Toe injury ends Davante Adams’ career night, Packers’ perfect record
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The only thing that could stop Davante Adams and the Green Bay Packers‘ offense Thursday was the little blue injury tent adjacent to their bench.
The Pro Bowl receiver was having the most productive game of his career — 10 catches for 180 yards — before being forced off the field because of a toe injury midway through the fourth quarter.
“It’s tough, because I feel like those are the type of moments that I’m built for,” Adams said.
With Adams being examined, the Packers had first-and-goal at the 1-yard line.
They threw all four times: Incomplete. Incomplete. Incomplete. Incomplete.
Game over.
Well, that didn’t officially end the Packers’ chances in a 34-27 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night. Aaron Rodgers & Co. — sans Adams — actually had one more possession, but the Eagles picked off a deflected pass near the goal line in the final minute.
To that point, it had been the Adams show.
Rodgers practically told the Eagles this coming in, and they still couldn’t stop it. Five days after the Packers quarterback proclaimed “four targets … is obviously not enough” for Adams, Rodgers rectified that.
Adams caught six passes in the first quarter, the most by a Packers player in a first quarter since Greg Jennings in 2011. By halftime, he had eight catches for 158 yards — 12 more yards than the entire Philadelphia offense.
But when the Packers needed Adams for the final two drives, he was out.
Troubling trend: So this is what happens when a real offense — with a real quarterback — comes to town.
Three weeks of praise heaped upon the Packers’ defense might have been the overreaction of the first month of the NFL season.
At least that’s what it looked like Thursday, when Carson Wentz and the Eagles rolled into Lambeau Field. And wait until the Packers have to play Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys next weekend. Or Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs later next month.
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Good thing the Packers (3-1) feasted on the likes of Mitchell Trubisky, Kirk Cousins and an aging Joe Flacco for three important early-season victories before the schedule turned tougher.
The Packers’ pass rush disappeared. They entered the game with 12 sacks — tied for third in the NFL through Week 3. They had none Thursday night.
They came in allowing 11.7 points per game. They gave up nearly twice that in the first half.
And the run defense. Oh, the run defense. The Eagles gashed the Packers for 176 yards on the ground.
“That’s been our in biggest issue, and we’ve talked in the room about it,” Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said the day before the game. “We’ve got to get a handle on the explosive plays — not just the runs but the passes. The praise we’re receiving as a defense, our guys know that we’re nowhere near where we can be. The film doesn’t lie.”
Promising trend? Maybe Green Bay’s first loss of the season won’t be the end of the world. If the Packers had won, Matt LaFleur would’ve been the first rookie head coach in franchise history to start a season 4-0. He would’ve been the fourth NFL rookie head coach to do it in the past 15 seasons. But two of the previous three didn’t make the playoffs in that season: Josh McDaniels (2009, 6-0) and Dan Quinn (2015, 5-0).
Eye-popping Next Gen Stat: Adams reached 20.7 mph on his 58-yard reception. That was his fastest max speed on a reception in the past four seasons, according to NFL Next Gen Stats research.