Packers: Offense can get back on track against Lions

The Green Bay Packers offense can get back on track in Week 5.

Through the first month of the season, the Green Bay Packers offense has not been firing on all cylinders.

However, a trip to Detroit this Sunday could be the perfect game for the Packers to turn it all around.

Although Green Bay was able to come out of the month of September at 2-1-1, other than the second half of the Bears game Week 1, their offensive performances have been underwhelming.

Green Bay’s offensive struggles

Through four games, the Packers are averaging only two offensive touchdowns per game and have struggled mightily in the red zone. They have scored a touchdown while in the red zone just 41.67 percent of the time this year, which is ranked 28th overall in the NFL.

The Packers are also scoring just 23.0 points per game and are averaging 5.52 yards per play this year. Both numbers are below their respective league averages.

Lastly, in key offensive categories such as passing yards per game, they rank 15th in the NFL with 269.0 yards per game. And in rushing yards per game they rank 19th overall with 102.0 per game.

With Aaron Rodgers as your quarterback and the talent that he has around him, being around the league average in many offensive stat categories is not acceptable.

But with the Detroit Lions next on the schedule, the Packers offense could be due for a big performance.

Detroit’s run defense

The Detroit Lions will enter Sunday’s game with a record of 1-3 and have been struggling defensively up to this point in the season.

At the conclusion of Week 4, the Lions defense has given up an average of 28.5 points per game, which ranks 24th overall in the NFL. A big contributor to the Lions’ defensive issues has been their poor run defense. Opposing teams average 157.8 yards per game on the ground against Detroit, the most given up in the NFL.

This isn’t the Lions pass rush that we know from years past with Nick Fairley and Ndamukong Suh wreaking havoc on opposing quarterbacks and run games. This Lions defensive line is ranked 19th overall by Pro Football Focus (PFF) and struggles to create pressure.

With Ziggy Ansah out, the one bright spot on the line is A’Shawn Robinson, but he needs help from others.

Many Packer fans have been demanding more carries for running back Aaron Jones, and this week would be the perfect opportunity. With Detroit’s poor run defense and Green Bay banged up at wide receiver, head coach Mike McCarthy should make sure that Jones gets at least 15 carries in this game.

Detroit’s secondary

The Lions secondary has played better than their run defense but they still remain an area that Aaron Rodgers can take advantage of this week.

Opposing quarterbacks have a quarterback rating of 104.9 against Detroit and are completing 65 percent of their passes. And as a unit they’ve recorded only two interceptions on the season.

Now some of these issues can be attributed to the lack of pass rush generated by the defensive line which gives the quarterback ample time to find an open receiver.

With Quandre Diggs questionable for Sunday’s game and Darius Slay spending most of his time covering Davante Adams, the rest of the Lions secondary could be vulnerable.

Jimmy Graham will present a difficult match up and could see a number of targets. While a healthy Geronimo Allison has done great as Green Bay’s number two receiver this year as he leads the team in receiving yards. I also expect the Packers to utilize Ty Montgomery quite a bit in the passing game to help create more mismatches for this Green Bay offense.

After the next few weeks, Green Bay’s schedule gets much more difficult. Crunch time is approaching and the offense needs to work out the kinks.

Being at Ford Field, this game will most likely turn into a shootout, but the Packers have a perfect opponent in front of them to help cure their offensive inefficiencies.