The Green Bay Packers’ first litmus test without superstar tight end Tucker Kraft came in the form of the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night. The end result was the farthest thing from pretty. However, many among the multitudinous malfunctions on offense could be directly traced back to Kraft’s absence.
There were no illusions about one player in particular being able to fill Kraft’s shoes after he suffered a torn ACL against the Carolina Panthers. Despite being taken one round higher than Kraft in the same class, Luke Musgrave was behind Kraft in the pecking order for a reason. Green Bay will have to rely upon Musgrave for the remainder of the season, but it’s unreasonable to expect him to pick up where Kraft left off seamlessly.
In Monday night’s affair against the Eagles, head coach Matt LaFleur coached as though he didn’t have a passing game. That is, at least not until the Packers were down 10-0 late, when the passing plays started coming in abundance and the urgency ramped up.
It’s a disservice to call Tucker Kraft a security blanket. Still, sometimes within the confines of this offense, he’s exactly that for quarterback Jordan Love. When things break down, look for Kraft. When there’s a fourth down in Arizona in a gotta-have-it spot to keep your hopes alive, look for Kraft. And look for Kraft when you’re in the red zone trying to put an exclamation point on a drive.
Trailing 3-0 late in the third quarter and facing a fourth-and-nine on Monday, Love went Bo Melton‘s way. Yes, the same Bo Melton who flipped from wide receiver to cornerback in the offseason and was on the field plenty at wide receiver on Monday night. Melton dropped a pass that Love put right in his bread basket, and it ended the drive, not to mention any momentum the Packers were trying to build.
It’s those exact scenarios where Tucker Kraft would’ve been the go-to guy, or at least the most likely one, before his season-ending injury. Kraft alleviated a lot of pressure on the offense and was emerging as the go-to guy in a passing game that prioritizes sharing the wealth.
Entering the game against Philadelphia, Packers tight ends had accumulated 59 targets on the season, and a whopping 44 of those went to Kraft. That’s an average of over seven targets per game for the tight end group in Green Bay. On Monday night, there were three total, all to Musgrave.
The passing game is far from the only area where the Packers miss Kraft. They heavily leaned on 12-personnel with Kraft, deploying it on nearly 25 plays per game. Against the Eagles, LaFleur used 12-personnel on just five snaps.
Losing Kraft was more than just losing the offense’s top weapon. It was this offense losing its identity, and now the Packers are scrambling for answers.
That includes Love.
We’re not getting into a rhythm. We’ll have a good play here, and then we’ll have a negative play. It’s a lot of things whether it’s a turnover, penalty, drop, sack, it’s a lot of things. So it’s just (finding) ways to keep the positive plays going and avoid these negative plays that we’re getting.
It wasn’t all poetry in motion before Kraft’s injury. Green Bay collapsed in Cleveland earlier in the season, and the Carolina Panthers stifled them even before the knee injury. First-half woes have plagued the offense for over a month. Still, there’s no doubting the trouble the offense will find itself in if it doesn’t start coming up with solutions for the absence of its No. 1 tight end.
Monday night shone a harsh light on that problem.
Having a player who can get an offense back on track, provide a quarterback with a reliable safety valve, and turn a five-yard pass into a 20-yard gain is incredibly valuable. It was just two weeks ago that Kraft was second in the NFL in yards after the catch per reception, trailing only Pittsburgh Steelers standout D.K. Metcalf. That included running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends.
The result will have many calling for LaFleur’s job. Others may question whether Love is the future of the franchise. Plenty of fans and analysts may begin to doubt whether or not this team is a serious playoff contender. All those questions are tangled up with Kraft’s absence.
Green Bay doesn’t have time to sulk. It needs to find an effective way to address an offense without its cornerstone. There’s still hope, but it’s starting to dwindle.