The Green Bay Packers’ running game has officially reached a level of hopelessness that feels statistically impossible. Forget getting things right, they couldn’t even dent a Carolina Panthers defense that rolled into Thursday night ranked a pathetic 30th in EPA allowed per rush. This was supposed to be their “get right” game, a chance for the offensive line to finally find some rhythm against a unit that had just been pummeled by Tampa Bay four days earlier, facing 48 carries and allowing a 94th percentile rushing success rate. The Panthers were tired, they were on the road, and they are a bad run defense. None of it mattered.
O-Line Was a Turnstile
Even with starting left guard Aaron Banks returning to the lineup, it was a disaster. Banks struggled more than anyone, getting credited with a jaw-dropping seven errors or lost blocks on the Packers’ 25 running back carries. That is a 28% failure rate, which just guts any play design. His fellow guard, Laken Tomlinson, who shifted to the right side after Banks came back, racked up four errors himself. And then there’s emergency third-string center John Williams, who somehow tallied three errors, including a truly horrendous whiff right near the goal line. Yeah, Josh Jacobs somehow punched it in, but good grief, Williams whiffed hard.
The tackles, Belton and Morgan, were a bit better, but still far from clean. Belton had two errors, and Morgan’s sole mistake was missing a linebacker on a Jacobs toss. Even small receiver Bo Melton got in on the action, making two errors on the final drive alone, missing a crack block and getting thrown four yards into the backfield. When you break down those 25 carries, someone messed up on a whopping 19 of them. You simply can’t generate the four, five, or six-yard gains needed to reliably sustain drives on the ground when someone’s always blowing their assignment.
Marshawn Lloyd’s Blind Bat Vision
But hold up, the offensive line isn’t the *entire* story, even if they’re the biggest culprit. We also got a “vision masterpiece” from running back Marshawn Lloyd. On what was arguably the best blocked play of the entire game, where the offensive line and tight end had everything perfectly sealed, Lloyd somehow managed to screw it up. He stopped his feet because a safety was fifteen yards away from him, completely ignoring the wide-open lane right where he was supposed to run. It’s a new low in the “Marshawn Lloyd is a blind bat” commentary, and it makes you want to pull your hair out when the blocking is finally there and the ball carrier doesn’t hit it.
This level of play, both from the line and the running backs, simply isn’t sustainable if this team wants to move the ball consistently. You cannot win when you can’t even get four yards against a bottom-tier run defense. The season is early, but this kind of performance is a major problem that needs fixing, and fast.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Acme Packing Company.
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