From Execution to Identity, Here’s Everything That’s Wrong with Packers’ Offense

Do the Green Bay Packers have an offensive identity? Are they close to finding one? And is all that just media-speak? Coach Matt LaFleur covered a lot of ground with his answer.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Oct 12, 2023 11:59 AM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Do the Green Bay Packers have an offensive identity? With five games in the books, are they close to finding one? And, from a coach’s perspective, is there even such a thing as offensive identity?

“Yeah, that’s a great question,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said on Tuesday.

One day after a 17-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, LaFleur spent more than 5 minutes answering that question. After scoring 38 points in a Week 1 rout of the Bears, the Packers rank 23rd with 18.8 points per game. Their 75 points during those four games are barely more than Miami scored against Denver.

So, amid an offensive crisis, are the Packers suffering from an identity crisis?

“I think that there are certain areas where you want to be able to hang your hat on something and have, whether it’s go-to players or plays that you can go to in tough times that you know that you got a pretty good chance to have success with,” LaFleur said.

But to him, identity is more than about being proficient at wide-zone runs.

“I always look at identity more of your style of play,” he continued. “Are you doing all the little things? Are you making the extra blocks? Are you pushing piles? Are you finishing forward on runs? Scheme is scheme to me and, as long as you have that marriage between your run game and your pass game and formationally you have plays that come off the same looks, that is all part of our identity. I think that’s something we always work hard to do.”

After an impressive opener, the offense has been trending the wrong way. With young quarterback Jordan Love, the Packers are 31st in passer rating the last four games. Playing mostly without Aaron Jones, they rank 28th in rushing since Week 1.

“Unfortunately, I think everything kind of gets magnified when you’re not having success,” LaFleur continued. “That’s just the nature of it.”

While LaFleur said his play-calls have been part of the problem at times, the crux of the matter is execution. With injuries on the offensive line, a first-year starting quarterback and a youthful receiver corps, the execution has not been good enough.

That’s led to too many negative-yardage plays but also too many wasted opportunities for big plays.

“I think there’s a lot of things we can do a hell of a lot better, and I think it all starts with the detail,” LaFleur said. “We had a really long team meeting today and kind of laid out everything for our guys, areas where we have plays dialed up against the premier looks; exactly what you want them for and we’re getting the bare minimum and sometimes not even getting a positive play at all.

“Then, there are other times where we’ve got plays dialed up that are against horrible looks and you’re like, ‘How can you take a bad play and not make it worse?’ Maybe a 0-yard gain is better than getting sacked or whatever it may be.”

Sometimes, it’s blown assignments, such as tight end Luke Musgrave on third-and-3 on the opening series. Sometimes, it’s the players seeing the wrong thing, such as Love’s interception on the first play of the fourth series. Sometimes, it’s bad fundamentals, such as a missed block or a dropped pass.

LaFleur went on to reference what he calls “get-back-on-track” situations. That’s a play like second-and-10, where the goal is to make it a manageable third down.

The Packers actually haven’t been bad on the first part of that equation. They’re averaging about seven plays of second-and-10-plus per game, which is slightly less than the NFL average.

The problem is the Packers are averaging 2.0 yards on those second-and-longs. That’s the worst in the league; 28 teams are averaging at least 4.0 yards, 16 teams are averaging at least 5.0. The Washington Commanders, nobody’s idea of an offensive juggernaut, have advanced straight from second-and-long to a first down on 15 occasions. The Packers have done it just three times.

“Then you’re stuck in third-and-long,” LaFleur said, “or we had a second-and-17 yesterday where we threw an interception. We’ve just got to do a better job of trying to avoid those situations, staying on schedule. Even if it’s second-and-9, that’s a hell of a lot better than second-and-10-plus.”

The bye will give LaFleur and his staff additional time to find the solutions that evaded them following the mini-bye. With two consecutive losses and a 2-3 record, there’s no time to waste.

Listening to LaFleur, his frustration seems to be tempered by a feeling that the offense is closer than the results suggest.

“I just think there’s a lot more out (there) for this group,” LaFleur said. “We just have to have that urgency, and it starts with us as coaches and making sure that we’re very intentional about what we’re asking our guys to do. And then they’ve got to be part of this process, as well, and make sure they’re communicating things that they don’t understand quite as well.

“We’ve got to put in [the work] in order for our offense to come together and actually show progress, because it’s been very, very frustrating the last couple weeks. It’s been so hit or miss. … There’s been so many things that have come up in some critical situations that have really set us back. By no means am I trying to blame that on our players. I’m as much at fault as anybody. But I think collectively, there’s a lot that we can improve upon as a group and hopefully we get that corrected in short order in order for us to have success.”