Lack of preseason reps hurt Packers in season-opener

The Green Bay Packers couldn’t have started their 2021 NFL season any worse. They admittedly came out really flat against the New Orleans Saints and were dominated from start to finish. Could it have had anything to do with the lack of reps most of the starters got in the preseason?

Packers’ head coach Matt LaFleur has prioritized health throughout his tenure in Green Bay and it was likely one of the major reasons he decided to take such a passive approach to the preseason. LaFleur and Green Bay held 30-plus players out of each preseason game–mostly starters and vets–and barely played most of the main contributors who even dressed for the game.

The result was some ugly preseason contests, but that’s less important. It was evident the lack of live game action hurt the Packers in all facets against the Saints.

The Green Bay Packers elected to sit most of their starters in the preseason and it came back to bite them in the season-opener.

The defense gave up a field goal on its opening possession and seemingly never stopped New Orleans from that point forward. They couldn’t get off the field, hemorrhaging yards and points on every play as the Saints did whatever they wanted with them. This led to the offense only being on the field for 12 plays in the first half and the defense being completely gassed by the start of the second quarter.

The defense, especially, needed reps considering they have a new coordinator in Joe Barry. Barry has been implementing his scheme all offseason and it would’ve been helpful for his guys to get some time in real games–even if the play calls would’ve been vanilla. Instead, it seemed like the Packers lacked communication on multiple plays and were constantly trying to figure out coverages leading right up to the snap. The results weren’t pretty.

The offense doesn’t get off the hook as easily. This is Year 3 under LaFleur and other than a couple of rookies on the offensive line, they brought just about everybody back. They looked completely unprepared and like they hadn’t played a football game since last January.

Of course, the argument could be made that Green Bay didn’t have a preseason last year and they came out on fire. However, nobody had a preseason to get ready for the season so they were on the same playing field (metaphorically speaking) as everyone else. That wasn’t the case this time around.

Considering most of the starters only played a little more than three quarters last Sunday, let’s hope that served as their default tune-up game and they’re able to move forward with a better showing. Hindsight is 20/20, but it sure looks like a mistake that Green Bay didn’t use those exhibition games to the best of their ability.