5 observations from the Packers’ 23-19 loss to the Steelers

At midweek, it was pointed out to Joe Barry by one of the members of the beat-writing corps that the assembled reporters had given the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator a considerable amount of grief about his unit’s struggles to stop the run.

“Yeah,” Barry replied. “I know you have.”

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When the chuckles died down, Barry added, “Sometimes well-deserved.”

Sunday’s 23-19 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers was another one of those well-deserved times.

The Steelers finished the game having run the ball 36 times for 205 yards, and with second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett still very much in the early-career learning stage that Packers quarterback Jordan Love is in, it seemed odd the Packers’ defensive focus wasn’t to stop the run and make Pickett win the game.

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Perhaps being without his top three cornerbacks — Jaire Alexander (inactive with a back injury), Rasul Douglas (shipped to the Buffalo Bills at the trade deadline) and Eric Stokes (on injured reserve) — had something to do with that.

Still, the Packers are now the only team in the league that has surrendered 200 or more rushing yards in three games this season. A unit that came into the game having allowed just 2.28 yards per rush over the past two games was again shredded.

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“We knew they were going to try to run the football,” said coach Matt LaFleur, who pointed to “a lot of missed tackles” as a major issue with the run defense. “We had a lot of calls designed to stop the run, and they were still gashing us.

“It certainly wasn’t good enough. You can’t give up almost 200 yards rushing in this league and expect to win football games.”

The Steelers gashed the Packers early, as their back-to-back touchdown drives to start the game were fueled by the run, which gained 77 of Pittsburgh’s 135 yards and accounted for both TDs: a 4-yarder by Najee Harris and a 16-yarder by Jaylen Warren.

And then, with the Packers down 20-19 with 9 minutes, 24 seconds left in the game, the defense couldn’t slow down the Steelers’ ground attack again. Pittsburgh ran the ball on its first four plays of the series, gaining 41 yards to set up a crucial field goal.

“We knew they wanted to run the ball and at the end of the day we didn’t do enough,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark. “We got into kind of a flow at the end of the first, second and third quarter but at the end of the day we gave up too many yards.”

Here were five other observations from the Packers’ loss.

1. LaFleur said he wanted to see Love ‘let it rip’ more. He did that Sunday

After watching Love underthrow more than his fair share of deep balls during the first eight games — including one in the first half of last week’s win over the Los Angeles Rams — LaFleur challenged Love this week to “trust it and let it rip.”

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Love did just that against the Steelers. The result? A bevy of big plays created in part by Love’s greater decisiveness, including his 35-yard touchdown to Jayden Reed in the first half; his 36-yard down-the-seam strike to tight end Luke Musgrave in the third quarter; and his 28-yarder downfield to Musgrave late in the fourth quarter. He also let loose on an intermediate route to Dontayvion Wicks, whose 32-yard catch-and-run included 16 yards after the catch.

2. Jones’ fateful decision to not go out of bounds felt like a rookie mistake

While Jones said he didn’t think he could get out of bounds after coming back for the ball, LaFleur circled back to the play later in his news briefing in an answer to an entirely different question.

“I really think the play that really hurt us, obviously,” LaFleur said, “was just wasting so much time when we checked it down to Aaron Jones.”

3. It seems like every time you miss an extra point, it comes back to bite you

That certainly was the case Sunday, when Pittsburgh’s Patrick Peterson blocked Anders Carlson’s PAT following Reed’s touchdown, making the score 17-13 instead of 17-14.

Instead of needing just a field goal late to force overtime, the Packers offense needed a touchdown — and got two Love INTs on passes intended for Christian Watson.

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“Anytime you get a PAT blocked, it just changes some of the decision making at the end of the game, where you’re going for touchdowns instead of having the option of kicking a field goal to tie the game up,” LaFleur said.

4. The Packers got hosed on that incomplete pass that was actually thrown backwards

While CBS’s rules analyst and ex-NFL referee Gene Steratore claimed the replay was “really difficult” because of the camera angle and didn’t show enough to overturn the call, it sure looked like Pickett’s pass to the right flat was behind Jaylen Warren and should have been called a lateral.

While Packers outside linebacker Rashan Gary ultimately recovered the ball inside the Steelers’ 10-yard line, which would have meant a clear recovery had the initial incomplete ruling been overturned, LaFleur lost his challenge and Pittsburgh punted.

“I thought it was pretty clear to me, but somebody else felt differently. That’s the way it is,” LaFleur said, before adding sarcastically, “I guess I was wrong.”

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Added Gary: “Looking at the big screen, it looked like it was a little behind him, but at the end of the day, I’m not a referee. So they called it how they wanted to call it.”

5. Tom, Walker more than held their own against Steelers edge rushers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith

Rasheed Walker, getting the start at left tackle with Yosh Nijman (back) active but presumably only available for emergency duty, bounced back from the performances that got him benched in favor of Nijman and kept Steelers edge rusher Alex Highsmith at bay.