The opening script for the Green Bay Packers offense over the last four games has failed them. What is supposed to be an element that provides an advantage and hopefully leads to a fast start has resulted in just six total first-half points for the Packers in their last four first halves played.
Each week, every offense around the NFL utilizes an opening script. It’s a set of 10 to 15 “scripted” plays that have been put together based on how the offense wants to attack the opponent, given the tendencies they’ve put on film.
“It’s what you do on film study,” said Matt LaFleur on Monday. “You try to anticipate how somebody is going to play you, and you’re not always correct.”
Well, for the Packers, this component has not been correct more often than not, and especially as of late. Unfortunately, there isn’t any one reason either, but rather a litany of issues, many of which stem from execution–or a lack thereof.
“Your players make plays,” said Tucker Kraft on Monday, “so your openers are only as effective as your execution.”
Against Denver specifically, after Green Bay had two full weeks to put together their opening script to attack the Broncos’ defense based on what they’ve put on film, what LaFleur, Jordan Love and the rest of the offense actually saw was not what they had anticipated.
“Obviously, was not anticipating (what Denver showed Green Bay),” said LaFleur. “They’ve shown they would match your personnel groupings, especially in 11 personnel, whether they’re in their nickel defense or what we call penny, which is five D-linemen, one linebacker, and a nickel. Well, they played their base defense, and I need to get us into a different play call in that situation.”
Prior to the Las Vegas game, Love discussed how unscouted looks were giving the Packers’ inexperienced receivers some issues during games. Well, that’s exactly what they got from the Denver defense. Green Bay went in expecting one thing and got something completely different.
While not the only answer, this, to a degree, is absolutely a product of having so much youth on the offensive side of the ball. Until a player experiences the look the defense is throwing at them, coupled with their route assignment and how those two elements interact from a spacing and timing standpoint, along with everything else going on around him, there’s an unknown to all of that. This then can affect the precision of it all and disrupt the entire play because the pass catcher isn’t where Love expects them to be.
On the flip side, defenses also now have six games worth of tape to analyze what the Packers like to do, along with what they can’t do, and can build a gameplan around taking away what Green Bay wants to do and forcing them into the things they don’t do well.
“You’ve got to trust your process in what you’re studying,” said LaFleur. “Also, be mindful of what you’ve already put on tape, and that helps you come to how you best want to attack somebody with the openers. It’s the same process that we’ve used every year that I’ve been here and even prior to coming here at all our stops. It’s just, for whatever reason, we’re not as successful with that this year. We got to do better with that.”
For an offense struggling to get the little details consistently correct on what they’ve been working on all week, this limits LaFleur’s ability to make drastic adjustments on the fly. If the game plan can’t be executed properly, flipping the script last minute likely isn’t going to end well either, and in fact, it will probably be worse.
However, despite all the early issues, coming out of halftime has been a different story, with Green Bay being one of the best offenses in football during the third and fourth quarters of games. Currently, the Packers are averaging 17.3 points per game in the second half, the highest mark in football.
As rookie tight end Tucker Kraft described on Monday, one contributor to Green Bay’s second-half success on offense is the comfortability of the young players on offense. A lot of what they are seeing from defenses at that point in the game they’ve seen previously and are now better prepared to react to and counter what’s being thrown their way.
“Second half, you’ve got about maybe 20 reps of their defense under your belt,” said Kraft. “You get the picture. You get to take advantage of what they’ve already given you. Looks, scheme, safety rotation. You get a clearer picture going into the second half about what they’re doing.
“So that’s why second-half adjustments are always so pivotal in games. And maybe that’s why we come out punching because we are familiar with the technique. Maybe we’ve already gotten the pressure and are familiar with it that time. It’s always different.”
Hopefully, as the season continues to progress and this young Green Bay offense gets more experience and more looks under their belt, they will be better equipped to handle the adjustments or, in the case of the Denver game, the curveballs thrown at them. Although, if you’re skeptical based on what has taken place so far, I get it.
The Packers’ inexperience on offense doesn’t excuse their first-half performances over the last month. At the end of the day, the NFL is a results-based business, and the results haven’t been there for Green Bay. With that said, this is also their current reality. And while the youth on offense isn’t the sole factor behind their slow starts, it is absolutely a contributor.
