Packers look to get back up to speed to start games

The good news, we still have Aaron Rodgers, and hopefully he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Philadelphia surrendered 152 rushing yards and a touchdown to Seattle and now rank No. 19 in the league with 105.7 yards allowed per game.

At 5-5, the Eagles are a long way from being eliminated from the playoff hunt.

You were back on punt returns against Washington, replacing rookie Trevor Davis, who fumbled the week before against Tennessee.

His passer rating after five games was 87.8, the worst in his career as a starter. Anyone’s game at that point, right? Some felt that with Jordy Nelson back and Aaron Rodgers being, well, Aaron Rodgers, the Packers were once again Super Bowl contenders. “So we’ve got find a way to get a win next week and approach it one week at a time”.

A little balance could help, too. Though there were other factors – Matthews was also inactive – that likely led to the Packers coughing up 47 points at the Titans, Ryan sprained his ankle covering a punt before the Packers’ first defensive snap.

Since the change, Rodgers has been carrying the Packers with his arm and his feet.

Green Bay is 4-1 both straight up and against the spread in its last five meetings with Philadelphia, including a playoff victory at Lincoln Financial Field five seasons ago.

“It was a great game”, Rodgers said. “We have to start faster, I have to be sharper from the start and I will be”. The team claimed Michael off waivers during the lead-up to last Sunday’s tilt with Washington.

The Green Bay defense has been responsible for all but seven of those points in the last four contests, during which the opposition has averaged more than 420 yards per game and thrown for almost 1,250 yards and 12 touchdowns. None of the workouts included full-contact work, as the players haven’t yet recovered from Sunday night’s game.

And the concerns go deeper than just this season.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy has been on both sides of the spectrum when it comes to developing young quarterbacks. These numbers may not seem spectacular, but when you consider their win streak and the fact that their next game is against the struggling 49ers, you would have to fancy him to have a good week come week 12. Without Randall and No. 1 cornerback Sam Shields, out for the year following a concussion suffered in the opener at Jacksonville, the secondary has struggled mightily this season. The Cowboys had already finished their game and were back home, and the Redskins had yet to depart for the stadium. Matthews was in Green Bay for part of training camp, and also spent some time last season on the Redskins’ practice squad.

Rodgers’ numbers are down a bit from his career numbers – he is the highest-rated quarterback in National Football League history – but he still brings 25 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 96.0 passer rating into the Linc for Monday night’s game against the Eagles. We’ve had moments to pull out some of these close games that we’ve been in. He had no catches and a costly penalty for illegal formation that nullified a TD. They’ve outscored opponents 108-38 at the Linc. This season has been far from his best, having missed two games and received a total of just 44 passes. The 153 points allowed are the most by the Packers in a four-game stretch since the 1951 team gave up 156 its final four weeks.