‘A blessing and a curse’ — Matt LaFleur makes sincere admission about what he’s seen from the Packers this season
Not everything has been beautiful so far.
The Green Bay Packers haven’t played their best football yet. Depending on how optimistic you are, that could be great or awful news for the team. Good because there’s still a lot of room for improvement but bad, well, because the team actually has to make improvements over what it’s shown in the first four games. That’s what head coach Matt LaFleur has seen from the group.
“The number one thing, even whether it’s win or loss, or tie, I don’t think we put together a complete game playing four quarters of complementary football, which is a blessing and a curse,” LaFleur admitted on Wednesday. “At the same time, it’s great the fact that I think we were far from our best football, so there’s a lot to improve upon. Certainly, that’s what you’re always striving for, is to get that figured out.”
Incomplete performances
The most complete game was clearly in Week 1 against the Detroit Lions, and the team had a strong performance against the Washington Commanders as well, even though there were still some special teams issues over the first two games. In Week 3, the defense played well, but the offense could barely function against the Cleveland Browns‘ defensive front. And in Week 4, it was the opposite, with the defense giving up 40 points to the Dallas Cowboys.
But a consistent theme of failures is the special teams. Rich Bisaccia’s unit is 30th in collective PFF grade.
During the season, there isn’t much time to practice — special teams in particular. So the Packers are making some personnel adjustments to avoid more big (and negative) plays.
“It’s, more than anything, not giving up the big play. I’m not going to sit here and BS you guys in regards to, I don’t always understand how some of the statistical things that they categorize in the DVOA and all that,” LaFleur detailed. “I do know that catastrophic plays, like if you give up field goal blocks, it weighs heavily against you. So, I think if we can clean up and not have, which is obvious, you can’t have the catastrophic plays. Because they make such a big impact on the game of football. It’s no different than a turnover on offense. Or getting takeaways defensively.”
Against the Browns, the Packers allowed a block on what would be a game-winning field goal. And last week, it allowed a blocked extra point that was returned for two points. Add to that penalties and big returns, and the special teams have been a huge issue for the team.
But it’s not the only one. Run-blocking has been a regular problem, and even tackling was a negative against the Cowboys. It’s time for the Packers to be more solid, more consistent, and the game against an inferior opponent in the Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati Bengals is the perfect opportunity to start.
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