Packers: Slow starts and offensive miscues must be corrected

3. Penalties

Another area this team is unfortunately among the worst in the league in is penalties and penalty yardage. The Packers are tied for eighth-most penalties in the league with 49, creating a whopping 467 yards from penalties, good for fourth in the league.

The Packers also own the worst net penalty yardage in the NFL, in terms of penalty yardage benefiting the Packers compared to penalty yardage hurting the Packers, with minus-195 yards. The next closest team is a ways away at minus-138 yards.

I could obviously go on and on about the multiple quarterback hits from Clay Matthews that were called for penalties at the time and later deemed not an illegal play by the NFL, but I think we have all already caused ourselves enough grief going over that topic.

To me, this comes down to coaching once again. Penalties paint a picture of how disciplined a team is. This hasn’t just been a couple of bad games either, that’s what makes this worse, the Packers are being penalized heavily on a consistent basis.

Through six games, this problem has not been cleaned up, which makes me wonder if players are being held accountable by the coaching staff.

Averaging about 80 yards from penalties per game makes it tough enough for any team to win each week, but with the stretch of schedule ahead for the Packers, the margin for error will not allow for a sloppy, penalty-filled game if they intend on winning.

The Rams are 25th in the league for total penalties on the season. The Packers cannot have a lopsided penalty difference in Week 8 and expect to stay in the game.