Packers Ride Out Ups and Downs For Week 1 Win

Jordy Nelson (#87) returned to action for the Packers against the Jaguars and caught Aaron Rodgers' first touchdown pass of the season.

It was good. It was bad. It was beautiful. It was ugly. It was perfectly executed. It was sloppy.

It was Week 1.

What else do you want? Aaron Rodgers played one preseason game. Jordy Nelson didn’t play any. Lane Taylor learned barely a week ago that he was going to be starting at guard. There were bound to be growing pains, and we certainly saw them on full display.

Stretching back to last season, red zone execution has been a problem and it popped up again. Twice the Packers were stymied inside the ten, once because the offensive line didn’t pick up an audible call from Rodgers. Two extra touchdowns could have turned Sunday’s contest from a tight game into a laugher. The Packers forced their defense to sweat it out.

The defense, too, was not immune to growing pains. There was certainly plenty of good seen, including the Packers limiting the Jaguars to fewer than 50 rushing yards. But the Packers young corners were roasted and toasted at times, and the even younger inside linebackers were merely adequate.

But it was Week 1. And it was a win.

The Packers will surely be tested on the road again next week in Minnesota. While Lane Taylor may have held up against Jacksonville’s front, Minnesota is an entirely different animal.

Mike Zimmer made his name as a defensive coordinator with his relentless use of the double A-gap blitz, attacking the interior offensive linemen. If Taylor flinches in the face of that pressure at all, the Aaron Rodgers may be in for a long evening in Minnesota.

This was certainly just Week 1. Though it was a win, there is plenty of learning and growing to be done, and there’s only a few days to do it.