Both drops and penalties contributed to the Green Bay Packers’ glaring red zone weakness heading into their bye week.
On Sunday at Lambeau Field, the Packers failed to score a touchdown on their first three trips to the red zone and were 1 of 4 overall. Chris Brooks went down on third down from the 10-yard line and forced a field goal. Dontayvion Wicks later dropped a third-down touchdown pass, and Josh Jacobs was pushed to fourth down one play later. Four trips inside the 20 gave only 10 points.
Through nine weeks, the Packers rank 29th in the NFL in red zone touchdowns at 47.1%. Matt LaFleur’s team is better than just the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.
The Packers had no trouble getting into the red zone. In fact, Green Bay ranks fifth with 34 red zone opportunities. Getting there is one thing; scoring tries in a condensed area of the field is another matter.
LaFleur linked the red zone problem to the penalty problem and will have no argument here. Far too often, the Packers make things tough by gaining extra yards or negating positive plays. The Packers have been penalized eleven times in the 20 range. We don’t have league-wide numbers, but we suspect 11 red zone rushers are at or near the top of the NFL standings heading into Week 10.
Drops and incomplete catches are a recurring problem, regardless of the area of the court. In dense spaces, finding wide open targets is tough. Quarterbacks need to be more exact, and receivers need to catch the ball more often in contested situations.
Running the football is also essential. Josh Jacobs converted 22 red zone rushing attempts into just 36 yards. Backup Emanuel Wilson (six carries, 14 yards) didn’t do much better. High averages are not expected in the red zone, but the team must be able to move players forward and impose their will in the running game to maintain consistency in the red zone.
A few major mistakes also impact the numbers: Jacobs fumbled a yard tiny of the end zone and Love intercepted the ball within 10 yards.
Failure to convert in the red zone means points are thrown away. In 34 trips to the red zone, the Packers have 17 touchdowns and 12 field goals. If we count the field goal as a sacrifice of four points and add the five missed points (turnover, turnover on downs, missed field goal) as a sacrifice of seven, the Packers left a total of 83 points on the field in the red zone for the season. That’s a lot of points!
Bottom line is, the Packers need to start doing better in the red zone after the bye. The offense has no problem getting to the 20-yard line consistently, but all the warts of the Packers offense show up in the end zone and prevent touchdowns.
Penalties, falls, misfires, failed catches in competitions, ineffectiveness in running.
Can LaFleur, Love and the Packers go into the lab during the bye week and find answers to red zone questions?
