Matt LaFleur, Packers coach
No team in the 2023 NFL season has struggled with the first half of their games quite like the Green Bay Packers, and coach Matt LaFleur does not seem to know what to do about it. The second halves have not been bad at all, but in the first half, the Packers have yielded 78 points and scored a measly 26, the worst first-half offense in the league.
The problem has only gotten worse. In Week 3, the Packers were scoreless in the first half. In Weeks 4 and 5, they scored three points in each of the first halves. After a bye in Week 6, Green Bay came out with a new sense of purpose for the offense, going against the league’s worst defense.
And again, the Packers scored zero points in the first half.
So, uh, Matt? How much improvement did the Packers make on that first-half problem during the bye week?
That was the question posed to LaFleur on Sunday. His answer was both true and telling. “Obviously, zero,” he told reporters in Denver.
Matt LaFleur’s opening statement:
Obviously.
Another Big First-Half Deficit in Denver
Obviously, too, the Packers are too comfortable putting themselves in a hole in early situations and being able to fight out of it. They did it in Week 3 in their home win over the Saints, erasing a 16-0 deficit to rally for a 17-16 win. But since then, their rallies against the Raiders in Las Vegas in Week 5 came up short, and again, they could not complete the Week 7 comeback.
The Packers actually rallied to take a lead against Denver, 17-16, on a charmed pass from Jordan Love that bounced off the hands of Romeo Doubs and into the arms of Jayden Reed for a touchdown. That came with 8:31 to play in the fourth quarter.
But the Broncos marched on a nine-play drive of 41 yards that occupied 4:41 of game time and gave Denver back the lead with 3:50 to play.
Quarterback Jordan Love drove the Packers into Denver territory before a holding penalty on Elgton Jenkins set them back onto their own side of the field. Once there, Love made a thoughtless mistake, hurling a deep pass into coverage and getting picked off with 1:40 to go in the game.
JORDAN LOVE INTERCEPTION OH NO
Matt LaFleur at a Loss to Explain Packers’ First-Half Woes
But the pattern for the Packers is pretty clear—fall behind early, try to figure out how to get back into the game with almost no margin of error. LaFleur said that has got to change. Hejust does not seem to know how to change it.
“We just keep digging ourselves into a hole, and, give credit to Denver, they did enough to win. But, I was just—it’s disappointing to have no points at the half. I’ve said it before, any time you hold someone under 20 points in this league, you’ve done enough to win from an offensive standpoint. It’s just too fragmented and just not consistent execution.
“Obviously, we have got to do a better job, myself, of putting our guys in a better position, particularly in the first half.”