Packers offense starting to show off a clutch factor
One of the biggest issues surrounding last year's Green Bay Packers offense was its play in clutch moments. The Packers converted just 39.5% of their third down attempts, which ranked 17th. They finished 28th converting fourth downs (38.7%) and their 51.9% red zone conversion rate was good for 24th out of the 32 NFL teams.The […]
One of the biggest issues surrounding last year's Green Bay Packers offense was its play in clutch moments.
The Packers converted just 39.5% of their third down attempts, which ranked 17th. They finished 28th converting fourth downs (38.7%) and their 51.9% red zone conversion rate was good for 24th out of the 32 NFL teams.
The offense wasn't good in two-minute situations, either. Per Pro Football Reference's Stathead, the Packers scored just once during seven two-minute drills in 2022. The criteria was two-minute drills at the end of the first half and at the end of the game when either tied or down by six points or less. Meaning, the Packers scored just once when down by, at worst, a touchdown. The 14.3% scoring rate was well below the league average of 20.4%.
The Packers offense was largely inconsistent -if not ineffective- in those categories when training camp started a couple weeks ago. Everyone remembers the defense winning the first five or six days of practice until Sean Clifford's successful two-minute drive that ended the streak.
Friday night against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Packers converted five of their 13 third down attempts and they failed on their lone fourth down attempt, which obviously isn't ideal. But, they did show improvement in the two-minute drill (after Clifford's pick-six) and in the red zone, where they finished with a perfect 4-for-4 conversion rate. They also finished 3-of-3 in goal-to-go situations.
The red zone and two-minute success carried over into Sunday's practice, per Bill Huber of Packer Central:
During a red-zone period, he was 4-of-6 with three consecutive touchdowns: first to Jayden Reed and then back-to-back to [A.J.] Dillon. On the first of his scores, Dillon showed good hands to get a ball that was a bit low and a bit in front of him.
Finally, Love capped a precise 2-minute drill with a touchdown pass to Reed…
… Added together, Love was 17-of-23 passing with four touchdowns and zero interceptions…… The 2-minute scenario was the offense starting at the 30 with 1:45 on the clock and two timeouts and in need of a touchdown.
Jordan Love completed his first four passes, then converted third downs with completions to Jayden Reed and Christian Watson. The ball was at the 13 with 14 seconds left when Love threw a superb ball to Reed over Keisean Nixon’s shoulder for the touchdown.
It's always tough to discern between substantial developments and lesser-so situations in training camp and the preseason, but improvement in situational drills and key moments are certainly things we can bank on.
Right now, the arrow is pointing up for the Packers offense on third/fourth downs, red zone, and two-minute drills. If the Packers can keep this up and carry it over into the season, then they should have a lot of doubters eating their words.
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Featured image via Kareem Elgazzar-USA TODAY NETWORK
