Biggest Takeaways from Green Bay Packers' Week 6 Win
The Green Bay Packers will manage to go into their Week 7 bye undefeated at 6-0 with a close 27-20 win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.
After the Packers built a 14-3 lead in the first quarter, the game was close through the remainder of the day, with the Chargers exploiting Green Bay's secondary. San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers passed for a career-high 503 yards.
Green Bay's offense continued to look off, no doubt from the absence of wide receiver Davante Adams and the early loss of rookie wideout Ty Montgomery to an ankle injury in the second quarter. However, they were ultimately able to put more points on the board than San Diego, which is all that matters in the end.
Let's break down five takeaways from the Week 6 action heading into the bye week.
Packers Are Getting Dangerously Thin at Wide Receiver
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Green Bay's offense was already running below full strength heading into Sunday's matchup with the San Diego Chargers with top wideout Jordy Nelson lost for the season and second-year player Davante Adams nursing a sprained ankle.
So it was a tense moment at Lambeau Field when rookie receiver Ty Montgomery, whose role in the offense has increased dramatically due to injuries, went down early in the second quarter with an ankle injury, as the team tweeted.
Montgomery did not return, but immediately after the conclusion of the game there was no word on how much time he may miss, if any. NFL Network's Rand Getlin did report that the X-rays on Montgomery's ankle came back negative, and the Week 7 bye comes at the perfect time.
Without Nelson, Adams and Montgomery, veteran Randall Cobb led a young receiving group composed of second-year players Jeff Janis and Jared Abbrederis. Tight end Justin Perillo, whom the Packers recently activated from the practice squad, also filled out Aaron Rodgers' group of pass-catchers.
As Eddie Lacy's Ankle Injury Seems to Linger, James Starks Filling in Just Fine
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Running back Eddie Lacy did not appear on the Packers' Week 6 injury report, but it's clear to anyone who has watched the bruiser play this season that the team is still taking it easy with the ankle injury that flared up earlier this season.
Since Lacy injured his ankle in Week 2 against the Seahawks, he has averaged just 11 attempts per game. That comes after Lacy averaged over 15 attempts per game last season.
As he has been asked to do more, however, No. 2 running back James Starks has delivered. He sparked the offense late in the first quarter when he sped 65 yards down the field for a touchdown, giving the Packers an 11-point lead.
Starks finished the day with 10 carries for 112 yards, compared to Lacy's four carries for three yards. His average of 11.2 yards per carry in this game was obviously skewed by his 65-yard gallop to the end zone, but Starks had been averaging 4.5 yards per attempt heading into Week 6.
Lacy's recent play has been troubling and uncharacteristic—in Week 5 he managed only 27 yards on 13 carries. But if it's just the ankle that's affecting his ability to break tackles and make cutback runs the way he usually does, perhaps the bye week will be all the cure he needs.
For now, though, Starks has got it under control.
Veteran QB Philip Rivers Able to Take Advantage of Young Packers Secondary
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When it came to sheer volume of yardage, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers was unstoppable on Sunday.
The veteran quarterback exploited Green Bay's young secondary for a whopping 503 yards on 43 completions, a career high according to ESPN Stats & Information.
However, Rivers also had the unfortunate distinction of being the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 500 yards and no interceptions...and still lose.
That's because as much as Rivers as able to get downfield on the Packers defense, the Chargers weren't able to get points on the board when it mattered most. They went only 2-of-6 in the red zone, and five of their 10 drives ended in a punt or a turnover on downs.
Despite working with a retooled offensive line, Rivers was able to get the ball out incredible fast, and for the most part Green Bay wasn't able to keep up with Chargers wideout Keenan Allen, who had 14 receptions for 157 yards.
Allen was a test even for seasoned veteran corner Sam Shields. And though young safeties Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Micah Hyde had some notable stops, having the veteran presence of safety Morgan Burnett would have boosted the secondary. And newly appointed starter Casey Hayward sometimes appeared more interested in getting picks than in solid coverage.
But the defense was able to get the stops where it mattered most: on scoring attempts.
"We just didn't win the one-on-one matchups today," Hyde said, per the Associated Press via ESPN.xom. "Thank God for our red zone defense."
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Rookie CB Damarious Randall Saves the Game
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The Packers secondary got gashed for 503 passing yards by Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers on Sunday, yet it was a young member of that same unit who ultimately saved the game.
With 20 seconds left to play at 4th-and-3 from the Packers' 3-yard line, Rivers attempted to connect with Danny Woodhead in the end zone to tie the game and force overtime, putting the Packers' undefeated season at risk.
But at the last moment, rookie corner Damarious Randall leapt in front of the ball and batted it away.
The rookie, in a veteran move, had diagnosed the play and recalled that the Chargers had attempted it in the same drive with tight end Antonio Gates. He knew what was coming.
"I was acting like I really wasn't seeing him, but honestly, I was just trying to bait him a little bit," Randall said of Woodhead, per the Associated Press via ESPN.com.
It was the biggest play of the game and of the day, certainly, for Randall, but the rookie has in fact been stellar so far this season, especially given that it's his first playing at cornerback.
He also had seven solo tackles and two passes defended.
Double Coverage Hurting WR Randall Cobb's Effectiveness
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For the third week in a row, Packers top wideout Randall Cobb was limited to less than 50 receiving yards and five or fewer receptions.
That's not, however, for lack of trying on quarterback Aaron Rodgers' part. Rodgers targeted Cobb five times on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers, but he only connected with him twice.
In the Week 5 matchup against the St. Louis Rams, Rodgers went to Cobb six times, but Cobb could only catch three of those targets.
It was a similar story in Week 4 versus the San Francisco 49ers: eight targets, five receptions.
The Packers knew that double coverage on Cobb would be a problem this season as soon as it was confirmed that Nelson would miss the year with a torn ACL, but in practice it has proven to slow the offense more than the team would have expected.
Cobb has a different skill set than Nelson, and it was been hard for him, as it would be for anyone, to fill those shoes. He had a head-scratching drop with no defenders around him against the Chargers.
Having Davante Adams and now Ty Mongtomery out with injuries certainly won't help, either. If the Packers' receiving corps can get back to strength coming out of the Week 7 bye, the Packers can scheme to help Cobb become a bigger factor again.
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