Paul Bretl | 12/18/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — This week against the New Orleans Saints on Monday night football, the Packers have the opportunity to clinch a playoff berth, however, that specifically isn’t what Matt LaFleur is focused on at this time.
“I’m not even worried about playoffs,” said LaFleur on Tuesday. “Not worried about it. I’m worried about us continuing to get better, staying in the moment, focusing on what’s right in front of us, and it’s by attacking our practices the right way and just building our habits. It’s all about how we improve throughout this process, and whatever happens, happens.”
Instead of intently focusing on the playoff picture, the Packers are chasing consistency, something that has often eluded them this season when it comes to putting together a complete 60-minute performance. If the Packers can master the mundane day-to-day details from the meeting rooms to the practice field and the overall weekly preparation and then carry that onto the field on Sundays, the playoff component will take care of itself.
“To me it’s about staying true to your process and trying to get better each and every day and making sure you’re on your details because I do think the details separate good from great and capitalizing on opportunities,” LaFleur said.
“We’ve got that mentality that you’re trying to win every game and you can only do it one game at a time so just focusing on that process and trying to do the best you can each and every day on the practice field, in the meeting rooms. I think that gives you a chance to go out there and play your best ball on Sundays.”
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After a fast start this past Sunday against Seattle, the Packers’ offense hit a lull in the second half. Following a field goal on their second possessions, the Green Bay offense would go punt, fumble, punt, and turnover on downs. It goes without saying, but not every drive is going to result in points, but what particularly stung about those empty possessions was how short they were.
Before that first punt, the Packers run just three plays. The fumble occurred on the second play and was followed by a three-and-out, and then the turnover on downs was a seven-play drive that included one first down. In the blink of an eye, the Packers went from moving the ball up-and-down the field with ease to not being able to do so at all, with the run game getting bottled up and just an overall lack of execution.
“We’ve got to execute better,” said LaFleur of the offense’s second half performance. “Certainly there’s times where we as coaches have to put our guys in better position, but yeah, that’s why both teams get paid because they’re going to make adjustments and we’ve just got to make sure we stay a step ahead of them.
“I do think there were some times where we were running the ball pretty effectively in the second half. It just was too inconsistent, and we knew it at halftime that they were probably going to start amping up their level of pressure and we saw some more Cover zero in the second half and we didn’t necessarily make them pay when we did see those situations.”
This is only a game sample size described above, but that contest in Seattle was also a bit of a microcosm of what we’ve seen from the Packers’ offense since the bye week.
Seemingly each week, and at times, at different moments within each game, we see different units of phases of the game for the Packers pick up the slack as other elements may be sputtering. In Chicago, it was the special teams unit that saved the day. Against San Francisco and Miami, it was Josh Jacobs and the run game that the Packers leaned on.
A week later versus Detroit, with the defense struggling to get stops, the Green Bay passing game in the second half shouldered the workload, and in this most recent game, after a fast start by the offense, it was the pass rush and defense that kept the Seahawks at bay in the second half.
This ability to win in a variety of ways could prove to be quite valuable come the playoffs. Against the NFL’s top teams, those opponents are going to do everything they can to take away what Green Bay does well and will throw new looks at them. You’re going to get punched in the mouth come the postseason and adversity is going to hit. The successful teams in January are often the ones that can make adjustments and overcome all of that the quickest.
Four straight empty possessions, like we saw in Seattle, that include a turnover and 15 total plays against teams such as Detroit or Philadelphia could turn a close game into a multi-score deficit or erase a lead that had been established. It’s stretches such as that one that will send a team home in the playoffs.
“It’s something that we’re gonna have to clean up just having that consistency through four quarters and being able to put together a four quarter battle,” Jordan Love said following the win in Seattle. “But we always talk about, you know, these games somehow it always comes down to the last couple minutes. Teams find a way to put up points and do different things.
“So you know, you’ve got to be able to keep that foot on the gas and keep making those big time plays that we were making the first half. But we definitely got to do better of just playing a complete four quarter game.”
As LaFleur said coming out of the Detroit game, oftentimes, those close matchups are decided by just a few plays. However, you never know when those pivotal plays are going to emerge during the course of a game. While the Lions won on a last-second field goal two weeks ago, earlier in the game, they converted two fourth-downs into touchdowns, and the Green Bay offense found itself in an early 10-0 hole, sparked by offensive line struggles and a fumble.
Those are just a few examples of plays throughout the game that ended up carrying quite a bit of weight in determining the outcome. Ultimately, it’s consistency, down in and down out and from series to series, that will help tilt those pivotal moments in the Packers’ favor.
“I think the details what separates a lot of these games, especially late in the season,” LaFleur said. “When you’re playing good football teams are separated by a couple of plays, and you never know when those plays are going to show up. So you better make sure that you maximize those opportunities. You’re on all your little details in order for you to be on top when that clock hits zero.”
Now, having said all of that, there’s a lot of good from this Packers’ team as well. While the offense was plagued by self-inflicted mistakes throughout the first half of the season, which only exacerbated the inconsistencies of that unit, those errors have been significantly reduced over the last month-plus. That, coupled with a healthy Jordan Love, has been the catalyst behind an offense that has eclipsed the 30-point mark in four straight games.
On the defensive side of the ball, the pass rush is picking up steam after a lackluster start to the season, and the defensive front as a whole is playing some of its best football. We’re also continuing to see the emergence of Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper at linebacker, while the cornerback position–with help–has navigated not having Jaire Alexander on the field.
“We’ve, we’ve found a way to win a lot of games,” said LaFleur after the Detroit game. “So I don’t want to discredit that, but I think when you’re playing against one of the premier teams in the league, you better be your best. So we just got to be better in those situations.”
During his bye week press conference, GM Brian Gutekunst discussed the importance of peaking at the right time, which is when the playoffs arrive. We saw the value of that just a season ago, where on paper, the Packers were 9-8 and the NFC’s seventh seed, but on the field, they were operating as one of the better teams in football.
I don’t think anyone would say that this Packers team is peaking right now. As discussed, there are still things that have to get cleaned up. Yet even with that being the case, the offense is still averaging 32.3 points per game over the last month, illustrating the potential that is out there for this team. But unlocking it and reaching their ceiling is going to take more consistency, and for that to happen on Sundays, it starts with executing the day-to-day details at a high level.
“We’ll see,” said LaFleur after the Seattle game when asked how close this team was to reaching its potential. “We’re going to take it one game at a time. That’s just the mindset that we’ve always had here. I still think there’s a lot to improve upon – myself included.”