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Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff WriterNov 1, 2024, 06:00 AM ET
- Rob Demovsky is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Green Bay Packers. He has covered the Packers since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2013. Demovsky is a two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the NSSA. You can follow him on Twitter at @RobDemovsky.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — As jubilant as the past two games have been for the Green Bay Packers, winning with walk-off field goals against the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars, they also have been something of a reality check.
In the days since the locker-room celebrations slowed and the players — especially those on offensive — were ready to share their inner thoughts, it became clear that if they have another inconsistent performance against an elite opponent like the 6-1 Detroit Lions on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET), a Brandon McManus field goal as time expires might not be enough.
On paper, little appears wrong with the Packers’ offense. It ranks sixth in the NFL in offensive points scored per game. The Packers (6-2) have put up 24 or more points in six straight games and in seven of their eight games this season. No other team has seven such games this season.
Josh Jacobs ranks fourth in the league in rushing yards.
Only two quarterbacks have more touchdown passes than the 15 by Jordan Love, who has missed 2 1/2 games.
Jayden Reed is the only player this season with 500 receiving yards and 100 rushing yards.
Only one tight end has more touchdown catches than the five by Tucker Kraft, each coming since Week 4.
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Yet, having six drives against the Texans that failed to earn a first down (four three-and-outs, a four-and-out and an interception) or two punts and an interception on the first three drives against the Jaguars, sits fresh in the minds of the offensive players and coaches.
“We need to start taking accountability for what’s going on with our offense early in the half,” Kraft said. “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.”
The past two weeks, coach Matt LaFleur has decided to take the football if they won the toss — and they did — rather than defer their choice to the second half. His intent to start fast fizzled out with a three-and-out against the Texans and just one first down and a punt against the Jaguars.
“I’m [an] offensive guy; I always wanna take the ball,” Love said this week. “I always wanna go out there, take the ball, go down and put the perfect drive together and put up seven to start the game. There’s no better way to start the game. So obviously, it hasn’t panned out for us. That’s been a goal for ourselves is to start the game fast, go down there and put up points, and it just hasn’t panned out, so we’re still searching for that.”
It’s not just early in games. There was the fourth-quarter, three-and-out that gave the ball back to the Jaguars, allowing them to tie the game with 1:48 remaining.
“We’ve got to start dominating people and not letting it come down to a field goal,” Packers left guard Elgton Jenkins said.
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At this point, it’s not clear whether the groin injury Love sustained at Jacksonville on Sunday will keep him from starting this week, although he said Wednesday he thought it was “realistic” that he could play. Even if Malik Willis makes his third start of the season, Jenkins’ statement applies.
“No matter who’s in there — if J. Love is in there, if Malik is in there — we’ve got to give Josh Jacobs and whoever our running back is holes to run through,” Jenkins said. “And we’ve got to pass protect.”
On Sunday, Jacobs earned yards the hard way. He rushed 25 times for 127 yards and two touchdowns, and 74 of his yards came after first contact. For the season, his 667 rushing yards are fourth-most in the NFL and his 328 yards after contact are second behind Derrick Henry‘s 351.
“I think we still left a lot on the table, man,” Jacobs said. “It’s like we’re happy with what we’ve done so far, even myself. It’s been a couple runs I wish I could’ve gotten back. I wish I could’ve pressed it a little differently and things like that. I’m still chasing that, man. I’m definitely proud of what we’ve done as a team.”
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However, it might not be as simple as leaning even more heavily on Jacobs and the run game, which the Packers did in the two starts Love missed earlier this season because of his sprained left knee. That’s because Jacobs has an ankle injury, although he said it won’t keep him from playing. Three-fifths of their offensive line — Jenkins (glute), left tackle Rasheed Walker (knee) and center Josh Myers (wrist) — are also on the injury report.
In Willis’ two starts, the Packers called designed runs 68% of the time and averaged 224.5 yards rushing per game compared with 41% and 134.3 in Love’s six starts.
The Packers could help themselves by being more efficient in the red zone and on the money downs (third and fourth). They rank 25th in red zone touchdown percentage and are 15th in third-down conversion rate and 17th on fourth down.
If Sunday’s game against the Lions turns into a shootout — and based on the 52 points Detroit put up last week that could be the case — the Packers might need to play their best game on offense yet this season.
“The consistency, I think, is definitely the most frustrating part,” Love said. “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.”
