Paul Bretl | 10/7/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers offense was able to do just enough with the help of some takeaways from the defense to secure the win over the Los Angeles Rams. The overall performance was very ‘feast or famine,’ as Matt LaFleur put it, with either big plays or short drives taking place.

“I was talking to Jordan about this in the locker room,” said LaFleur after the game, “just in terms of it seems like we’re a little bit feast or famine offensively in terms of we either get the big plays and we go score or there’s no big plays and we’re punting. We do have to get a little bit more consistency, just making sure we’re getting positive plays, staying ahead of the sticks, trying to stay out of third downs as best we can.”

Jordan Love finished the game averaging 8.6 yards per pass attempt. For some context, over the course of the season up to this point, that would be the second-highest rate in football. The catalyst behind that figure was a 66-yard catch and run touchdown to Tucker Kraft, a 53-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Reed, and a 21-yard catch and run from Josh Jacobs.

So of the Packers 24 points in this game, 14 game from just two of those plays. So what about the rest of the game?

In the first half, outside of the Packers nine-play touchdown drive that was capped off with the aforementioned pass to Reed, Green Bay had five other drives, with four of them ending in three plays or fewer, resulting in three punts and a pick-six from Love.

In the second-half, the Packers turned two takeaways into touchdowns, one of which was a two-play drive with the Kraft touchdown and the other lasting seven plays. Their next two drives ended in punts, one of which was 14 plays and did eat up some valuable time and the other being just four plays.

Excluding the kneel-down on the final series, the Packers had 10 possessions in this game and six of them ended in three plays or fewer. Green Bay finished the game just 1-for-8 on third downs and didn’t convert their first third down until the fourth quarter. Typically that isn’t going to be a stat you hear when talking about the winning team.

“I think there’s so much that we need to build on,” Jordan Love said after the game. “I think we leave a lot of plays out there, and then we make some really good plays as well. I think it just comes down to consistent execution and trying to be as clean as we can for four quarters. And I don’t think we’ve done that yet. I don’t think we’ve played a full four-quarter game that’s clean.

“There’s so much stuff that we can look back on, can watch film when we get back and stuff to clean up, but I like who we have. I think we’re just going to keep building, but there’s definitely a lot of stuff to clean up.”

This isn’t a one-off performance either. Last week against the Minnesota Vikings–where certainly, the dynamic chances when trailing by early–the Packers had 10 drives that, whether they resulted in a turnover, punt or touchdown, ended in five plays or fewer.

Explosive pass plays are great–they lead to points. And the Packers’ offense entered Week 5 as the best in football at generating big plays with 37 of them. The next closest team was the Indianapolis Colts with 29. However, it’s also a tough way to live in the NFL if that is your primary means for moving the football.

“I think explosive plays lead to points,” LaFleur said. “That’s a fact. The stats are pretty staggering when you talk about explosion plays and your ability to score or, if you don’t give them up, your ability to stop people. So that’s something that we’re always hunting. It’s just the consistency, I would say, down in and down out.”

To a lesser extent in comparison to last season, 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, whether that’s due to an off-target throw from Love or a dropped pass by the receiver, the Packers are putting themselves in disadvantageous long down-and-distance situations.

“Penalties are a consistent problem,” said LaFleur. “Certainly don’t have the answer for that right now. It’s extremely frustrating and it’s been an Achilles heel for us and it’s a big reason why we haven’t won more, in my opinion. That’s something that we have to get corrected and we better do it quick because I want to say this is probably the most penalized team that we’ve had in my six years in Green Bay.”

During these obvious passing downs, the pass rush is able to pin its ears back and the secondary has the advantage from a coverage standpoint because there usually only so much time for the quarterback and so many routes that can be ran when needing eight-plus yards.

In terms of the overall scope of the game, it becomes more difficult to marry the run-and-pass games as offenses become more pass-heavy, and the short possessions can result in a discrepancy in the number of plays ran for each team–wearing out the defense and forcing the offense to be extremely efficient with its opportunities, which isn’t going to lead to sustainable success.

According to Pro Football Reference, the Packers average distance to go on second down is 8.29 yards and on third down it’s 7.5 yards. In both instances, this is around a full yard more than last season.

There are certainly stretches in each of these last two games where it looks and feels like the Packers’ offense is on the cusp of really taking off. However, more than anything, accomplishing that begins with them getting out of their own way on early downs so they can consistently sustain drives and get into a rhythm on offense.

“You either get better or you get worse; you’re never staying the same,” added LaFleur. “Every week is a new challenge. I think that’s a lot of coachspeak but I believe in that. I think it all starts with your preparation and how you approach it and your willingness to put the work in to strive to get better in practice, and that gives you the confidence to go out there and make plays in the game. There’s certainly a lot of areas where we have to get better.”

Paul Bretl | 10/5/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The overall numbers through four games may not suggest it, but Packers second-year wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks is on the cusp of some potentially big performances.

“Definitely a problem for defenses, for sure,” said Adam Stenavich. “And if you look at his production his last eight games or something like that, he’s had seven touchdowns. So he’s getting that production. But he catches those balls, it might be crazy. You know what I mean? We just have to get him to that point and we’ll have some fun.”

That point that Stenavich mentions and what the Packers and Wicks want to arrive at lies in his consistency as a pass catcher. In the first four weeks, Wicks has been targeted 22 times but has caught just eight of those passes. In part, as Jordan Love shook off the rust last week, there were off-target throws for Wicks to contend with. However, Wicks also has a drop rate of 27.3 percent, according to PFF, the second-highest mark among all receivers.

During Wicks’ final season at Virginia, he dealt with drops that season as well, totaling nine in the nine games that he played, per PFF. However, that wasn’t going to stop the Packers from drafting him because, as now passing game coordinator Jason Vrable described last spring, a lot of those drops were the product of Wicks trying to turn and make a play before he caught it. A relatively simple fix that requires going back to the fundamentals. The drops Wicks has had this season seem to be of a similar ilk.

“I had some drops. I had some good catches,” said Wicks of his performance against the Vikings.” I try to critique myself on those bad plays and see what was the reason of them. It’s really nothing, for real. Drops really just taking my eyes off the ball before I finish the catch. That’s really it. It’s really nothing I need to change, stay the same, keep the same routine. Just be me.”

Yet despite the early ups and downs, Wicks remains a big part of the Packers passing game, with quarterback Jordan Love continuing to go back to him. Wicks’ 22 targets this season are tied for the most on the team with Jayden Reed. Even this past Sunday against Minnesota, Love kept looking in Wicks’ direction, targeting him 13 times. In all of football, only three receivers had more targets in Week 4.

“I think he’s very resilient,” said Love on Wednesday. “I think he has that mindset that he wants the ball and if he makes a mistake early on, I think he’s gonna be hard on himself about it and find a way to fix it and keep going, but I think that’s everybody on this team. Nobody’s gonna give up or have the game kinda be defeated after having one bad play. I think we all gotta be able to bounce back and respond.”

One of the big reasons that Wicks may be on the cusp of some huge performances and why the team remains confident in him is in his ability to get open. Wicks came to the NFL as an already fairly refined route runner with a release package at the line of scrimmage that can put most cornerbacks in a bind.

PFF has a metric called separation percentage, which tracks how often a receiver gets open by beating the coverage rather than benefitting from how the defense defends the play. So far this season, no receiver has won their routes more often than Wicks, who has gotten himself open on a whopping 82.14 percent of his routes.

“I don’t look at any of that PFF stuff,” Stenavich said, “but that doesn’t surprise me with just the way he runs routes, his ability to double people up, his ability to get out of cuts with speed, he’s a threat. He’s an excellent route-runner. And he’s shown that so far for sure.”

Week-to-week with the talent that the Packers have in the wide receiver room, we never quite know how the targets in the passing game will be distributed. However, this week against the Los Angeles Rams, it looks like the Packers will be without Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, both of whom are listed as doubtful, which means more potential opportunities for Wicks, as well as Jayden Reed, Malik Heath, and Bo Melton.

This is also a Rams defense that is surrendering a hefty 8.6 yards per pass attempt this season, which ranks last in the NFL through four weeks. The Rams have also given up 15 passing plays of at least 20 yards–the fourth-most in football–and eight passing plays of at least 30 yards, which is tied for the most.

The drops certainly can’t be overlooked and do need to be corrected, but in the grand scheme of what can be a long NFL season, they seem to be more of a blip on the radar for Wicks than a worrisome trend. Once that’s taken care of, sparked by Wicks’ ability to create separation, the recipe for some big-time production very much exists.

“Again, with the way the game was going, and he had a couple of drops, and I’ll tell you what, there’s not one guy that has better hands than Wicks,” added Stenavich. “So I think he expects himself obviously to make those plays, as we all do with him. But yeah, it’s just something he’s got to work through and I have all the confidence in the world that he’ll make those plays when they come up again, because he has usually got some pretty good hands.”

Paul Bretl | 10/3/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Already a quarter of the way through the 2024 NFL season, one thing became abundantly clear following the Packers performance this past Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings: they need more from their pass rush unit.

“It wasn’t up to our standard, no doubt about it,” said Matt LaFleur the day after the game. “Give them (Minnesota) credit. I do think they have a good offensive line, in particular their tackles are pretty good, but I thought collectively as a unit, they did a really nice job.”

The Vikings’ pass-blockers on Sunday were credited with allowing just eight pressures on 33 Sam Darnold dropbacks, according to PFF. For some context, a pressure rate of 24.4 percent over the first four games of the season would rank as the second-lowest mark for a quarterback.

For the most part, the big pressures that the Packers were able to generate in that game, which included a sack from Quay Walker to put Minnesota in a third-and-long and a strip sack by Keisean Nixon, were accomplished from blitzing.

“Absolutely,” said Rashan Gary on Sunday when asked if he knew what went wrong. “Especially with the last few games that we put together as a defense. Everybody being in the right spots, everybody communicating the right way. We just gotta go back, watch the plays that hit us, come back in on Monday make sure we on top of our stuff, making sure every gap that got it or any pass that got catch that we correct it.”

Overall, the Packers’ team pressure rate of 24.2 percent ranks 20th in the NFL through four weeks. Their 13 sacks are the ninth-most, however, eight of them came against Tennessee, meaning the defense has generated only five over the other three games. Right now, bolstering the Packers overall figures is a dominant showing against the Titans, coupled with three other lack-luster performances.

In part, we can look at the circumstances surrounding the Packers’ early pass rush inconsistencies. In the first two weeks against Jalen Hurts and Anthony Richardson, there was a more controlled pass-rush approach where the emphasis was on keeping both quarterbacks in the pocket. This, to a degree, is going to limit pressure opportunities.

Then against Minnesota, without Jaire Alexander and Carrington Valentine at cornerback and the defense facing Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, there were a lot of four-man rushes from Green Bay to provide additional help on the back end of the defense. The pass rush was then met by double-teams, tight end chips and help from the running backs.

“I think that’s part of it,” said LaFleur of opponents chipping the Packers’ pass rushers. “Any time you’ve got guys on the perimeter that people are worried about you’re going to get chipped. And I think going back a game, the backs were, when they were doing some of their play action fakes, they were doing a good job internally and basically creating three double teams, you know, in terms of whoever had that one-on-one matchup inside, whether it was Kenny on a guard or a center, the back was nudging him, so you essentially end up with three doubles teams and you have one one-on-one matchup that you’ve got to try to win.”

However, even with all of that being true, at the end of the day the name of the game in football is pressuring the opposing quarterback and the Packers aren’t doing that regularly.

It starts individually where currently no Packers defensive end ranks in the top-70 of PFF’s pass rush win rate metric. None of the Packers defensive tackles rank in the top-45 of their position group in that category either. This includes Rashan Gary and Kenny Clark combining for just one sack and no quarterback hits.

“This past week, as we all know, was not up to our standard and we’ve got to continue to execute it,” said defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich. “We’ve got to get to our basics, our fundamentals and the things that we’ve got to do from, as I’ve said up here before, four equals one.

“We’ve got to rush together as a group. We’ve got to understand that, that each week is going to be different and our expectation is a very high one for this group. So, we’re going to continue to strive for it, we’re going to continue to work for it, and each week’s a new week.”

A cornerstone of Hafley’s defense is the ability to generate pressure by rushing just four down linemen in an attacking style, which then allows the defense to have an additional defender in coverage. However, if the pass rush isn’t able to generate regular pressure, that additional coverage defender doesn’t matter all that much when the secondary has to regularly defender for three or four seconds–that’s just an incredibly disadvantageous spot to be in.

Hafley has thrown different looks at opposing offensive lines, whether it be trying to contain the quarterback, stunts and twists, blitzes, or just go win your matchup-type rushes. So he’s been flexible; it’s not as if he’s running out the same game plan over and over again. However, if the results aren’t there, and there’s a balance to this, but providing the front with more help more often, whether that be schematically to create advantageous matchups or with an additional rusher to help against chips, may have to be on Hafley’s radar.

“I think it goes back and forth,” said Jeff Hafley about Gary dealing with chips. “We gotta move him around and we gotta see how teams are gonna come out and protect against us and then counter that and change things up in the game. If they’re doing one thing to take him away, we gotta find another way to get him involved. And then if they’re gonna try to find ways to take him away, then we have to have our other guys show up or we have to scheme other ways to pressure opposite him and do a lot of things schematically, which I think you guys kinda saw last week.”

This week, the Packers’ pass rush faces the Los Angeles Rams, which on paper, should provide a get-right game for this unit. The Rams offensive line unit is decimated with injuries, resulting in a group that has allowed the third-highest pressure rate, the eight-most sacks, and is 22nd in ESPN’s pass-block win rate metric.

A potent pass rush is a cure-all for just about everything defensively. Steady pressure on the quarterback disrupts the timing and rhythm of the play and, of course, can lead to mistakes and turnover opportunities.

There is still a lot of season left, 13 games to be exact, but so far, this attacking front that we heard about and saw throughout training camp hasn’t been on display all that often to begin the regular season.

“I’ll tell you this: It’s a balance of what we’ve got to do,” said LaFleur. “When there’s times to unleash those guys and work those edges, we’ve got to go do that. And there’s other times where we’ve got to be extremely coordinated with the four rushing as one and try to create, whether it’s a pick game or whatever it may be, to try to create a little bit more rush from those four guys.”

Paul Bretl | 10/2/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers offense has had moments in the early going this season where they’ve looked incredibly explosive and other times where, oftentimes, self-inflicted mistakes have taken the air out of that unit.

Of course, some of these ups and downs have come from having to navigate not having Jordan Love under center for two weeks and adapting the offensive game-plan to fit Malik Willis on the fly. But even if we exclude Weeks 2 and 3 from this and only focus on the games that Love has played, the offense has still been just off in each of those two games.

As always, there are a myriad of reasons for this. In part, Love was shaking the rust off during that first half against Minnesota, which resulted in some off-target throws–although he did very much begin to find his groove as the game went on.

“I think the biggest thing for me getting back was just continue to get reps, getting the throws back down and the timing of everything,” said Jordan Love at his locker on Wednesday. “So yeah, definitely feel like as the game went on, I started improving, getting back comfortable with the timing and ball placement, things like that, so yeah, getting all those reps and all those throws definitely helped and helps me going forward.”

Not helping the situation is that there have been some dropped passes as well. Currently, the Packers have the fourth-highest drop rate, according to Pro Football Reference.

In addition to all of that, there have been penalties–a lot of penalties. On offense specifically, the Packers have been flagged 22 times, which is the second-most in football through four games. Heading into the Packers Week 4 matchup with Minnesota, Matt LaFleur mentioned that penalties had wiped away two touchdowns and 120-plus yards of offense through the first three games.

“I think No. 1 is you’ve got to be aware of what your issues are,” said LaFleur about the penalties. “Certainly, we’ve had a lot of pre-snap penalties, so, to me, that comes down to the focus and you’ve got to really try to put our guys in uncomfortable situations in practice to make sure they’re dialed in, to make sure that we’re working the cadence the right way on both sides of the ball.

“And then the second part of that is there’s going to be things that happen within a game but you just want to make sure your fundamentals are up to the standard that we need so that guys react the right way so they don’t get out of position to put themselves in a bad position to get called for penalties. I think that’s some of it, as well. There’s a lot that we can do, I think, to help get that corrected.”

However, despite all of that, we’ve also seen a very dynamic offense that for stretches has looked close to unstoppable. The 38 explosive plays that the Packers have generated up to this point are the most in football, and they’ve been accomplishing this both on the ground and through the air.

An explosive run is categorized as a rush of at least 10 yards and the Packers lead the league in that category with 21 of them. Through the air, the Packers have created 17 passing plays of at least 20 yards, which is the second-most. The end result is an offense that ranks sixth in points, third in yards, and second in yards per play, even while being without Love for two games and relying on a run-heavy game plan during his absence.

“We got some players on the team, man,” said Dontayvion Wicks. “We want to work for each other. We want to help each other get big plays like that. We do it in practice. You see it every day. It’s not a surprise to us. We know who we are as an offense. The big plays, we work on them. We work through them.

“Big plays, you see Reed catch. He do that at practice. That’s not just something to just come out and do. We’ve been working through it, working on it. We all trust each other, got that connection and we know we’re going to make those plays.”

Yes, even with all of that total production, it’s also fair to say that, largely due to the reasons already mentioned, things haven’t quite fully clicked for four quarters for the Packers’ offense this season either. This week, however, could provide the Packers with an opportunity to do that.

A potential big catalyst behind that could be the continuity of having Love back at practice this past week, under center Sunday against Minnesota, and then back at practice on Wednesday, and the consistent reps that come along with that. That’s not something that the Packers have really had since before the season began.

“I think that’s a byproduct of not practicing for a couple weeks,” said Matt LaFleur of Love’s ups and downs against the Vikings. “I thought just in our limited practice today he did a really nice job. It looks like he’s just getting back in the groove and like I mentioned the other day, not that we want to throw 50-some odd times in a game, but I thought the more we threw, the better he got, and it’s just kind of working through it.

“It’s hard to go out there when you just don’t have a lot of practice or you have a lot of time off and expect to be at the top of your game. I think it’s a process and I know he’s doing everything in his power and I think he looks better with each and every day.”

This week, the Packers will also be facing a Los Angeles Rams defense that has taken it’s lumps this season. The 28.8 points per game that the Rams are surrendering is the second-most in the NFL. The 5.0 yards per rush being given up ranks 27th and the 8.6 yards per pass attempt is the most.

The bind that the Packers have the ability to put defenses in is–what do you try to take away? If you go heavy and try to limit the run game, that leaves defenses light and exposed on the back end to an explosive passing game. On the flip side, providing the secondary with added help results in lighter fronts and more opportunities in the run game.

And the Packers have shown they won’t only hurt teams in either facet of the game but have the ability to generate explosive game-changing plays.

“They’ve got a good defense,” said Love. “It’s something that we are familiar with. The style of defense is what our defense was running the past couple years. I feel like we’ve played them every year since I’ve been here, it feels like. So we’ve seen them a lot and we’ll go through the week and put a good plan together, but they’ve got some good guys on defense and I think we’ll be able to put a good game plan together and be able to take advantage of some of the stuff they do, but it’s definitely a defense we’re familiar with.”

On paper, the opportunity for a big day for this Packers offense does certainly seem to exist. But, as always, it will come down to execution to take advantage of those matchups and situations. Perhaps some added continuity and consistency from last week to this one will play a key role in that happening.

Paul Bretl | 10/1/2024

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Do the Packers need a No. 1 wide receiver? That was the question head coach Matt LaFleur heard often this offseason, so much so that, as LaFleur put it, he wanted to vomit when asked.

There’s pros to having that go-to option in the passing game in key moments just like there are pros to having the depth that the Packers have at the receiver position. But that’s a conversation for another day.

Within a Packers’ offense that is loaded with talent, second-year wide receiver Jayden Reed has oftentimes been the spark for this unit, the big play producer, and he’s doing it while tasked with handling a variety of responsibilities in the LaFleur offense.

“He’s a threat with the ball in his hands,” said Josh Jacobs. “He’s one of them guys that can make plays when he gets the opportunity. For him, it’s hard to defend because if you get him in space, he can make guys miss and he has the speed to take it off the top.”

Through four games, Reed has caught 17 of his 22 targets for 336 yards at a whopping 19.8 yards per catch with two touchdowns. He currently ranks fifth among all receivers in yards, he’s third in yards per catch, and first in YAC per reception.

Of those 336 total yards, 277 of them have come in Weeks 1 and 4 with Jordan Love at quarterback. In those two games specifically, Reed has been the most productive receiver in football, ranking first in receiving yards and yards per catch at an insane 25.2 yards.

“I think you’ve seen throughout his year-plus of him being here that when he gets the ball in his hands, he can do some pretty special things,” said Adam Stenavich. “So that’s something as a defense you have to know where he’s at at all times, I’m sure. And yeah, I like getting him the ball. It’s fun to watch him run around and make plays and stuff, so yeah, he’s a fun player. I’m glad we got him.”

All of that on its own is impressive, but Reed’s impact goes beyond just the passing game. He’s carried the ball six times this season and averaged 15.2 yards per carry, which includes a 33-yard touchdown run against Philadelphia. Of those six carries, four have gone for at least 15 yards–not to mention the blocking help he’s provided in two run-heavy games for the Green Bay offense.

Even before the snap of the ball, Reed is leaving his mark on the game, lining up out wide and in the backfield in addition to his primary slot duties and has been utilized as a motion man often, forcing the defenders to move and adjust pre-snap, along with potentially tipping their hand when it comes to certain responsibilities.

Sometimes, this is done to put Reed in a more advantageous situation. And other times, like a magician, it’s to get the defense looking one way, when they should be looking the other.

“Anytime you’ve got a weapon like Jayden Reed and you can move him around and give him the ball or use him as bait, it’s always fun to have guys like that, for sure,” added Stenavich.

Reed has quickly gone from a rookie who put together a really nice first season in the NFL to someone that opponents have to game-plan for and know where he is at all times.

“He’s an explosive player, competitive, a winner,” said passing game coordinator Jason Vrable. “He has all the traits that defenses for sure see. I think it was after the (Eagles) game Chauncey (Gardner-Johnson) came up to him and I was standing there just shaking hands after Philly and he said hey, for a young player man, you’re a dude. He was like you’re a winner, you’re competitive, and when you hear those compliments from other defenses, they know.”

We’ve often heard members of the Packers receiver room say, “The ball finds good energy.” For Reed, the energy that we see on Sundays that’s turning into high level production is a mentality that he always has. Whether on the field or off, regardless of what he’s being asked to do, Reed sets the tone with the positive juice he brings day in and day out.

“I love the energy he brings,” said Matt LaFleur on Monday. “And it’s not just on gameday, it is every day. We’re lucky to have a guy like that. He’s a tone-setter. He really is. I love how he competes and how he prepares for each and every battle and then he goes out and I think it’s probably why he performs pretty well.

“Because he’s pretty consistent in his approach and does all the little things the right way. He does a great job of taking care of himself, he knows the plan inside and out, and then given the opportunities in games, he’s making big-time plays.”