The Sports Xchange

GREEN BAY — The Green Bay Packers made sure the Kansas City Chiefs never had a chance.

Well, a relieved Clay Matthews acknowledged afterward that late-game lapses by a previously effective defense allowed the Chiefs to get “in scoring contention” to turn what had the makings of a runaway victory into a 38-28 Green Bay victory Monday night.

No matter the dearth of style points in the closing minutes at Lambeau Field, Matthews and teammates can’t quibble with how the season has begun.

The Packers are 3-0, fulfilling head coach Mike McCarthy’s long-held objective in the offseason for his team get off to a “fast start” after the team staggered to a 1-2 record each of the previous three seasons.

“It’s comfortable,” said receiver Randall Cobb, who had a career-high three touchdown receptions in Green Bay’s latest dismantling of a visiting opponent.

Yet, in the afterglow of prevailing for the 11th straight time at home – the best active winning streak in the league – the NFC North-leading Packers aren’t getting cozy with their promising start. They have a quick turnaround this week to get ready to play the San Francisco 49ers on the road Sunday with the team scheduled to leave early for the West Coast on Friday.

“It’s a good place to be in, but you can’t slow down,” Cobb cautioned. “You can’t get too comfortable.”

The Packers, however, are enjoying their unblemished lot thus far, riding the infallible start of quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

The NFL’s reigning MVP has yet to throw an interception this season. Moreover, on Monday, he matched his total output from the first two games by throwing for five touchdowns, the fourth instance he’s had at least that many to eclipse the team record of three set by predecessor Brett Favre.

“Typical Aaron,” right guard T.J. Lang said. “He’s been outstanding, the receivers have been outstanding, and I think the (pass) protection so far this year has been a plus.”

Rodgers staked the Packers to what seemingly was an insurmountable 38-14 lead early in the fourth quarter before the Chiefs mounted a late charge with two touchdown drives. Rodgers went 24-of-35 for 333 yards. Besides Cobb, who had seven catches for 91 yards and the touchdown hat trick, James Jones had seven receptions for 139 yards and a touchdown.

When asked after the game if he’s playing the best football of his decorated career of seven-plus seasons as a starter, Rodgers replied, “Well, I need to. I need to bring it every week. … Thankful for the three wins and would like to keep it going like this throughout the season. Consistency is very important in our business, and if you’re making good decisions and taking care of the football, you’re going to give your team a chance to win.”

So far, so good for Rodgers and the Packers three weeks into a season that is providing far greater comfort than how they have felt at this point in recent years.

NOTES, QUOTES

–Quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ typical high rate of production hasn’t been hurt any by a short-handed supporting cast.

The star quarterback has risen above a string of injuries to key skilled players since the preseason last month to lead the Packers to a 3-0 start.

Now, Rodgers may have some more adversity to overcome as he gets ready to return to his native Northern California later this week ahead of the Packers’ game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Not only could young starting receiver Davante Adams be hard-pressed to play because of an aggravated ankle injury, but Green Bay will be without veteran tight end Andrew Quarless indefinitely.

An MRI exam done Tuesday revealed a sprained MCL for Quarless, according to various reports. Quarless sustained the injury to his left knee in the second quarter of the Packers’ 38-28 win over the visiting Kansas City Chiefs.

Head coach Mike McCarthy in his news conference Tuesday would only say Quarless has a sprained knee and would be challenged to play Sunday.

The early prognosis for Quarless, given the severity of the injury, is he will be sidelined for four to six weeks.

Although Quarless lost his starting job to second-year player Richard Rodgers in the preseason and had his first two catches of the season Monday, his extended absence impacts the Packers.

Green Bay has only two tight ends on the 53-man roster as it jumps right into preparations for Sunday’s matchup with the 49ers. Kennard Backman, a sixth-round draft pick this year, figures to be activated on game day for the first time.

“He’s ready to go,” McCarthy said about Backman. “He’ll get his opportunity this week. We’ll see how much, we’ll see how the week of preparation goes, we’ll see what his role is, and he’ll be ready to go.”

The Packers have a potential third option at tight end with Justin Perillo. The second-year pro is on their practice squad, so a subtraction would have to be made from the 53 to clear a spot for Perillo by the weekend if general manager Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy were so inclined.

Meanwhile, the short turnaround between games may be a hindrance to Adams, who reinjured a sprained left ankle just three plays into Monday’s game. Adams didn’t return to action.

McCarthy indicated Adams was in for treatment Tuesday but didn’t shed any light on his status for the rest of the week.

“It’s part of the game,” McCarthy said. “We’ve just got to get healthy.”

REPORT CARD VS. CHIEFS

–PASSING OFFENSE: A-minus. Don’t look now, but Aaron Rodgers and New England Patriots counterpart Tom Brady are running neck and neck as the front-runners for league MVP after just three weeks. Rodgers, the NFL’s reigning player of the year, is playing as though he’s not moved to relinquish the honors. An overmatched back end for the Chiefs was the latest defensive group to be exploited by Rodgers’ sheer mastery in the passing game, especially capitalizing on three more free plays that resulted from Kansas City’s impatience up front. Picking on young cornerback Marcus Cooper repeatedly, Rodgers made throwing for five touchdowns seem effortless, as usual. Rodgers finished 24-of-35 for 333 yards and extended his league-record streak of not having a pass intercepted at home to 580 attempts going back to December 2012, though the Chiefs came incredibly close to putting an end to that on two pass deflections over the middle. Thanks to the new dynamic duo of Randall Cobb (12 targets, seven receptions for 91 yards and a career-high three touchdowns) and James Jones (eight targets, seven catches for 139 yards and a touchdown), many are forgetting the Packers are without No. 1 wideout Jordy Nelson for the entire season because of a knee injury. Rodgers was sacked only once by a formidable Chiefs pass rush –and that one didn’t belong to stud Justin Houston. However, Houston and fellow outside linebacker Tamba Hali created pressure against the tackle tandem of Don Barclay on the right side and David Bakhtiari on the left. Rodgers’ giveaway of the football on a pocket hit from behind by defensive lineman Allen Bailey in the first half was nullified by a contact penalty on the woeful Cooper.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: B. Featured back Eddie Lacy came in less than 100 percent healthy because of a sprained ankle that knocked him out early from the previous game. No problem for Green Bay’s other productive dimension on offense, which hasn’t been always about Aaron Rodgers’ precision passing through three games. To save added wear and tear on Lacy, the Packers utilized a committee approach to post a third straight game of at least 120 rushing yards. Led by Lacy’s 46 yards in 10 carries and a healthy dose of James Starks, who ran the football 17 times but for only 32 yards, Green Bay accumulated 123 yards on the ground. Undrafted rookie Alonzo Harris made his pro debut as the No. 3 halfback and didn’t let his first carry go to waste, busting loose for a team-high rush of 16 yards. Lacy and Cobb also had explosive runs of 13 and 12 yards, respectively, while Starks and a scrambling Rodgers each had an 11-yard gain.

–PASS DEFENSE: B-minus. An ultra-aggressive pass rush paid off with the Packers’ nearly doubling their sacks total from the first two weeks by dropping a beleaguered Alex Smith seven times. Six of those came in the second half, led by the first two of the season from roving linebacker Clay Matthews and 1 ½ from predictably stoked defensive lineman Mike Daniels. Yet, what set up to be a Monday night laughter with the Packers ahead 38-14 early in the fourth quarter turned into some tense moments down the stretch. Green Bay’s complacency on defending the pass allowed Smith to engineer substantial touchdown drives of 89 and 83 yards (the latter in 17 plays) to drop the deficit to the final margin of 10 points. Cornerback Sam Shields’ interception in the third quarter deep in Kansas City territory, the only turnover for both teams, was offset by Jeremy Maclin erupting in the latter stages of play to post big-time numbers of eight receptions for 141 yards and the Chiefs’ first touchdown by a receiver in 20 months. Maclin beat Shields for a 17-yard pickup down the middle on fourth-and-17 for one of Kansas City’s two fourth-down conversions via the pass in its last touchdown drive. Earlier in the game, 6-foot-5 tight end Travis Kelce somehow drifted behind three oblivious defenders for a 38-yard pass play, highlighting his night of six catches for 80 yards. The dual threat that is Jamaal Charles out of the backfield was mostly a nonfactor, turning seven targets into five catches for only 33 yards (long of 13).

–RUSH DEFENSE: A-minus. Two weeks after the Packers started the season in familiar fashion by giving up heaps of rushing yards to Matt Forte and the Chicago Bears, the defense is showing signs of being perhaps more than adequate against the run. The Packers allowed a season-low 75 rushing yards. Charles experienced the same kind of tough sledding that the Seattle Seahawks’ Marshawn Lynch endured on the same Lambeau Field turf eight days earlier. Charles had only 36 yards in eight carries at halftime. In part because the Chiefs had to get away from the run getting down by double digits late in the first half, Charles carried the ball only three times in the final two quarters. Yet, two of those capped his three-touchdown outing on the ground. He finished with 49 yards in 11 carries. The Packers’ defensive line was potent early with penetration, and the likes of safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (co-team-high six tackles) and inside linebacker Nate Palmer were quick and decisive in flowing to the football. After initial recognition by Matthews to the outside, Shields snuffed out what turned out to be a lateral throw from Smith to speedy receiver De’Anthony Thomas for a seven-yard loss in the first half. The few times Smith broke Green Bay’s liberal containment, he mustered 33 yards (long of 19) in six runs.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: B-minus. The Packers seem to have the hang of recovering late-game onside kicks, which they have done successfully two of the first three games, after their dubious screw-up at the most inopportune time in the fall-from-ahead NFC Championship loss at Seattle in January. A must going forward is shoring up some of their coverage. Knile Davis caught the kickoff-cover unit on its heels after he started to take a knee in the front of end zone before bringing the ball out and racing 54 yards early in the game. The Packers fared better defending punt returns, as Thomas averaged only 3.6 yards (long of 16) in five runbacks. Green Bay’s Tim Masthay averaged 43.0 gross and 39.4 net yards with his five punts. Kicker Mason Crosby connected from 44 yards on the game’s only field-goal attempt and had three touchbacks. The return duo of rookie Ty Montgomery and Micah Hyde averaged 32.0 (long of 36) and 7.5 yards (long of 13) on kickoff and punt runbacks, respectively.

–COACHING: B. Green Bay’s first 3-0 start since it won its first 13 games before being stunned on the road against the Chiefs in the teams’ last meeting in 2011 came about because of another superb performance from the Rodgers-led offense supplemented by some bright spots from the defense. The Packers played without veteran safety Morgan Burnett (calf) for the second time this season, but coordinator Dom Capers didn’t renege on an aggressive game plan with the emphasis on keeping the dangerous Charles under wraps. Capers made Matthews happy by positioning him more at his natural spot of outside linebacker, from where he wreaked havoc going after Smith, and relying on recently re-acquired first-year player Joe Thomas as an inside ’backer in passing situations. Still, the defensive letdowns on Kansas City’s lengthy touchdown drives late in the game have to be addressed. Tom Clements is flourishing as the play caller on offense because he’s allowing Rodgers to run the show on the field with remarkable returns in production. The injury bug continues to bite this team, and trying to weather a short week with a game on the West Coast against the San Francisco 49ers on tap will be huge.