National Football League

Packers report card: Offense still missing

Published Sep. 22, 2014 10:55 a.m. ET

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Handing out grades following the Green Bay Packers' 19-7 road loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 3 of the 2014 season:

Passing Offense: D-plus

Well, this was certainly not the explosive Packers offense of 2011. The offense that averaged 35.0 points per game. This also was far from the Aaron Rodgers of 2011, who led Green Bay's offense to those incredible numbers and earned himself the NFL's Most Valuable Player award.

There were few positives with the passing offense, but let's go ahead and mention those first. Rodgers did not throw an interception and had a respectable 88.8 passer rating. Andrew Quarless had the best catch of his career, and it resulted in a touchdown. Jordy Nelson saw safety help over the top almost constantly and is still talented enough to lead the Packers in targets, catches and receiving yards.

That final positive point, however, is perhaps the most glaring negative of all for Green Bay's passing offense. Nelson drawing that much attention and still leading those categories is a credit to him, yes, but it's also a notable sign that the rest of Rodgers' options aren't winning their routes often enough. Randall Cobb drew fairly easy (by NFL standards) matchups and came away with only three catches for 29 yards. Jarrett Boykin had another bad dropped pass and finished with just one catch for 11 yards. Davante Adams had a rookie moment by seemingly misunderstanding a signal from Rodgers that led to an incomplete pass. Adams, after a breakout-type game in Week 2, had just two catches for 11 yards.

Detroit's secondary is better in some ways than it has been in the past (such as having emerging cornerback Darius Slay on one side), but injuries had that group very depleted Sunday. Yet, Rodgers threw for the second-fewest yards of his career with 162. Rodgers shouldn't be let off the hook with this, though. He underthrew and misfired passes that he never used to miss. That was most evident on a fourth-down pass in the fourth quarter that could have given the Packers a chance for a comeback. Instead, Rodgers threw behind Nelson, which essentially sealed the win for the Lions.

It was surprising to see Green Bay not go to a four-receiver set until late in the game, but perhaps that's an acknowledgement by head coach Mike McCarthy that the offense doesn't have the personnel to make that lineup successful.

Rushing Offense: D-minus

Eddie Lacy struggled for the third consecutive game to begin this season. This might have been his worst performance of the bunch, too.

In what turned out to be a low-scoring game, Lacy fumbled on the Packers' second offensive snap, and the ball was scooped up by Detroit and returned 40 yards the other way for a defensive touchdown. Lacy had a 17-yard gain in the fourth quarter when the Lions were keying in on defending the pass. But, even with that, the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year had only 36 yards on 11 carries (3.3 average). He remains without a touchdown so far this season.

Like the seasons that predated Lacy's arrival, Detroit was basically asking Green Bay to run the ball by showing two-high safety looks in an effort to stop Rodgers. Yet, with the Lions dominating upfront, there was little room to work with on the ground. That was especially true when Lacy was tackled for a safety with tight end Richard Rodgers getting manhandled at the line of scrimmage to allow the defense into the backfield.

This grade would have been an "F" if not for James Starks rushing for 38 yards on eight carries (4.8 average). Believe it or not, Starks has had more rushing yards than Lacy in two of the Packers' first three games. That's despite Lacy getting more carries than Starks in those two games.

Rushing Defense: B-minus

Holding the combination of Reggie Bush and Joique Bell to 94 yards on 27 carries (3.5 average) is a fairly good accomplishment for the Packers defense. But while Bell was very much contained (15 rushes, 33 yards), Bush got free for 61 yards on 12 attempts (5.1 average) and hurt Green Bay.

The breakout play for Bush and the Lions' running attack was a 26-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. When Bush scooted left, Mike Neal found himself too far inside, and Micah Hyde didn't contain the edge well enough and wasn't fast enough to chase him down. Without that play, Bush's longest run would've been for 8 yards.

Where the Packers struggled most in this area was near the end of the game. With 6:54 on the clock when Detroit took over, up 19-7, the Lions ran it eight times and threw it just once before being able to kneel and let the final minutes tick away. A stop early in that drive would've at least given Green Bay's offense one more shot at scoring.

Passing Defense: A-minus

Matthew Stafford was held to a 61.6 passer rating, far worse than his career average of 83.2. A quarterback who throws zero touchdowns, has two interceptions and fumbles the ball away in scoring position is usually not the quarterback of the winning team.

The interception by Ha Ha Clinton-Dix marked the end of a 25-game drought (playoffs included) of Packers safeties not recording a pick. While the ball fell right into the arms of Clinton-Dix after it was popped into the air off of receiver Corey Fuller's hands, the rookie safety deserves credit for being in on the play where the action was happening.

Davon House continued his recent strong play with an interception while in coverage against Calvin Johnson. While House's interception wound up giving Green Bay the ball at the 1-yard line and led to a safety (when the Lions otherwise would have punted had the pass fallen incomplete), it was still an impressive moment by an emerging player.

Had the Packers come back to win this game, it would've been in large part due to a play by Julius Peppers. With less than six minutes remaining in the third quarter and the Lions on the 7-yard line and looking to score, Peppers had a clear mismatch as he lined up across from third-string right tackle Garrett Reynolds. Peppers not only sacked Stafford, he stripped the ball and recovered it himself. It was the type of potentially game-changing moment that general manager Ted Thompson hoped he would get when signing Peppers this offseason.

Green Bay should also be happy about holding Johnson to 82 yards on six receptions with no touchdowns. For a once-in-a-generation player of Johnson's caliber, that's a win for the Packers secondary.

Special Teams: B

It was a rough day on special teams for Brandon Bostick, who was called for both a holding penalty and a false start. Randall Cobb ran a mile to gain 22 yards on a punt return that only he (among players on Green Bay's roster) could have pulled off. Former Packer Jeremy Ross was kept from making an explosive return on his opportunities. Mason Crosby didn't have any field-goal attempts, while his counterpart, Nate Freese, missed a 41-yarder that was met with boos from the home crowd.

Overall: C

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers often draws the ire of Green Bay's fan base, but the blame can't fall on him this time. The Packers defense deserved to win this game with its performance, but it was the offense that let the team down.

Green Bay has faced three high-quality front-7 defenses to begin the season, and it has showed. But the mystery of how to run the ball with Lacy or pass the ball efficiently to anyone on a consistent basis other than Nelson has yet to be solved by McCarthy.

Maybe the Packers will be able to turn their season around soon, but the way they've looked through three games makes it obvious that winning the NFC North for a fourth consecutive year is far from a sure thing. If Green Bay has any hope of getting near the Super Bowl, it will require drastic improvements. Losing to a Lions team that Rodgers has dominated throughout his career perhaps shows that there's a changing of the guard within the division.

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