst two weeks ago.

Wide Receiver

Rodgers' poor passing numbers can be attributed to his receivers' failure to get open downfield. Denver's secondary kept James Jones and Davante Adams in check—they combined for 10 yards on two catches—while Randall Cobb wasn't much better. He led all Green Bay pass-catchers with six receptions for a measly 27 yards. 

Tight End

On Denver's fourth-quarter safety, the tape will show Richard Rodgers was the one to blame. His missed block on the edge left Aaron Rodgers with no choice but to get rid of the ball. The Packers' starting tight end wasn't much of a factor in the passing game either—he finished with two catches for 16 yards. 

Offensive Line

Rodgers was sacked three times Sunday night and the offensive line is lucky that number isn't twice as large. The big men up front continuously failed to give their quarterback enough time in the pocket as they had no answer to the Broncos' relentless pass rush. 

Defensive Line

The D-line's struggles may have been overshadowed Sunday among the other poor performances up and down the Packers' position groups—but the numbers don't lie. Peyton Manning seemed to have all the time in the world—going 21-of-29 for 340 yards through the air—while the run game around him had their way all night. As a team, Denver rushed for 160 yards and three scores on the ground as its offensive line had its way in the trenches. 

Linebackers

It can be argued that Capers failed to dial up enough blitzes with his talented outside linebackers or the secondary is more to blame for Manning's big passing day. Still, though, Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers and Co. couldn't pressure the quarterback or stop the running game all night as the Broncos had their way on offense. Denver tight ends also combined to catch six passes for 105 yards as they consistently found space over the middle for big gains. 

Defensive Backs

For the second straight game, Green Bay's secondary allowed an opposing quarterback to have his way through the air. Manning, who's struggled for much of the season, finished with a season high in passing yards and nearly ended his night without throwing a pick for the first time all year. Rookie cornerback Damarious Randall made sure that wasn't the case, though, as he came up with a diving interception in the fourth quarter. 

Special Teams

When called upon, this unit was the Packers' best on Sunday. Mason Crosby drilled a 56-yard field goal in the third quarter to pull his team within seven and Tim Masthay prevented any big returns from Denver returner Emmanuel Sanders with great hang time on his five punts. 

Coaching

From head coach Mike McCarthy to defensive coordinator Dom Capers, the Packers were out-coached on both sides of the ball all game long. Green Bay's defense, formerly the league's No. 1 scoring unit, found itself dominated by the game's end after giving up over 500 yards for the second straight game. Meanwhile McCarthy's game plan for Rodgers and Co. resulted in under 200 yards of total offense. 

Green Bay Secondary Torched for Second Straight Game

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Green Bay's defensive backs should have been salivating at the chance to face a quarterback who's struggled mightily to protect the ball so far this season.

Manning began Sunday's game having thrown 10 interceptions on the year—including multiple-pick games in his previous three starts before the bye week. 

Furthermore, Green Bay's pass defense had two weeks to prepare for Denver's attack after allowing Philip Rivers and the Chargers to throw for 503 passing yards in Week 6.

These would all be moot points on Sunday Night Football as Manning brought back the prime-time version the league knows all too well. The 39-year-old looked more like a version of his old MVP self than the duck-throwing, low-rated passer we've seen in 2015.

Manning picked apart the Packers secondary at will and finished with 340 yards on 22-for-29 passing. He mixed in short passes, downfield bombs and big gains up the middle and ultimately completed passes to eight different receivers—including his favorite target, Demaryius Thomas, who had eight receptions for 168 yards. It seemed the only thing Manning didn't do in the air Sunday was throw a touchdown pass.

Despite having starting strong safety Morgan Burnett back healthy for the first time since Week 2, Green Bay's secondary was exposed in a big way. 

It also didn't help when cornerbacks Sam Shields and Quentin Rollins both left the game with shoulder injuries in the first half. Their absences left rookie Damarious Randall with an increased role and forced Micah Hyde to play in the slot for the majority of the contest. 

Mike McCarthy on Losing to the Broncos

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After Sunday night's loss, Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy accepted defeat and displayed outward humility in his postgame press conference. 

"I’ll start with congratulations to the Broncos," McCarthy said, via Packers.com. "Clearly the better team. For us, a humbling loss. Gary Kubiak had his team playing a lot faster than I had my team playing. I was not happy about the way we performed. A very humbling loss."

It's very telling to hear McCarthy take all the blame for the Packers' blowout loss and not dish it out on his players. It's also significant to have the head coach be so honest after his team's first loss of the year. 

McCarthy was even more transparent a little later, via Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

"I haven’t had my ass kicked like that in a long time," he said. 

It's safe to say Green Bay fans are hoping it's "a long time" before their head coach says something like that again.

Rodgers Struggles Without Much Help on Offense

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It was no secret Denver's defense was good before Sunday night's matchup. They entered the game as the No. 2 scoring defense and ranked first in passing yards allowed per game. Still, most Green Bay fans—whether they admit it or not—believed their team would be fine with Rodgers under center no matter what. 

Sunday night's game was evidence to the contrary. 

The Broncos challenged Rodgers to beat them through the air—a battle they won. The unit blitzed relentlessly, hit Rodgers on nearly every pass attempt, racked up three sacks and blanketed every receiving option downfield. 

As the game wore on—and Denver's lead stretched from seven to 19 in the fourth quarter—it quickly became clear that Rodgers is mortal and can't, in fact, win games on his own. 

He ended up throwing for just 77 yards—his lowest single-game total in his career—and failed to connect consistently with any of his receivers. James Jones, Randall Cobb and Davante Adams couldn't get open against Denver's top-tier defensive backs while no pass-catcher outside those three found much space either. 

The running game also became useless because of the large deficit late in the game. Rodgers was forced to pass more, and the defense knew what was coming. Despite the circumstances, Lacy and Starks combined to rush for just 47 yards on 16 carries as the offensive line struggled to open up holes. 

If the Packers want to win games against good teams—and they face one next week in the undefeated Carolina Panthers—they'll need to figure out their struggles. 

Ironically, it begins and ends with Rodgers at the helm no matter how good his teammates are around him.

Rodgers on Sunday's Loss

Joe Mahoney/Associated Press

After Green Bay's 29-10 loss, Rodgers didn't overreact to the team's end to a perfect season.

Instead, the Packers' leader put things in perspective after coming up short to a good Broncos team and with a huge conference matchup with the Carolina Panthers looming next week.

"This is the kind of thing that'll make everyone a little bit maybe more on edge this week," Rodgers said, via ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "We've got another tough road challenge in Carolina, so these two games are going to show us how good we are after a 6-0 start. And we weren't good enough tonight."

Rodgers also commented on what went wrong specifically for the Packers.

"We lost the game, we’re 6-1," Rodgers said, via Vic Ketchman of Packers.com. "We have to correct these things and move on. Tonight was more about what we didn’t do. We didn’t execute in the run game, the pass game, we didn’t covert third down and got beat."

It's safe to say no matter how bad the Packers were in Denver Sunday, next week presents another big challenge in the form of the undefeated Panthers.

Injuries Continue to Haunt the Packers

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As if Sunday night's loss wasn't bad enough, the Packers suffered yet another round of injuries.

Clay Matthews headlines the group as he left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury. Although the linebacker returned to action soon after with a new tape job, the impact was felt. 

In his absence, the Broncos' C.J. Anderson burned the defense for a 28-yard touchdown run right up the middle—where Matthews would have been positioned as the middle backer—and extended Denver's lead to 14. Matthews' replacement, Joe Thomas, can be seen on film being blocked easily by a Broncos offensive lineman before the score. 

Green Bay also suffered setbacks in its secondary. Cornerbacks Quentin Rollins and Sam Shields left in the first half with shoulder injuries and neither returned to the game. 

The losses left the Packers with just three healthy corners for the rest of the game—a small detail that showed mightily in defending against the pass.