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Cheese Curds, 9/14: Packers’ creativity resulted in quick-strike offense

The Packers had four plays of 30 yards or more in week 1, and they’ll look to maintain a similar level of explosiveness in Atlanta this Sunday.

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Green Bay Packers v Chicago Bears Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

The Green Bay Packers were one of the highest-scoring teams in the NFL in week one, as their 38 points ranked second in the entire league. The 31 points put up by the offense was tied for third, behind only the Miami Dolphins (36) and Los Angeles Chargers (34), and the performance was in large part the result of a great deal of creativity from the offensive coaching staff.

Jordan Love did his part, to be sure. But the variety of personnel groupings and concepts that the Packers ran kept the Chicago Bears’ defense on its heels, especially in the second half. It led to explosive plays as well, as just one of the team’s touchdown drives was longer than 10 plays or five minutes on the clock, and two were five plays or less and took less than 2:30 of game time.

All in all, the Packers had four plays of 30 yards or more, a great start for a unit that was missing its most dangerous big-play threat in Christian Watson. Instead, it was creativity in playcalling and Aaron Jones’ explosiveness that led the team to a big day.

Will the team be able to maintain that level of production against an impressive Falcons defense? Tune in on Sunday to find out.

Packers using versatility and bombarding defenses with variety of looks and plays | Packers Wire
Matt LaFleur threw the kitchen sink at the Bears on Sunday, with nearly every personnel grouping imaginable taking the field at different times. Was he was doing so in an effort to find an identity or perhaps trying to put a lot on tape for defenses to have to prepare for? We'll start getting answers to that question this Sunday in week 2.

Opening win ‘definitely just a building block’ for Packers QB Jordan Love | Packers.com
Yes, Love played very well against the Bears, but he and the team know it's just one game in a long season. The offense will need to maintain its high level of play this week against a Falcons defense that looks much more creative and dangerous than Chicago did last Sunday.

For Packers’ Rashan Gary, the price is only going up if Week 1 is foreshadowing - The Athletic ($)
The Packers had Gary on the field for just 12 snaps on Sunday, and he rushed the passer 10 times. But the team credited him with a whopping seven pressures in those ten snaps, and if he's going to get a big new contract this season, the number on that deal is increasing.

Falcons speedy rookie Bijan Robinson will put run defense to the test | Packersnews.com ($)
The Falcons have a running back who just put up 1,000 yards a year ago as a rookie in Tyler Allgeier, then they drafted Robinson in the top ten this spring. It’s clear that they want to run the ball, which is something the Packers have struggled to stop consistently under Joe Barry.

'Ritual mass murder' report in Chapel St Leonards was yoga class - BBC News
Clearly this was a class focused on relaxation rather than an up-tempo, high-activity yoga class.