Two of the league's renowned franchises clashed in Week 4 - with their seasons heading in very different directions. In what could have been their final game against one another, Ben Roethlisberger looked bench-worthy while Aaron Rodgers looked ageless. The Packers walked away with their first regular season win over Pittsburgh since 1995.
If there was any negative undertone to the win at Lambeau, it begins with injuries. The Packers lost Jaire Alexander to a shoulder injury in the second half after already being without cornerback Kevin King. On top of that, one must be concerned with the overall direction of the Packers' special teams, led by first-year coordinator Maurice Drayton. Botched protection on a field goal before half was nearly disastrous while coverage and return units continue to look sluggish.
Still, a win is a win and the Packers are 3-1, remaining atop the NFC North.
On Offense
It took four weeks but Sunday brought the renaissance of Randall Cobb that fans had been waiting for. The vet helped justify Rodgers' advocacy for his return to Green Bay by leading the Packers in receiving yards (69) and touchdowns (2) against the Steelers. While he only had five total receptions, three of them came on big third down attempts that kept key drives alive.
For a second straight week, an undermanned offensive line came up big against a very good defense. This week, however, I felt the unit's run blocking was vastly improved, creating big lanes for Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon that helped sustain long, time-consuming drives. While having Elgton Jenkins (and eventually David Bakhtiari) back soon is important, it's nice to know that the offense is still capable of hanging 27 on a quality defense without its preferred five linemen.
On Defense
There are plenty of caveats attached to the Packers' sub-300-yard stifling of the Pittsburgh offense, starting with the fact that Roethlisberger looked nothing like the old Big Ben. A young secondary consistently watched Ben miss clean looks at his receivers that could have gone for big gains. Eric Stokes, in particular, took a step back in his rookie progression, taking several bad angles that led to missed tackles.
The run defense was marginally better. While they contained running back Najee Harris overall, it came with the rookie regularly pile-driving hoards of Packer defenders for extra yardage - and also at the expense of the injury to Alexander. Without starter Krys Barnes, backup linebackers Oren Burks and Ty Summers played more snaps than fans would like, further softening an already-passive front seven.
Where the Packers improved from the first three weeks of the season was the pass rush. While Roethlisberger was only sacked twice, he was still induced into making bad throws - and not just by the Packers' edge rushers. Joining the party this week was third-year defensive end Kingsley Keke, whose bull rush helped force a fumble during the first half. With Kenny Clark having received next to no help from his fellow d-linemen for some time, it was refreshing to others step up.
In Summary
This game was no where near as close as the final score suggests, but the Packers have lots to clean up before a road trip to Cincinnati. Additionally, they'll need to get healthy on both sides of the ball.
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