Packers Find Their Fire Too Late Against Carolina, but Offense Shows Improvement

The Green Bay Packers' loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 9 appeared to completely hinge on one interception thrown by Aaron Rodgers late in the fourth quarter at the Panthers' 4-yard line. 

Thomas Davis picked off Rodgers on 4th down on a pass intended for James Jones. Rodgers threw off-balance and while falling, and therefore was unable to connect with a wide-open Randall Cobb in the corner of the end zone. 

Upon viewing the play on the tablet on the sidelines, Rodgers' frustration was explosive—something the offense was not to start the day against Carolina. That was due to multiple factors, including an ineffective run game, a leaky offensive line and poor play-calling. 

However, in the second half of the game Rodgers and the offense finally began to turn up the heat and show signs of life.

It wasn't enough to earn the "W," but if the Packers can carry the second-half adjustments and execution they displayed against Carolina into next week against Detroit and beyond, it could reinvigorate this struggling offense. 

Though Rodgers' interception was perhaps the final closing of the door on Green Bay's comeback hopes, it wouldn't be fair to pin the loss on him in the least.

The biggest culprits of the day were the run game, which totaled just 71 yards, and the offensive line, which couldn't sustain blocks and allowed five sacks and a whopping 14 hits on Rodgers. 

Eddie Lacy only gained 10 yards on five carries and lost a fumble before leaving the game with a groin injury. 

James Starks looked better, gaining 39 yards on 10 carries with one 15-yard breakaway, but it was in the passing game where Starks, and the rest of the offense, truly shined.

Starks was the team's third-most productive receiver on the day, catching six passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. In fact, three of Green Bay's pass-catchers had 80 yards or more: Davante Adams had 93 yards on seven receptions and Cobb led the team with 99 yards on four receptions, adding a touchdown as well. 

It was also a big day for explosive plays in Green Bay. James Jones and Starks had catches of 30-plus yards, and Adams and Cobb had receptions that went for more than 40. 

However, most of that production came in the second half of the game.

	James Starks	Davante Adams	Randall Cobb	James Jones
1st Half Rec. Yards	0	45	18	21
2nd Half Rec. Yards	83	48	81	36

All of Starks' receiving yards came in the second half of the game, and most of them came on the dominant Green Bay drive that shifted the momentum in the Packers' favor. 

The Packers' 6-play, 79-yard drive early in the fourth quarter was capped with a 29-yard Starks reception for a score and improved the score to 37-22.

Their subsequent score on the following drive, a three-yard Richard Rodgers reception, shrunk their deficit to just eight points.

A crucial interception by rookie cornerback Damarious Randall put them in position to tie the game with a two-point conversion. 

Even though the Packers' opportunity to do just that sailed away with Rodgers' interception, there's no denying that through most of the fourth quarter the offense was playing on a different level, one not seen for at least seven quarters. 

Michael Cohen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described the difference in the unit as it took the field to start the second half:

"

The Packers' pulse flickered early in the third quarter. They took the opening possession of the half 80 yards on just three plays for an enormous momentum-swinging score, capped by a beautiful 53-yard touchdown reception by Randall Cobb.

"

The offense made legitimate improvements on this handful of drives that it can strive to emulate in the future. To start, they finally broke out an elusive screen pass and began putting Cobb in motion before plays.

Those decisions helped get things moving because they help receivers beat man coverage and vary the play selection from the isolation routes the Packers normally overuse. 

On their back-to-back scoring drives, the Packers also operated almost exclusively out of a no-huddle shotgun formation, which infused life into the offense and made it, if only for a brief moment in time, look like the unit we'd expect from Rodgers & Co.

The Packers are at their best when they're playing fast, something they have failed to do so far this season. Heading into Week 9, Green Bay was second-to-last in the league in average plays per game, with 58.1 per TeamRankings.com.  

That improved to a whopping 72 plays on Sunday, 15 of which came on those two fourth-quarter touchdown drives. 

That was a big step in the right direction for this offense, even if it didn't result in a win. 

In the coming weeks, the Packers will have to get better at establishing the run, which Starks proved he could do when Lacy was out with an ankle injury.

Though there's no word yet on how much time, if any, Lacy will miss with his groin injury; Starks is certainly capable of moving the offense down the field on the ground. 

It's also worth noting that the Broncos and the Panthers boast two of the league's best defenses, and the Packers faced them both on the road. 

These were building blocks on offense that the Packers can take from the loss to Carolina and apply next week against the Detroit Lions and beyond. While this unit may never look dominant this season, it can certainly look better—and did, in the second half versus the Panthers.