Aaron Rogers threw for 4 touchdowns, bringing his season total up to 25. The running game finally gained traction and rolled up 176 yards against a top 10 defense. The defense, despite a slew of injuries, was stout throughout the afternoon. Overall this was a great game for the Packers, but yet again, they let the other team hand around into the second half.
The Packers seem to have a propensity to playing down to their level of competition, winning relatively close games against the Rams, Jaguars, and now the Cardinals.
All three of those games had the potential to be blowouts, but time and time again the Packers let the opposing team hang around.
Another example of the Packers playing to their level of competition was their stomping of the Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football. It seems that the Packers only get truly excited to come out and play high octane teams, but as long as there is a W in the win column it isn’t anything to be too concerned about.
The resiliency of this team is undeniable; since losing to the Seattle Seahawks in one of the most controversial games in league history, the Packers have reeled off 4 straight wins heading into their bye week. The break comes just in time for a team that was missing 9 opening day starters, including big impact players like Greg Jennings, Cedric Benson, and Charles Woodson. None of those three will be healthy coming out of the bye, but this gives other contributors like Nick Perry, Jerel Worthy, and Sam Shields time to heal up and get back into the lineup in time for the Detroit game on Nov. 18th.
The Packers will be a difficult team to beat as long as the offense is firing on all cylinders like Sunday, but they need to do a better job of being consistent and sustaining drives to put teams away in the second half. Compared to last year, the offense has been much more reliant on the defense to bail them out of difficult situations, and that is not a recipe for success. Just look at the Dallas Cowboys.
The improvement of the defense is a big reason why Packers fans are feeling good about the second half of the season, which features 5 division games. To catch the Chicago Bears, who are sitting pretty at 7-1, the Packers will have to play more consistently as a team in the second half.
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