The Packers had two chances to end the game against the Carolina Panthers and couldn’t close out either opportunity.
The first came after the Panthers scored a touchdown (but missed the two-point conversion) to narrow the Packers’ lead to eight points. They kicked the ball back to the Packers with just over 5:30 to go in the game, and the offense promptly went nowhere.
A screen pass to Tucker Kraft on first down was called back. Jordan Love threw incomplete to Matthew Golden on the re-do of first down,
and although there was a lot of contact, no flag flew for defensive pass interference. On second down, Josh Jacobs caught a short checkdown pass but went out of bounds, stopping the clock. Then, after a bad snap on third down, Jordan Love was called for an intentional grounding penalty (a completely legit one, too, in a welcome change). Less than a minute had elapsed from the game clock and the Packers hadn’t attempted a run.
The Panthers couldn’t generate a game-tying drive, turning the ball over on downs with 2:41 to go.
Josh Jacobs scraped out eight yards on two carries, then Christian Watson, broken rib and all, caught a third down pass to convert, forcing the Panthers to burn their final timeout. With 2:28, the Packers just needed one first down to end any chance of the Panthers pulling off something miraculous.
Instead, the Packers went the wrong way. Jacobs lost three yards, then gained one total yard back on his next two attempts, forcing the Packers to punt the ball away with about 30 seconds remaining. Carolina had a long way to go and no timeouts to help them, but they were technically in business until a Dani Dennis-Sutton sack put them in an even deeper hole. Their final lateral-heavy play went nowhere, and the game mercifully ended.
The questions, however, were just starting. Why couldn’t the Packers close out the game, especially on their second chance? Matt LaFleur didn’t have an answer.
“It was disappointing. I would say it’s disappointing,” he said. “Obviously got the one first down, and then we tried to lean on the run game and we went backwards. So that’s an area of emphasis that we have to improve upon because it puts a lot of pressure on your pass game to continue to just find ways to move the ball down the field.”
LaFleur is right to focus on the run game. If there’s ever a time when you have to be able to move the ball on the ground, it’s in those crucial close-out drives. Keeping the clock moving while grinding out yards is perhaps the purest form of football; as every coach since the dawn of time has pointed out, as long as you can eke out three yards on every play (cloud of dust optional), your offense is technically unstoppable. You will never run out of downs and you can drain the clock at will.
The Packers cannot do that, and Matt LaFleur is obviously frustrated.
“We have got to find something that we can hang our hat on in the run game and unfortunately we have not done that yet,” he said.
At least his assessment is accurate. As long as the Packers struggle to run the ball, the passing game will have to shoulder more and more of the load. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; Jordan Love has shown he’s more than capable of carrying the load (he’s on pace for career highs in just about every passing stat that matters), but the more you lean on him, the more things can break down.
Take Love’s ill-advised interception early in the fourth quarter. Are the Packers taking end zone shots on 3rd and 8 if they thought there was a chance they could set themselves up for a short fourth down run instead? We’ll never know, but it makes you wonder, and the more passing plays you feel like you have to call, the more opportunities arise for one poor decision to result in a turnover.
LaFleur doesn’t seem optimistic that things are going to turn around, either. Asked if he was seeing anything that makes him optimistic better rushing days ahead, he was blunt.
“I mean, if I’m being honest, not a lot right now. And that’s our job as coaches. We got to figure it out because it’s not good enough.”
It certainly isn’t, but at this point any improvement would be a surprise.
