PC Games » Turnovers just might be the most important statistic in football

.Just ask the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers.The 49ers last week had a 33-10 edge in first downs against Arizona but still lost by 10 following five giveaways.The Packers (2-2-1) almost doubled the Lions in total offense (521-264) and still lost 31-23 after coughing up three turnovers.Guess what the Packers will be focusing on in practice as they prepare to host the 49ers at Lambeau Field on Monday night?“Sometimes that ball bounces your way and sometimes it doesn’t. But you have to create more opportunities https://www.thepackersfanshop.com/Geronimo-Allison-Jersey ,” coach Mike McCarthy said on Thursday. “We’ve created too many giveaway opportunities and we clearly don’t have enough takeaway opportunities.”A team considered one of the top contenders in the NFC is off to a choppy start. Other than a 22-0 win over Buffalo, the Packers have alternated one bad half with one good one.The first half has been the problem in three games, which has forced Green Bay to play catch-up. It worked in the season opener, when Aaron Rodgers tossed three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter for a 24-23 win over Chicago after falling behind 20-0.But slow starts have doomed the Packers in losses at Washington and Detroit. Against the Lions last week, the Packers fell behind 24-0 at the half before losing 31-23.“That’s not how you start games and expect to win, especially against a good opponent. We’ve got to start faster than that,” receiver Davante Adams said after the Detroit loss.The 49ers (1-4) were sloppier, overshadowing the gaudy stats they put up on offense. They also failed to force a turnover.“I think we’ve been close to winning. It’s not an excuse. We definitely should have won more games than we have,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We’ve got to find ways to not turn it over and get the ball in the end zone.”Some other notes and things to watch:BACKING KICKERMcCarthy offered a vote of confidence for Mason Crosby following the kicker’s awful game against Detroit, going 1 of 5 on field-goal attempts and missing his only extra-point try. Crosby was 10 of 11 on the year before last week, including two 52-yarders in Week 4 against Buffalo. He also missed an extra-point attempt in that game.“He’s a proven, highly successful kicker, I still believe in him,” McCarthy said. “But he knows it – he has to make those kicks. … So hopefully we’ll learn from it and move on.”NOT PRIMEThe 49ers were expected to be an intriguing team based on a five-game winning streak to end last year with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback. That earned them five prime-time games, starting with the trip to Green Bay.But the Niners are a much less compelling draw with a losing record and Garoppolo out for the season with a knee injury. They already had a game on Oct. 21 against the Rams moved out of prime time and could lose another in December at Seattle as viewers are less interested in watching backup C.J. Beathard than Garoppolo.“When things are good, you’re on top of the world Oren Burks Jersey , people praise you,” Beathard said. “When things are bad, they’ll bash you and you’ve just got to take both of those the same way and not even acknowledge anything on the outside.”RODGERS’ KNEEThe two-time NFL MVP seems to be moving a little better each week after hurting his left knee in the first half of the season-opening win over the Bears. Rodgers, though, did say he took a shot to the knee early in the Lions game that might require him to keep wearing a brace.He also had to play last week without injured receivers Randall Cobb (hamstring) and Geronimo Allison (concussion/hamstring). Allison did at least clear the concussion protocol this week.The Packers will get a break after the 49ers game with a bye week.OPEN SCREENShorter is better for Beathard. The 49ers were able to exploit Arizona’s defense with screen passes, with Beathard going 11 for 14 for 130 yards and a TD on throws that didn’t cross the line of scrimmage. His 129.2 passer rating on those passes eclipsed his 60.3 rating on passes beyond the line of scrimmage.“Screens are always hit or miss,” Shanahan said. “Sometimes, you catch them in blitzes. If you can get it off and no one sees the guy you’re screening to, there’s a lot of room to run.”RUN DOWNAaron Jones might be the most explosive option out of the Packers’ crowded backfield, averaging 6.1 yards per carry. But he was limited to seven carries for 40 yards last week as Green Bay played catch-up against Detroit. Jamaal Williams starts the game and is good in pass protection, while Ty Montgomery is a receiving threat out of the backfield.If the Packers can play with an early lead, they might be able to give the ball more to Jones to run and balance the offense.___AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this story.___ Even after losing to the worst team in football and getting their coach fired, the Green Bay Packers were supposed to beat the Falcons. The oddsmakers in the desert agreed, which hardly makes Green Bay’s 34-20 win a surprise in terms of the outcome. But how they did it, putting up 34 straight and throttling a talented Atlanta team, likely shocked most of Cheesehead Nation. This was the team we expected to see. Aaron Rodgers regained some of his lost accuracy Marquez Valdes-Scantling Jersey , the offense hummed on third down (7/13) and didn’t bog down in the red zone (1/1). A revamped secondary did an excellent job against Matt Ryan’s high-powered offense with myriad weapons, and Joe Philbin’s team got the first truly complete win of the year. But, as the saying goes, even a dead cat will bounce if you drop it from high enough. Gruesome metaphors aside, it’s not uncommon for teams to come back and win after firing a coach. Rodgers said the team bought into Philbin’s message immediately, a potential indictment of Mike McCarthy but also an indication of the ferocity with which this team craved a new voice. Philbin made sure Aaron Jones got his touches after a slow start, as Jones put up 106 yards and a touchdown on 20 touches. The passing game found its rhythm with more short passes and underneath looks and Philbin prioritized personnel multiplicity, constantly changing formation and player groupings. Rodgers regained some of his lost accuracy and the offensive line got its act together in the second half despite all the injuries. Surely Randall Cobb’s return buoyed this offense, not just with his touchdown catch, but in providing Rodgers another receiver he trusts to be in the right spots consistently. If there’s reason to believe Sunday’s model could be sustainable though, it’s on defense, where a short-handed secondary held the Falcons under 150 yards until deep into the third quarter. The two late touchdowns were aesthetic only, with the game very much in garbage time. Jaire Alexander’s day would have looked much better had the officials correctly ruled the first two Julio Jones catches, but he made up for it with impact plays as a tackler and blitzer. Clay Matthews had his best day as a Packer in a long time and Bashaud Breeland looks like a player Green Bay should try to keep this offseason. Holding the Falcons to seven points during meaningful run of play didn’t have anything to do with Mike McCarthy not being the head coach. Atlanta self-destructed with some penalties, but part of that was because they struggled to block the Packers front. The defense playing like this truly does suggest a pathway forward for this team to make significant improvement, whether this year or beyond. What happened Sunday validates Mark Murphy and Brian Gutekunst. This is the team Green Bay should have been from and we saw hints of it in Week 1 when Rodgers was actually on the field. In light of what the Bears defense did to Jared Goff and the Rams Sunday night Jimmy Graham Color Rush Jersey , the Rodgers comeback looks even more miraculous in hindsight. More to the point, there was nothing truly flukey about what the Packers did to the Falcons. There were no trick plays or ultra-lucky breaks. The Atlanta fumble in the red zone was lucky, but it was late in the third quarter with Green Bay still up 20. The schematic tweaks Philbin made worked and, more importantly, the team bought into them. Success begets success when it comes to confidence in a scheme, meaning this team should feel even better about the plan heading into a tough matchup with the Bears on Sunday.The last time the Packers faced the Bears, Aaron Rodgers went full Avengers and ripped Chicago’s heart out at Lambeau Field. Under the departed Mike McCarthy, Green Bay had won eight straight at Soldier Field. Even with Brett Hundley, the Packers found enough plays to win against Vic Fangio’s defense. But this version of the Bears defense has grown since Week 1. They’re on a record pace for turnovers and interceptions. They create pressure from every angle, disguise coverages extremely well, and create big plays as well as any defense since that Broncos Super Bowl team. It won’t take long to find out if the Packers offense found something sustainable. They play the best defense in football in six days. If the Packers really are closer to the team we saw Sunday, we’ll find out this weekend. Mike Pettine’s defense should once again be able to find ways to fluster Mitch Trubisky and should be much better prepared for his ability to make plays with his feet. That would have been true no matter who was the head coach and Pettine has shown the ability to game plan for these big games. The true test will come for Rodgers and the offense. No doubt Fangio will be ready with some wrinkles after stymieing the Packers in the first half of that Week 1 game even before Rodgers got hurt. Bryan Bulaga and Lane Taylor need to get back on the field to give Green Bay any chance, but even then Chicago’s ferocious defense will test any progress that has allegedly been made.Beating a talented team like Atlanta, in particular shutting down that offense for most of the game, isn’t nothing. But we won’t know until this weekend if the Packers’ improvement is actually something.