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Packers’ GM Brian Gutekunst on quiet NFL trade deadline: ‘It’s not a store’

Paul Bretl | 11/6/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers have Super Bowl aspirations and believe they are built to contend for a title. However, as is often the case in Green Bay, there wasn’t an acquisition made at the NFL’s trade deadline. In fact, they would technically fall in the selling category, trading away Preston Smith.

There are numerous factors that have to align when it comes to making a trade deadline deal, but the Packers decision not to acquire a player is two-fold: they like the depth that they have on the roster already and there just weren’t many opportunities for acquiring significant players.

“These things (trade talks) start four, five, six weeks before now,” said Brian Gutekunst on Tuesday, “and so as we went through it, I kind of assumed that it was going to be very quiet, and it very much was this year. I think those initial conversations, they can change, but as we monitored going through it, I think it was kind of pretty steady that it was going to be quiet. Acquiring any significant players, there wasn’t going to be a lot of opportunity to do that.”

Gutekunst has said since he began his tenure as Packers’ general manager that he wants to be in on every conversation. But it takes two to tango, as they say. The Packers may have interest in someone, but that doesn’t mean the organization is willing to part with that player.

Gutekunst has also discussed previously the importance of having a set price, in terms of what he is willing to give up, and not deviating from that, essentially taking any emotion or the feeling of ‘I have to add to this position group’ out of the equation. And for an organization that prioritizes drafting and developing, and has done particularly well in that area the last few years, parting with significant draft capital is likely rarely to be a preferred method for doing business.

“It’s not a store you can go in and pick and choose,” said Gutekunst of the trade deadline. “Those guys have got to be available and there just wasn’t a ton available this year. We always look at a lot of things, have some conversations, talk to people, but not a lot materialized this year.”

If there were two positions that Green Bay could have potentially added to, it was pass rusher and cornerback. The Packers’ inability to generate steady pressure with a four-man rush has been an issue this season, while the cornerback position without Jaire Alexander on the field becomes a much bigger question mark.

However, a lack of overall options on the trade market, coupled with what Gutekunst believes is a deep roster, reduced the number of opportunities to make an addition. The only cornerback traded on Tuesday other than Marshon Lattimore was Tre’Davious White, and it’s certainly possible that the Packers didn’t feel he was an upgrade over Eric Stokes and Carrington Valentine, not to mention that the team likes what they’ve gotten from Keisean Nixon and Javon Bullard.

“Those guys have done a great job this year,” said Gutekunst of Javon Bullard and Keisean Nixon. “Bull, for a rookie, he’s just done an excellent job when he’s put in the nickel. The ability for him to play safety and nickel and what’s put on that guy for a young player to do what he’s done is really exciting what he’s done already, where he’s about to go. So that’s been good for us.

“Again, Keisean hasn’t played a ton of outside corner for us and he was kind of put in that position and I think he’s done a really good job for us. He’s got excellent instincts, he can take the ball away. So yeah, I’m really happy with him out there as well.”

Also in play, I believe, is organizational philosophy. In part, the Packers traded Rasul Douglas last season to get a better look at Valentine and provide Stokes with a more clear path to playing time. This year, a similar move was made by trading Preston Smith, which now gives Arron Mosby and Brenton Cox more opportunities. Again, circling back to White, as an example, acquiring a veteran player would likely reduce the number of opportunities for developing players.

As we’ve heard both Gutekunst and Matt LaFleur mention countless times, the best way for a young player to grow is with in-game reps.

“Yeah, we’re excited to see both of those guys, see some more snaps,” said Gutekunst of Cox and Mosby. “I think certainly they’ve earned it. I thought they did a really nice job in training camp, and they’ve continued that through practice, and I think Mosby’s done a really nice job on teams for us. Brenton’s just really, I think he’s eager, and we’re eager to see him.”

Now, having said all of that, whether or not the pass rush improves over the second half of the season or the cornerback room finds more consistency with its depth remains to be seen. But from a process standpoint at this trade deadline, whether Gutekunst is proven right or wrong, the Packers’ belief in their roster and how they develop players, along with there not being many players available, led to another mostly-quiet trade deadline for Green Bay.

“I do,” said Gutekunst when asked if the current roster is built to contend. “I think a lot of the moves you saw today were reactions to injuries and things like that where you’re missing things. But yeah, no, I really like our group. Obviously we do a lot of work prior to the season to try to make sure that we’re a deep team that can sustain an entire season and if we have injuries that we don’t have to go outside of the building to fulfil that and I feel we’ve done that and I feel really good about our football team. I like our depth.”

Packers trade away DE Preston Smith prior to deadline

Paul Bretl | 11/5/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The trade deadline has come and gone for the Packers and no, they didn’t make an acquisition, however, they didn’t stand pat either.

About 90 minutes before the trade deadline hit, it was reported that the team was trading defensive end Preston Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In return, Green Bay received a 2025 seventh-round pick.

“I just want to say thanks to Preston Smith,” said Brian Gutekunst on Tuesday afternoon. “2019, we signed four guys and didn’t really know how that was going to shake out. For him to be here still 5 ½ years later and produce like he’s produced, he’s done a lot of good things for us. I’m really appreciative. He played a lot of good football for us and won a lot of games. I wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

In the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, it was reported by Ian Rapoport that with numerous teams in search of pass rush help, Smith was someone that organizations were reaching out to the Packers about.

Smith joined the Packers during the 2019 offseason as one of four significant free agent additions, along with Za’Darius Smith, Adrian Amos, and Billy Turner. Now in his sixth season with the team, Smith had been extremely durable, missing only one game during that span, in addition to totaling 41.5 sacks in his first five seasons, and being a leader and mentor within the locker room.

“Man, any guy in this locker room will tell you Preston is Preston,” said Rashan Gary during offseason programs. “Preston is the heartbeat, man. He’s going on 10 years. I’ve been with him my whole six years. Everybody feeds off him. When Preston talks, everybody be quiet and listen because when 10 years talk, he’s coming from experience and understanding. That’s what P brings, man, just a leader through in and through outs.”

However, despite all of that, this move doesn’t come as a complete shock either–and not only because there were reports of other teams being interested in him.

Operating as a 3-4 edge rusher for much of his career, the shift to Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 hand in the dirt defensive scheme came as a change for Smith. Although we don’t definitively know what role–if any–that played in his on-field production this season. Smith’s numbers have taken a tumble.

Through nine games, he is responsible for generating just 10 pressures and ranks 143rd in pressure rate among players with at least 100 pass rush snaps, according to TruMedia. The writing also seemed to be on the wall in recent weeks, with Smith’s playing time decreasing. After averaging nearly 40 snaps per game over the first five games, Smith was playing on average just 27 snaps per game over the last four, including a season-low of 21 against Detroit—and as Gutekunst mentioned, that trend of decreased playing time was only going to continue.

“I think it’s no different than last year,” said Gutekunst of the trade referencing the Rasul Douglas trade from 2023. “There’s some players we want to see. I think that the trend of how the snaps were going was only going to continue that way.

“I think again, it wasn’t something that we set out to do. It wasn’t something that we called a bunch of teams saying ‘hey are you interested in Preston Smith’ because we know his value. But when the opportunity came and we got the phone call, we just thought it made sense for us for what we’re trying to do.”

This is a move for the Packers that will provide some salary cap relief as well. Instead of releasing Smith in the offseason, the team restructured his contract, which helped lower his 2024 cap hit, but inflated his salary impact in future seasons.

But now, with Smith in Pittsburgh, who will take on his contract as is, the Packers will create $2.023 million in 2024. In 2025, Green Bay has now freed up $7.62 million, along with a hefty $18.21 million in 2026.

Now the big question is how the Packers make up for Smith’s absence. Realistically, it’s going to take a group effort, with more on the plates of Lukas Van Ness and JJ Enagbare, along with the team relying on Arron Mosby–who saw some third down snaps against Detroit–and Brenton Cox as well.

“We’re excited to see both of those guys, see some more snaps,” said Gutekunst. “I think certainly they’ve earned it. I thought they did a really nice job in training camp, and they’ve continued that through practice, and I think Mosby’s done a really nice job on teams for us. Brenton’s just really, I think he’s eager, and we’re eager to see him.”

Overall, the Packers haven’t gotten enough consistent production out of their pass rush this season. According to ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, which measures how often the Packers’ pass rushers win their matchup within 2.5 seconds, Green Bay will enter their bye week ranked 29th. The success that they have found in getting after the quarterback has often come from manufactured pressures designed by Hafley.

When it comes to the Packers defense as a whole reaching its ceiling this season, an improved four-man pass rush over the second half of the season will be a must, they’ll now have to do that without Smith and relying heavily on several young players.

“I think from that entire group, we need more from those guys as we move forward into the second half of the season and I think we’ll get that,” Gutekunst said of the defensive front. “I think as the last few games have trended, Lukas’ snaps have kinda already gone up to where he’s kinda gonna be probably and J.J. and then those guys, so I like that group. I like the way they work. They gotta continue to keep pushing and I think the addition of some of these guys getting some more snaps will help that.”

Bye week blues: Self-inflicted errors give Packers plenty to think about

Paul Bretl| 11/5/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis.– Coming off a disappointing loss against the Detroit Lions, the Packers will enter their bye week at 6-3 on the year, but they’ll have to sit with their most recent mistake-filled performance for the next two weeks before they return to the field.

“I think for us, the only thing that is hard is to go on a bye after a loss, because this loss will sit with you for a long time,” said Matt LaFleur on Monday. “We’ve got a lot to think about, I would say, over the next 13 days before we play again, or until we get really into the Chicago Bears. But it is what it is. I think there’s, like I said earlier, there’s a lot of things that we all have to collectively work on, on an individual basis in order to get us to be a better football team.”

Penalties, dropped passes, a back-breaking interception and some missed tackles on defense all contributed to the sloppy performance that we saw from the Packers on Sunday. But the truly alarming part of it all was that it’s not as if this was a one-off performance.

To varying degrees, self-inflicted mistakes have been the norm this season for the Packers, but they’ve often been able to overcome them with splash plays on both sides of the ball or simply because they are playing an inferior opponent. However, against a team of Detroit’s caliber, those errors are a recipe for disaster.

“I think we’ve been, we’ve had good moments of playing good complimentary football and then we’ve had some not so great moments,” said LaFleur. “And I think some of the mistakes maybe that we’ve made the last four games that we’ve won showed up yesterday against a good football team that, it’s hard to overcome those in those moments.

“So, they played, Detroit played a clean game. When you look at it, they played a clean game, didn’t make any critical mistakes where we were, had a handful of critical mistakes that really came back to bite us.”

As LaFleur said, there have been good moments. While it can be easy to fixate on the problems–particularly when the wounds are still fresh–this is a team that is still 6-3 on the year, has been one of the best at generating explosive plays on offense and among the best at forcing takeaways on defense.

However, for a Packers team with Super Bowl aspirations, they aren’t where they need to be in that regard either. Those miscues, specifically the penalties, have been a major contributor to the inconsistent play that we’ve seen from the offensive side of the ball this season.

Through nine games, this is a very boom-or-bust Green Bay offense, able to score as quickly as anyone, but it’s a group that also struggles to sustain drives with the aforementioned penalties or dropped passes or off-target throws or whatever it may be, putting the offense behind the sticks and in predictable passing situations, which for any unit can be difficult to overcome on a regular basis.

When it comes to the question, ‘how do the Packers find more consistency?’ we know the answer is fewer penalties and overall better execution to limit mistakes. But the calculus, or the solution to get to that answer, is what eludes this team. Everything just described has been an issue for much of the season, but it hasn’t improved.

“I think it’s just trying to do too much,” said Sean Rhyan after Sunday’s loss. “We were talking about you can’t make big plays, you just gotta do your job. I think it kind of happened today, just trying to do too much. I think we just gotta, when we are out there, relax a little bit, know that we’re good enough to take on whoever and execute.”

Unlike in the last two seasons where the Packers’ bye has come either very late in the season or early on, this year’s is right in the middle. While it will provide LaFleur, the coaching staff, and players the opportunity to take a step back and reflect on what has been up to this point in the season, the self-scouting component that is synonymous with the bye week from the outside is a bit “overblown,” says LaFleur. Week-to-week in-season, the Packers are always on top of that process.

However, without having to gameplan for a specific opponent this week, the additional time does provide the coaches and players with the opportunity to be hyper-intentional about one area that they can improve upon. The key to making that a worthwhile endeavor is making sure that the work done this week in that regard is then applied next week when the team is back together and on the practice field.

“I think it’s just, one of the things our staff is doing with each individual today (Monday) is, there’s got to be a focus on one thing that we can all improve upon because all of us can improve in some area,” LaFleur said. “So, that’s the focus today and I wanted our guys to know that leaving the building today so that when they come back on Monday, not only can they work on it over, on their own for the next six days, or whatever. But when we get back and have practice next Monday, that there’s got to be an intentionality behind that.”

No team wants to enter the bye week on a loss, but to state the obvious, at the halfway point of this season compared to last, the Packers are in a much different spot. Although the opportunities for improvement this season aren’t nearly as stark as what they were in 2023, this is a team that did have a pretty spectacular turnaround a year ago, and from a process standpoint, at least, the coaches can draw on those experiences to help the 2024 Packers find a second-half spark.

“I think that’s kind of one of the things we’re going to talk about as a staff,” added LaFleur, “is just some of the things we did the back half of the season to allow us to develop and continue to get better. And I think a lot of it just started with our approach to practice, how much competition we had in practice. I thought it made practices have more energy and I thought it reflected in our play quite frankly.”

Packers QB Jordan Love walking a ‘fine line’ between big plays and interceptions

Paul Bretl | 11/4/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — In a game that was filled with self-inflicted mistakes for this Packers team, none were bigger than the Jordan Love interception turned pick-six before halftime. Although there was still a half of football to be played, against a team of Detroit’s caliber who held a 17-3 lead and began the third quarter with the ball, climbing out of that hole was a massive undertaking for Green Bay.

On the previous drive, the Lions kicked a field goal to take a 10-3 lead. On the last few plays of that possession, the Packers used two of their timeouts to stop the clock, signaling that they wanted to have the opportunity to score before half.

Getting the ball back with 58 seconds remaining in the half, Love completed an eight-yard completion to Romeo Doubs. With the clock running and 32 seconds remaining, Love dropped back and, as he felt pressure, rolled to his right and, in doing so, twisted his body back towards the middle of the field to dump the ball off to Josh Jacobs. However, Lions’ safety Kerby Joseph–who Love did not see–was there waiting for the ball and returned it for a touchdown.

“On the interception,” said Love after the game, “I was moving out of the pocket, obviously Josh was blocking, protection, and I saw him trying to get out and was trying to dump it down. It was a check-down to him, and the ball did not go where I wanted it to. They made a good play on it.”

Along with penalties and dropped passes, interceptions thrown by Love have been a persistent issue for the Packers’ offense this season. Love is currently tied for the league-lead in interceptions with 10 this season, even though he missed two games due to an injury. To make matters worse, two of those interceptions have been returned for touchdowns, which is tied with Tennessee’s Will Levis for the most in football.

“It’s definitely disappointing,” said Love of throwing another interception. “Putting the ball in jeopardy way too many times and definitely something I have to clean up. I’ve talked about it week after week, so something I’ve just gotta learn from these mistakes and clean it up, but definitely something that I’m gonna make a big focus on going forward, of just finding ways to take care of the ball better.”

As I’ve discussed recently, both before and after the game, the Packers offense has struggled to find consistency this season. It’s been a very boom-or-bust offense this season, with the talent and ability to put up points quickly, but this is also a unit that has put themselves behind the sticks regularly, again, whether that be due to penalties, dropped passes, or off-target throws.

The negative trickle-down effect of facing second and third-and-long situations often is that the offense then becomes too pass-heavy, and to a degree, there is some predictability with that. At the end of the day, there are only so many routes that can be ran in those situations.

Love possesses a big-time arm and has the ability to make all the throws on the field, which, along with the interceptions, we’ve seen numerous examples of this season as well. He trusts what he sees and his ability to put the ball where he needs to.

But with that said, at times, and as we saw against Detroit, he looks like someone who is trying to do too much as he and the rest of the offense try to overcome the holes that the offense has put themselves in. An example of this is that five of Love’s 10 interceptions have come when he’s been blitzed.

“It just comes down to staying true with my reads,” added Love, “and if plays do go off schedule, just that fine line of being smart with the ball and not putting it in harm’s way and balance trying to make a play vs. throwing it away and living to fight another day, so I think it just comes down to staying true with my reads, like I said, making great decisions and doing a better job of just being stingy with the ball.”

In terms of games played, Love is still a relatively inexperienced player in the NFL and is working through trying to strike that balance between when to take what’s available, or sometimes just throw the ball away, and when to push the ball and be more aggressive. The answer to that question is, of course, ever-changing, depending on the situation at hand and how the defense reacts to the play call.

There’s an obvious balance that Love needs to find and is still very much searching for. A key element to what makes Love the quarterback that he is is his arm talent, so what the Packers don’t want to do is put the governor on his ability to utilize that strength. It’s not as if things have been all bad for the offense–Green Bay ranks top 10 in points per game and entered Week 9 ranked first in explosive plays generated.

If the matchup or coverage dictates that he should take a shot, he’s going to do that. Now, the mechanics and accuracy or the calculus that led to him making the decision can all be critiqued and are areas that certainly have to improve. It goes without saying, but given the situation–backed up in their own territory and with little time on the clock–Love should have never attempted that pass to Jacobs.

However, when you have a top-flight passer, you expect him to make top-flight throws, and that’s what Love is attempting to do. The process needs to be cleaned up, but I wouldn’t expect to see Love all of a sudden not pushing the ball downfield. It’s what he does really well, and with the receivers the Packers have, it’s how they can exploit opponents.

“It just comes down to playing the position at a high level, sticking to my training, sticking to the reads, like I said and just being great with those fundamentals and obviously the big plays will happen,” Love said. “Not trying to force things, but like I said, just getting back to staying true with my reads and being real disciplined and making great decisions with the ball.”

The Packers will enter the bye week at 6-3 on the season. The mistakes have run rampant throughout the first half of the season, and to some degree, that’s what this team is right now–mistake-prone. There is still time to change that narrative with eight games remaining in the season.

Due to their big play ability on offense and the defense’s propensity for forcing takeaways, the Packers have more often than not been able to overcome those miscues. However, when facing teams like Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Detroit, against those caliber of opponents, those self-inflicted errors can often be too much to overcome. If the Packers want to reach their ultimate goal, the penalties have to be cleaned up and Love has to take better care of the football.

“I think that’s a fine line,” said Matt LaFleur of Love’s play. “It’s a hard thing to really, … you always teach in the rhythm of the play. When it goes off-schedule, you’ve just got to be smart. You’ve got to be smart with the football in a one-possession game. I know he’s doing everything in his power to make the play, but sometimes, again, I gotta go back and look at it before I can give you a good answer on that.”

Too many miscues doom mistake-prone Packers vs. Lions

Paul Bretl | 11/3/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — To varying degrees, the play we saw on the field from the Packers in Sunday’s loss to Detroit is one that we’ve seen on a few occasions this season.

It was another game where self-inflicted mistakes played a major factor in how this game unfolded. However, unlike in previous games in recent weeks against Los Angeles, Houston, and Jacksonville, the miscues were far too much to overcome against a team of the Lions’ caliber.

“It’s disappointing when you have a big game like this against one of the best teams in the league and you don’t feel like there was just too many mistakes,” said Matt LaFleur after the game. “You can’t overcome those against a good football team. That’s exactly what Detroit is.”

It’s hard enough to win in the NFL as it is. In part, the Packers were able to overcome their mistakes in those previous performances because of splash plays, whether it be quick scores or turnovers, that helped mitigate the impact of their own blunders–although in two of those games, it still required a last-second field goal to secure the victory.

However, over the course of an NFL season, operating that way regularly–which the Packers have–is a tough way to live, especially against a well-oiled machine like Detroit.

“We’ve just got to be able to grow form it, learn from it and not make those mistakes again, because it’s definitely been a trend up until now,” said Christian Watson. “Pre-snap penalties and penalties in general, we’ve just got to find a way to eliminate those.”

Penalties have been an issue for Green Bay for much of the season. On the opening kickoff, which would have set the Packers up with good field position, Keisean Nixon was flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty, and from there, the penalties would snowball and continue throughout the game.

In total, Green Bay was penalized 10 times for 67 yards. In comparison, the Lions were penalized just five times. Several of these penalties occurred pre-snap on the offensive side of the football, which put Green Bay behind the sticks and at a disadvantage against an already stout Lions defense.

“I think you can definitely lump those in the focus category, where we’ve got to be better,” said LaFleur of the false starts. “Some of those are totally unnecessary. We’re going on a double cadence, and that’s an advantage for an offense. I never want us not to do that. I think that’s an important part of it. That is your one advantage on offense is that you control when the ball’s snapped. That’s a great advantage when you’re at home, when there’s not as much crowd noise. We’ve just got to dial in and be better focused.”

While the pre-snap penalties are an annoyance and hinderance, on the other side of the ball were two particularly hurtful penalties. With the Lions facing fourth-and-goal from the five-yard line to begin the second quarter, everyone in the press box seemed to know that they were trying to draw the Packers’ offsides–and it worked. TJ Slaton was flagged for a neutral zone infraction, putting the Lions at the 2.5 yard line. They then scored on the next play.

Then on the Lions’ opening possession of the third quarter, and already with a 17-3 lead, a third-down holding penalty on Keisean Nixon extended what ended up becoming a touchdown drive.

To make matters worse, in addition to the penalties, on a rainy and windy evening in Green Bay, the Packers receivers dropped what I counted as six passes, including a few that came on third downs, along with two botched snaps.

“Obviously, catching footballs in the rain is not ideal for a receiver, but it’s not an excuse for us all,” said Romeo Doubs at his locker. “But again, we will let this be a learning experience and get right watching the film, adjusting to whatever weather we have coming up through the rest of this month and the course of this year. Yeah, man, we’ll just learn from it.”

The back-breaker was a Jordan Love interception at the end of the second quarter on an ill-advised throw. Under pressure and rolling to his right, Love tried to dump the ball off to Josh Jacobs back across his body, but the pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Love entered the game tied for the league lead in interceptions.

“It’s definitely disappointing,” said Love of the turnovers. “Putting the ball in jeopardy way too many times and definitely something I have to clean up. I’ve talked about it week after week, so something I’ve just gotta learn from these mistakes and clean it up, but definitely something that I’m gonna make a big focus on going forward, of just finding ways to take care of the ball better.”

The Green Bay offense has struggled to find consistency for much of the season, resembling a very boom-or-bust unit. They can score as quick as any team in the league and entered Week 9 as the best at generating explosive plays. But they also have a lot of short possessions or have routinely shown the inability to overcome setbacks, which then results in a stalled drive.

As high as the potential is for this offense, the lack of series-to-series, or even down-to-down consistency makes moving the ball with regularity a tall task. Oftentimes, and to varying degrees, the culprit for these issues are the aforementioned self-inflicted errors, whether it be penalties, dropped passes, turnovers, or off-target throws.

The trickle-down effect is the offense facing long down-and-distance situations, which puts them in obvious passing downs. From a coverage standpoint, the secondary has the advantage. In short, there are only so many routes that can be ran on 3rd-and-10, and the pass rush is then able to pin its ears back. Play-calling-wise, it becomes a real challenge to get into a flow, and the gameplan can become pass-heavy very quickly.

Even for the best offenses, having to overcome those situations often is a massive undertaking that has resulted in the up-and-down play we see on Sundays.

“I think it’s just trying to do too much,” said Sean Rhyan of the penalties. “We were talking about you can’t make big plays, you just gotta do your job. I think it kind of happened today, just trying to do too much. I think we just gotta, when we are out there, relax a little bit, know that we’re good enough to take on whoever and execute.”

The Green Bay defense would run into an incredibly efficient offense. Although it’s not as if the league’s highest-scoring offense dominated the game, they were effective going about their business. Behind arguably the top offensive line unit in the NFL, the Lions have a strong run game that routinely puts them in second-and-short distances. At that point, they have the entire playbook open to them, able to run the ball or pass, which forces the defense to spread out and defend the entire field.

From there, the Lions can run the ball behind that stout offensive line or run a series of slants and crossers into a spread-out defense, where Jared Goff can pick opponents apart. Penalties, or a lack of complementary football as we saw on Sunday, where the Lions can play with a lead, only magnify their ability to operate in this capacity and further stress defenses.

This wasn’t a one-off performance for the Packers. Nine weeks into the season and now heading into their bye week, a mistake-prone team is who they are. The good news is that there is still half a season left to change that narrative–I mean, look at what this group did in 2023. But as of now, this is who they are.

“I think we got things we gotta correct,” Xavier McKinney said. “I think as players we just keep making the same mistakes and we gotta figure it out. I can’t keep saying it, we just gotta figure it out. We gotta do it and we gotta stop having all these mistakes because we play other good teams we can’t afford those type of mistakes. We can’t afford penalties. We can’t afford having turnovers and not getting turnovers. It’s just a lot of things that’s built up and we just gotta make corrections.”

Packers offense must find that elusive consistency against high-scoring Lions

Paul Bretl | 11/2/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers have found ways to win these last two weeks on walk-off field goals, but in part, they’ve found themselves in those situations is due to the inconsistent performance on the offensive side of the football.

A repeat performance this week against the high-powered Detroit Lions offense may prove to be too much to overcome.

“Anytime you’ve got a good offense on the other side, you know you’re going to need to put up points,” said Jordan Love on Wednesday. “Definitely just help the defense out. I’ve got faith in them they’re going to be able to get those stops. But definitely the goal on offense is to put up as many points as you can, because we know they can score in a hurry.”

Against the Houston Texans in Week 8, the Packers had six drives with fewer than six plays ran. The following week in Jacksonville, there were seven, which did include some scoring drives as well.

While overall, the Packers still rank sixth in points per game and fifth in yards per game, the up and down performances on offense aren’t new to the team this season either. Going back to the team’s Week 4 matchup with Minnesota, the Packers had 10 drives, whether they resulted in a score, turnover or punt that lasted fewer than five plays. The week after, versus the Rams, six of the Packers’ 10 possessions ended in three plays or fewer.

“I mean there are so many things,” Love said of the offense’s ups and downs. “You could break down every play of the game and find one little thing that we can improve on, so like you said, the consistency, I think, is definitely the most frustrating part. It’s part of the game, though. There’s highs. There’s lows.

“It’s definitely not ever gonna be perfect, but I think when we know there’s mistakes and mental errors that we’re having on our own end that it’s stuff that we can clean up, that’s the frustrating part, so just keep finding that consistency, keep trying to get better, improve on it, but I don’t think we’ve played our best performance yet, so we’re definitely still trying to hunt for that.”

One of the reasons that the Packers’ offense still ranks among the league’s best in several categories is because of the boom-or-bust nature of this unit. We see the dynamic playmaking ability this unit possesses with their ability to score quickly. However, this is a group that have also struggled to overcome setbacks on drives.

Generating explosive plays are great and often lead to points. The Packers will enter Week 9 having created the most explosive plays this season–an element that will be important in Sunday’s game against a Lions’ offense that leads the NFL in scoring. With that said, that can’t be an offenses only way for moving the ball either.

This boom-or-bust approach on offense seems to be stemming from issues on early downs–particularly first down. Whether it be a run play that doesn’t go anywhere, a penalty, or an incomplete pass that’s either off-target or dropped, the Packers are putting themselves in disadvantageous long down-and-distance situations.

The opponent gets paid to make plays too, but oftentimes, it is these self inflicted errors that are putting the Packers behind the sticks, which then gives the defense the upper hand in those long down-and-distances. And through the first half of the season, the Packers aren’t operating at a consistent enough level to overcome those setbacks.

“We need to start taking accountability for what’s going on with our offense early in the half,” said Tucker Kraft after the Jacksonville game. “That’s just not us. Like we need to figure out what it is we need to do to be more successful early on and we’ve got to start holding each other more accountable.

“There’s nothing broken with our offense,” Kraft added, “I want to say that on the record. We can just do better.”

Finding that consistency this week certainly won’t be easy against a Detroit defense that is aggressive and will challenge the Packers’ offense throughout the game, ready to pounce on any sort of miscue. But it will be a must in a game where scoring 28-plus points may be a necessity when it comes to winning.

“When they load the box and play you in tight man coverage like they’ve shown to do, there’s nowhere to run,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich of the Lions’ defense. “You’d better have an answer for that. They do a really good job. Just all in all, I think it’s just a really physical defense that plays very aggressive, downhill. They do a great job of punching at the football and rallying to the football. To me, that usually is the mark of a really good defense.”

Packers navigating injuries in the secondary ahead of matchup vs high-powered Lions’ passing game

Paul Bretl | 11/1/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Up next for the Packers is a pivotal divisional matchup against the high-powered Detroit Lions’ offense, and Green Bay may find themselves short-handed in the secondary for this game.

Cornerback Jaire Alexander would sustain a knee injury late against Jacksonville, while safety Evan Williams exited the game with a hamstring injury. Based on reports, neither injury appears to be long-term, but as of Friday morning, neither player has practiced yet this week.

“It is what it is, said Matt LaFleur about game-planning with uncertainty in the secondary. “No different than what happened the other day. When you have installed a game plan, you’ve got to be ready to adjust. Bottom line is you’ve got to put in whatever plays or schemes or whatever is you’re trying to attack somebody with, whether it’s on offense or defense, to give you the best chance to win. You’ve got to use your best judgment in terms of the execution and how you’re going to go about that and have successful plays.”

Once Williams exited the Jacksonville game, there was a domino effect to the rest of the Packers’ secondary, setting off a chain reaction–forcing players to move to positions that they haven’t been getting game reps in. Javon Bullard to move back to free safety, a big jump mid-game for any rookie to make, especially without what I’m guessing are practice reps during the week in that role.

Keisean Nixon then went from playing the boundary to the nickel, which then put Eric Stokes and Carrington Valentine on the boundary. Stokes’ playing time has diminished in recent weeks with up-and-down play, while Valentine has been a primary special teams player.

The end result was more pass-catchers were running open, there were breakdowns in communication, and missed tackles, resulting in chunk plays for the Jaguars’ passing game. Bullard, in particular, took his lumps, but a lot was being put on his plate in that situation. For any player, let alone a rookie, asking Bullard mid-game to make a complete position change when he didn’t get any practice reps during the week at free safety is a big ask and put a lot on his plate.

“Last week, Bull had to play both, which is definitely not easy for a young guy,” said defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley. “The thing with Bull last week, you give him a lot of credit, I said to Bull last week, I thought he had his best week of practice at the nickel position.

“And then what happens? Then he’s got to go play safety and he hadn’t really practiced at that position. For a rookie, that’s hard. It’s like everybody wants to ask and play the rookie here, play the rookie here, put this guy here. It’s not always the easiest thing to do. So, I give Bull a lot of credit for what we’ve asked him to do.”

The Packers coaching staff remains confident in the depth that they have in the secondary, including the cornerback position, but the play of Stokes in recent weeks and the lack of defensive snaps for Valentine gives pause to at least those on the outside.

In Week 5, against the Los Angeles Rams, Stokes allowed seven receptions on 10 targets for 65 yards and a touchdown, according to PFF. In Weeks 6 and 7, his playing time was significantly reduced, seeing just 23 total snaps. Then, this past week, Stokes surrendered two receptions on three targets for 43 more yards.

With Valentine, prior to the injury to Williams in Jacksonville, he hadn’t seen any defensive snaps since Week 5 when the team was without Alexander. Between those two games, Valentine played 33 coverage snaps and was not targeted. Despite the wide-ranging outcomes for Valentine and Stokes as of late, from the sounds of it, the game-to-game matchups are dictating playing time right now.

“I know he can handle it,” said Hafley of Valentine. “I have total confidence in him. I know you’ll start to see more and more of him. I think he’s practicing extremely well, I think there’s great competition in that room right now and depending on who plays, what packages we decide to go with, what personnel groupings they send on the field.

“Like last week, we saw again, there’s two weeks in a row we saw a lot of big people. So there’s less DBs on the field but I’m very confident in him and I’m excited as this season progresses to see what he can do and I’m confident. He’s got great energy, he’s competitive, he’ll tackle, so I have total confidence in him.”

Awaiting the Packers’ secondary this week is one of the more explosive passing offenses in football. As a unit, the Lions are averaging a league-best 33.4 points per game and have generated the sixth-most explosive plays. Leading that charge is quarterback Jared Goff, who is playing at an extremely high level, completing over 84 percent of his throws over the last four games while still averaging an impressive 11.4 yards per pass attempt.

“He’s playing the position as well as anybody in the game right now,” said LaFleur of Goff. “That’s, just look at the numbers. They tell you everything. And then you watch the tape and it backs it up. So, I think he’s doing a great job, he’s a guy that if you give him time, he’s going to make you pay.

“He’s going to find the right guys. If you give him a sliver of light to make the pass, he’s going to take advantage of that. So just always been a big fan of his; just won’t be a big fan of his on Sunday.”

Regardless of whether or not Alexander and/or Williams is available, any sort of success for the Packers’ defense is going to begin in the trenches with the pass rush. Disrupting the timing and rhythm of the play will be a must, and different pressures or disguises can help facilitate that, but ultimately, asking any secondary to routinely defend this Lions’ passing offense for 3-4 seconds at a time is a tall task.

“We’ve got a lot of competition,” said Hafley. “If you look right now in the corner room, we’ve played a lot of guys and we’ll continue to do so. There’s guys that have stepped up in practice and had a really good week, just like last week, and we’ll rotate those players as we see fit.”

Josh Myers’ status for Packers vs. Lions up in the air

Paul Bretl | 11/1/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Among those on the injury report this week for the Packers is center Josh Myers, who is again dealing with a wrist injury.

Myers sustained the injury at some point during the Houston game. He would then appear on last week’s injury report and was ultimately listed as questionable before playing through the pain this past Sunday in Jacksonville.

Perhaps things again play out that way this week, but one noticeable difference is Myers practiced on Thursday and Friday of last week after missing Wednesday. So far this week, he has missed both Wednesday and Thursday.

“I’m taking it day by day,” said Myers of the injury. “It’s hard to say. We’re going to do everything I can though, I can guarantee that.”

The injury is to Myers’ left wrist, which was obvious to see as he sat at his locker on Thursday afternoon putting his socks one with his right hand only. The positive, I suppose, is that Myers is right-handed so he can still snap the ball. But how does an offensive lineman go about blocking with only one good arm?

“I mean, it’s hard that’s for sure,” said Myers. “Just have to be great with my feet, have to be great with my right hand and if I play, I’m going to have to throw my left, too, and be able to land it. So just going to have to find a way.”

As Myers noted, technique, quick feet, and a really good right hand will all be crucial to overcoming the injury if he does play on Sunday. But an equally important part of that equation has nothing to do with fundamentals or compensating in another area–in a contact sport, there’s going to be contact no matter what. So to some degree, a seemingly large one, Myers will simply have to fight through it.

“You just gotta gut it out,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich. “It’s one of those things, it’s been done before, guys have played through broken hands or things like that, sprained whatever. You’ve just gotta get it done. There’s really no other explanation than that. Do a better job with your other hand, move your feet better, all those things. He’s one of those guys who will just go out there and prove it.”

Of course, as is the case for any lineman, the ability to hold up as a blocker in both the run game and pass protection is pertinent, but a center’s job begins pre-snap with identifying defensive personnel, alignments, along with any potential blitzers and then communicating that effectively to the rest of the blockers so everyone is on the same page with their responsibilities.

Without being able to be on the practice field, Myers isn’t able to run through those live but simulated looks against the Packers’ scout team defense, who is doing their best to mimic what the Detroit defense does.

“Just have to stay in the book, got to study, got to know the game plan through and through, and just got to stay locked in, engaged mentally on days like that,” said Myers.

If Myers can’t go, we may have already gotten a glimpse earlier in the season of what the Packers’ plan is at backup center. In those brief instances, we saw Elgton Jenkins move to center, Sean Rhyan slide over to left guard in place of Jenkins and then Jordan Morgan taking over at right guard.

Jenkins’ has played 304 career snaps at center in the NFL, and he’s actually spent more time at left guard, left tackle, and right tackle while in the NFL–although center was his primary position in college. The last time Jenkins took legit center snaps was back in 2020, his second year in the league.

“I don’t think so, for real,” said Jenkins when asked if moving to center would be difficult. “You’ve got to go out there and do your job. It’s not like something that I haven’t played before, so being able to go out there, communicate, get everybody on the same page. I’m familiar with the offense, so it’s really just the fundamentals and things like that.”

Myers has rarely missed a snap, let alone a game in his NFL career. That availability is one of the many aspects of his game that makes him such a valuable member of the offense. Whether or not Myers can go will be dependent upon how he’s feeling, specifically, as Myers put it, making sure that he’s not hurting the team by being on the field.

When it comes to making the Packers’ offense go, from an operation standpoint, it all begins with Myers before the snap of the ball.

“Just his availability has been huge for us, the continuity up front,” said Matt LaFleur of Myers. “He’s the guy kind of driving the ship up front, making all the calls. He’s battled through a lot, but I think what’s been so impressive is just, obviously he battled through a lot off the field, but also on the field. And his ability to get ready each week for us and his availability has been pretty impressive. I think he means, to me, he’s one of those guys that’s kind of like the heart and soul of the team.”

Packers’ defensive front needs its best game of season vs. Lions’ potent offense

Paul Bretl | 10/31/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers defense will face its most difficult test of the season up to this point, having to contain a very explosive Detroit Lions offense. While truly stopping that unit may not be feasible, containing the Lions will have to begin with the defensive front having its best performance of the season.

“They’re one of the most explosive offenses in the league,” said Matt LaFleur of the Lions. “I think Ben Johnson does an unbelievable job of putting his guys in position, and when you have really good coaches, they’ve got one of the best offensive lines in all of football.

“I think Jared Goff is playing as good as anybody. And they’ve got weapons all around him…They’ve just got a lot of playmakers on their offense. Good scheme plus players usually equals some pretty good results.”

As LaFleur highlights, behind a Lions’ offense that will enter Week 9 ranked first in points per game at 33.4 and sixth in explosive plays is an offensive line unit that is arguably the best in football. Whether it’s the run game of the pass game, pick a metric, and you’ll see the Lions’ front at the top, or close to the top of the list.

That line play is, of course, the foundation for a potent rushing offense. Led by Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, Detroit’s 5.1 yards per rush is the fifth-best rate in the NFL. Individually, Gibbs ranks second in yards per rush this season with 6.4, and as you can imagine, both backs have been extremely difficult to bring down, but for different reasons.

Gibbs has totaled the fifth-most missed tackles force, resulting in the fifth-most rushes of at least 15 yards, while Montgomery is among the leaders at running back in average yards after contact, bringing an added physical presence to the position.

“I think they’re both really dynamic in what they do. Obviously Gibbs is a guy that can — I mean, he’s a home-run hitter. I also think Montgomery does the same stuff and he’s just a really physical runner and probably one of the most physical backs in the league. You better have a tackling plan when you go approach this guy ’cause he’s gonna try to run you over and in many cases he does that and he makes multiple people miss, but he also is really good out the backfield. He’s got really good hands, so I think they’re a really tough 1-2 punch.”

Overall, the Packers’ run defense has improved this season, allowing just 4.3 yards per carry, the eighth-lowest mark this season, and a key part of that equation is the added emphasis on everyone flying to the football. That swarming to the ball carrier play style will have to be a focal point throughout the week for Green Bay, so they carry that mentality into Sunday’s game.

“I think our run defense is definitely going in the right direction, and it’s going to have to this week,” said Jeff Hafley. “That’s going to be the key to this game.

“So, we’ve got to be on it in the run game, but I think it’s a credit to the guys up front, the backers and then from the safeties and the corner, just the physicality, the tackling, and I think our staff’s done a nice job there, too.”

When the Lions aren’t running the ball, quarterback Jared Goff can often be found picking apart opposing defenses. Pressure or no pressure, Goff has been extremely efficient this season. In fact, over the last four games, Goff has completed a ridiculous 84 percent of his throws.

With steady pressure, a defense can at least give itself somewhat of a fighting chance against this offense. But without it, well, good luck. Goff will enter Sunday’s game ranked top-five in completion rate, yards per attempt, and touchdowns from a clean pocket.

That combination of a potent running game and a lights-out passing game will put opposing defenses in a real bind. Detroit is very good at putting themselves in short down-and-distance situations where the entire playbook is open to them and defenses now have to defend the entire field, preparing for both the run and the pass.

Living ahead of the sticks and marrying the run and passing games together as Detroit does creates play-action opportunities, which this offense is excellent at exploiting. No team has run more play-action passes than the Lions, and when it comes to yardage off of play-action, the second-place team is nearly 200 yards behind Detroit–meaning that they are not only efficient, with Goff completing 80 percent of his throws, but that they are hitting on big plays as well.

The Packers’ four-man rush has struggled to get after the quarterback consistently this season. Where Green Bay has found success is in their designed pressures that defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has drawn up. However, it’s not as if the Packers are a blitz-heavy team, currently ranking 28th in blitz rate.

The Packers are effective with pressures but very calculated on when they send them. And as more weeks go by, opponents will have seen more of these pressures on tape and have built in counters for them. This past Sunday against Jacksonville we may have seen that on display. The Packers still tried to manufacture pressures, but Trevor Lawrence was only under duress on 25 percent of his dropbacks, according to PFF. Or in short, the Jaguars had some answers.

Manufactured pressures won’t guarantee success by any means either against a stout offensive line and a quarterback in Goff who is as prepared as anyone to handle those pressures. What they can help do is cause some confusion, but ultimately, part of making that initial chaos truly effective is Green Bay’s pass rush getting home against the efficient and turnover-averse Goff.

“It’s very important to get pressure on Goff,” added Hafley. “I mean, but I think we’ve got to be calculated with that. We can’t just try to go after him every single play and every single third down. I think in anything, pressure always isn’t just about overwhelming them with numbers, it’s about making them see different things.

“It’s all of a sudden you think six are coming but three are coming, or four are coming. And maybe we speed him up and we force him into a bad throw. Or maybe we drop a guy underneath where he didn’t think the guy was going to drop and now he throws a bad ball. I mean, I think the key for us is to constantly change up the looks and make those guys think.”

To put a bow on all of this, me sitting here saying that the Packers need to win up front isn’t ground-breaking information. While football has changed a lot over the years, if a team can control the line of scrimmage, they have a good chance of controlling the game. But with that said, while the Packers have been able to overcome a so-so run defense and pass rush unit up to this point, that might not be good enough against this Lions offense on Sunday.

Feeling comfortable and playing confident, Sean Rhyan takes control of Packers’ RG rotation

Paul Bretl | 10/31/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Over the last two games, even with Jordan Morgan healthy and back in the mix at right guard, it has been Sean Rhyan who has taken the bulk of those starting snaps, sparked by his improved play in pass protection.

As an incoming rookie, Morgan missed valuable practice time and preseason reps working his way back from a shoulder injury. As a way to ease him back in early on in the year, Morgan played about one-third of the right guard snaps in Weeks 1 and 2. However, a shoulder injury would force him to miss the next three games.

Upon his return in Week 6 against Arizona, the Packers threw Morgan right back into the mix, with him and Rhyan splitting those snaps nearly 50-50. But in the last two games, that pendulum has swung in Rhyan’s favor, with him playing roughly every two series to Morgan’s one.

“I think Sean definitely is playing better than him right now,” said Adam Stenavich prior to the Jacksonville game. “I think we’re still obviously going to work Jordan in. So it’ll kind of be a fluid situation as far as how many snaps he gets per game.”

Where Rhyan has been at his best is as a run-blocker. With his size and strength, he brought a different element to the Packers’ offensive line as a bit of a mauler and people-mover. Rather than opening up a running lane by being in an advantageous position, Rhyan generates push and moves the defender across from him.

“I’m a bigger guy,” said Rhyan at his locker on Wednesday. “I know that they want me to move guys and I think being able to run the ball as good as you can pass the ball in this league I think is really an advantage.”

“That’s what I would like to be really good at, both run and pass as opposed to better at one than the other because I think running the ball is hugely important, even though you got quarterbacks that could drop dimes 40 yards downfield you still want to be able to run the ball.”

Over what has been about a calendar year now, the Packers have had Rhyan involved at the right guard position in some capacity, whether that be rotating during the second half of last season with Jon Runyan Jr. or this year with Morgan. However, there seemed to be two primary reasons why Rhyan could never quite win the job outright: his conditioning and his consistency in pass protection.

Following the Packers first preseason game this past summer against Cleveland, when Matt LaFleur was asked about Rhyan’s performance, he noted that one of the “biggest things” with him was Rhyan has to make sure he’s in charge of the conditioning component because when he’s fresh he can be “pretty good.”

In the following practices, while most players headed to the locker room, in the muggy August heat, Rhyan would stay back to run gassers–sprinting from sideline to sideline.

“He is one accountable guy,” said LaFleur at the start of the season. “Any time you say something to him, he always takes accountability and I think that’s an important part of this. You’ve got to know yourself and you’ve got to know what you’re good at and where you can improve. And to his credit, he always takes accountability, and he’s putting action behind it. I do think he’s in a much better position than he ever has been, so I’m excited to see what he does this year.”

In Rhyan’s 128 pass-blocking snaps in 2023, he allowed eight pressures and ranked 52nd in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric out of 84 eligible guards. This year, however, with already 228 pass-blocking snaps under his belt, Rhyan has allowed only nine pressures. His pass-blocking efficiency percentage has increased nearly a full percent compared to last season, and he ranks in the top one-third of guards in that category, rather than the bottom half.

In part, the reps and in-game experience have perhaps been the biggest catalyst towards improved play for Rhyan in this regard. He’s also improved his technique and footwork, finding what works best for him to put himself in a successful position.

“(I’m) just a little bit more comfortable dropping back at that guard position,” said Rhyan about his improved play in pass protection. “I think just my confidence–just each game that goes by I just keep feeling like, ‘okay, that’s what I need to do for me.’ I just get a little, a few things here or there that helps me. It might not necessarily help anybody else, but I just keep kind of finding these little techniques that work for me and help me just do better.”

Morgan is going to continue to be worked into the right guard rotation. As Stenavich said upon Morgan’s return in Week 6, his potential is “extremely high,” and the best way to tap into that is with live reps.

But for the time being at least, it would appear that Rhyan is going to continue to take the majority of those right guard snaps. In short, he’s the better of the two right now, and based on playing time, I’m not sure it’s all that close.

Following the Tennessee game, when asked about Rhyan, Stenavich said that game was his best performance to date. A week later, when Stenavich was again asked about Rhyan, he one-upped himself, putting on film a new best performance. Rhyan is an ascending player right now and with every passing game, his confidence continues to grow.

“I think I am constantly improving,” added Rhyan. “I don’t want to say I’m playing the best ball or my best ball but I think getting better each week.”