Life has been tough for the Green Bay Packers' offense this week. The Packers were already down wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks heading into their preseason opener against the New York Jets and Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs and Savion Williams followed suit before Jordan Love underwent thumb surgery.
With the Packers preparing for their second preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday afternoon, there are plenty of things they have to worry about on offense. But the biggest may be Green Bay’s ability to get out of its own way as the 2025 season approaches.
Packers Offense Struggles in Joint Practice vs. Colts
The Packers had a rough afternoon on the offensive side of the ball, and the issues were documented by The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman. While Green Bay was without its starting quarterback, backup signal caller Malik Willis wasn’t sharp, and the offense had the same issues that plagued its preseason opener against the Jets.
“While Willis helped engineer a victory over the Colts in his first start last season after Love sprained his MCL, he didn’t fare as well Thursday,” Schneidman wrote. “There was a combination of leaky protection, drops, what [tight end Tucker Kraft] said about the young reserves, strong coverage by Colts defensive backs, and Willis’s inaccuracies.”
Schneidman noticed that Willis overthrew tight end Luke Musgrave on a play-action pass early in practice and targeted Kraft on a play where he was being pressured, leading to a pass breakup by Cam Bynum. A red zone drill didn’t help the Packers as Willis intentionally threw his first pass into the dirt, overthrew Golden on a fade down the sideline, and threw another pass out of the back of the end zone when no one could get open.
While the Colts' secondary did its job, there were too many plays left on the field, such as a drop by wide receiver Malik Heath later in the day. It stood out to Love as he was watching practice on the sideline, and left him admitting there’s plenty of work to do as training camp comes to a close.
“There’s always going to be some good plays from the offense, some good plays from the defense,” Love said. “For us, I think it’s more just how do we respond to seeing a new look, seeing a new defense and just trusting our rules and things like that, and going out there and playing each play to the best of our ability?
“I think there were some good plays up there and I think there was some stuff that we left out there, so it’ll be good film to go back there and watch tomorrow when we get into that meeting room. But I think the best part is seeing a new defense, seeing new looks and seeing when it comes to life when we get out on the field.”
Seeing a new defense is always a benefit for a team after spending weeks hitting each other during camp. But things haven’t gone well when they aren’t looking at green and gold on the opposite side of the field. The Jets held Green Bay to 188 total yards of offense in their first preseason game, and the Packers hurt their own chances with a slew of drops and seven penalties for 64 yards.
While getting some of their starters back will be a positive development, time is running out, and the Packers need to show some improvement beginning with Saturday’s game.