Green Bay Packers: 3 Troubling Trends that Need to Stop
By Paul Bretl
Nine games into the 2020 season, these are three troubling trends that the Green Bay Packers need to correct.
We are now over halfway through the Green Bay Packers’ 2020 season, and at 7-2, they have three fewer losses than the Chicago Bears, who are currently in second place in the NFC North, and they are also the top seed in the entire NFC. Not too bad for a team that many expected to regress.
However, regardless of how the first half of the season has gone, every team has improvements that they can make. And that includes the Green Bay Packers. With nine games played, there is a decent sample size out there that allows us to get a better understanding of who this team is in 2020.
Without question, there has certainly been much more good than bad this year. But with that said, enough games have been played that there are some bad trends that are starting to or have already developed. These three trends, in particular, are quite troubling and need to be solved over the final seven games of the regular season.
Running the ball on 2nd & 10
The Green Bay Packers’ offense has been one of the more productive units this season behind the beautiful play-calling of Matt LaFleur. However, running the ball on 2nd and 10 has to come to a stop.
Zach Kruse over at Packers Wire did some fantastic digging and found that Green Bay has run the ball on 2nd and 10 or more 28 times this season. How are they faring in those situations, you might ask? Well, not very good at all. On those plays, they are averaging only 2.9 yards per carry, leaving themselves with a third and long to deal with.
When asked by CheeseheadTV’s Aaron Nagler about that, Matt LaFleur said that oftentimes in those situations, Green Bay will use “canned plays,” which provides them with a run or pass option depending on the look of the defense. And typically, because it is 2nd and 10, defenses will play more conservatively, thus explaining why the Packers run the ball 44 percent of the time when faced with that down and distance.
LaFleur would also mention that in those situations, they have to simply execute better so that they do pick up more than the 2.9 yards that they are averaging. While that is certainly true, throwing the ball and reducing the number of runs on 2nd and long is a good idea as well.