The Green Bay Packers ended their six-game losing streak in Week 2 with a 20-17 overtime victory against the New York Jets. But the victory hardly passed the eye test. In fact, it was arguably the ugliest victory in NFL history.
The Packers won while failing to post 200 offensive yards, registering more than 100 penalty yardage and a negative turnover margin. Since 1941, teams to accomplish those three things in a game were 0-44 prior to Sunday according to ESPN Insights.
With that in mind, the Packers are receiving quite a bit of criticism Monday despite winning.
One anonymous NFL executive was particularly harsh while talking to The Athletic’s Mike Sando about the situation in Green Bay.
“The Packers I just feel are broken,” the executive told Sando. “There is something wrong there. I feel like when it’s tight, the quarterback struggles. You just feel it. He throws off his back foot. And then of course they are missing Micah Parsons. When they get him back, that can give them some juice.”
That executive used buzz words that write headlines by themselves. Another anonymous NFL executive wasn’t as blunt but also questioned the team’s offense.
“Why isn’t Green Bay scoring more points?” the exec said to Sando. “All you hear about is how good the quarterback is, how much they like him, what a dynamic play caller they have.”
Packers Have Epic Ugly Win vs. Jets
Sluggish games on offense happen in the NFL even with top 10 quarterbacks. So that’s probably not the most alarming part of Green Bay’s play through two weeks.
That would be the penalties. The Packers have committed 26 accepted fouls for 231 yards in just two games.
“We got to take a look at it,” LaFleur said of the penalties. “Certainly, the ones that where, you know, [Javon Bullard] gets caught for taunting when we’re off the grass, anything directed towards a player from another team, even though that was his former teammate, the officials don’t know what you’re saying …
“But the ones that are just mind blowing are the false starts, jumping offsides, lining up offsides. Those are the ones that will get you beat.”
The Packers, though, don’t have a lot of time to look at it because they play Thursday night against the Atlanta Falcons. But that part of Green Bay’s game has to be corrected fast, especially with the Micah Parsons juice not coming until at least Week 5.
The offensive line has accounted for a majority of the penalties for Green Bay. The Packers have committed seven offensive holdings and four false starts. They have also had a delay of game penalty.
On defense, they have committed two neutral zone infractions, one encroachment and two roughing the passer penalties.
Is Jordan Love Criticism Fair?
Packers fans might perk up their ears to the “something is wrong” comment because that’s how it felt during the six-game losing streak. And just because Green Bay won Sunday doesn’t mean that feeling is gone.
The Love criticism, though, might be a little bit more polarizing. While Love might could play better in clutch situations, he’s also not getting a lot of help in a lot of cases. In particular, the offense line has struggled early this season.
Love faced more pressure in Week 1 against Brian Flores than some quarterbacks get in a month. Every quarterback is going to struggle in that situation.
Then again, Love is partially responsible for setting protections and delivering the ball quickly. So he can share in some of the blame but maybe not all of what the second executive suggested.
Love has 532 passing yards and averaged 14.4 yards per completion with four touchdowns and only one interception in two games this season. But, he also has only completed 52.1% of his throws and averaged 7.5 yards per attempt.
Jordan Love, Packers Put on Blast After Sloppy Win vs. Packers: ‘Something Wrong’