Packers: Slow starts and offensive miscues must be corrected

1. Slow starts on offense

Quite possibly the largest problem so far this season has been the slow starts each week, causing the offense to have to fight its way back into the game in the second half.

So far, through six games, the Packers have been outscored 100-63 in the first half and have only scored a grand total of seven points on the offense’s opening drives this season. That’s a recipe for consistent losses.

Of course, this is partly due to execution on the players’ part, but I think this says a lot more about the coaching.

If your team is coming out slow on both sides of the ball every week, but play much better football in the second half of games, then I put the blame on the coaches for not having their players ready to go and for not having a winning game plan ready to go before second half adjustments are made.

It truly has been a tale of two halves for the Packers offense and Aaron Rodgers this year. Rodgers holds a QBR of 90.5 in the first half of games this season, which is good for third-worst in the NFC.

But in the second half of games this season, he has the sixth-best QBR in the NFL, at 106.2. He also holds the sixth-best QBR in the NFL in the fourth quarter, 113.6, which has been evident with his amazing fourth-quarter comebacks this season.

So far through six games, the offense has averaged only 6.83 plays on their opening drives, while averaging 35.33 yards on their opening drives. These short, non-productive, opening drives are leading to an average time of possession of about 3.5 minutes for the offense before having to surrender the ball back to the other team.

Which begs the question: Why isn’t the offense prepped and ready to move the ball down the field starting off each game?

In my opinion, the play-calling to start each game for the offense is far too conservative. The first time Mike McCarthy seemed to have some creativity planned for his first offensive drive, was in their sixth game against the 49ers.

They started the drive with a play-action boot out to the left leaving Marquez Valdes-Scantling wide open for a 60-yard gain. The Packers managed to go 77 yards in just four plays for a touchdown.

If you look back at the most recent years this team was dominant on offense, such as 2011 and 2014, you will see high efficiency, safe passes on first down. This would create better situations on second down, allowing the offense to get more manageable first downs and to continue to move the ball downfield with more ease.

It seems as of the past few years, McCarthy is dead set on establishing the run to begin the game, leaving the offense in many second- and third-and-long situations.

Establishing the run isn’t the only issue though.

So far this season, Rodgers has the third-worst completion percentage in the NFC on first down, at 61.4 percent. This could be due to a plethora of things.

Things such as Rodgers not liking what he sees and throwing the ball away, Rodgers just plain not being accurate on first-down throws, and/or low completion percentage play-calls on first down.

What this does mean for sure is that the offense is seeing many second-and-10 situations, which is the complete opposite of what this offense needs from their first-down plays.

In all honesty, this offense is at it’s most unstoppable when they are operating in their two-minute offense. When Rodgers can dink-and-dunk defenses all the way down the field, then hit a deep ball when defenses start playing up a little more, this offense truly looks unstoppable. This is the type of offense I wish was replicated throughout the entire game.

There are certainly times when Rodgers decides against throwing to the open man for a shorter yardage play as he is waiting for a route to open up down the field. Some of the time it works out in Rodgers’ favor, but many times I wish he would just take what the defense gives him and take the easy yards.

This, in turn, will help to create better down-and-distance situations for the offense. This also helps to prevent Rodgers from taking unneeded hits from hanging on to the ball too long.

Many people bash the Patriots and Tom Brady for their short-yardage passing offense, but if I’m being truthful, I wish the Packers offense incorporated the short-yardage, quick-passing game much more often.

Rodgers cannot be stopped when this type of offense is implemented and the Patriots have clearly found plenty of success with this offensive scheme.

It is going to be very important for the Packers to start off hot in the coming weeks on offense. Obviously it is important each week, but with the schedule ahead they will need to score points early and do their best to keep the pedal down.