Packers must build on Week 10 performance

In what has been a disappointing season for the Green Bay Packers up to this point, against the Dolphins they overcame many of the areas that they’d been struggling in. Which begs the question, can they build on this performance for the remainder of the season?

More so than battling their opponents in 2018, the Green Bay Packers have been battling themselves. It seems like just about every week this season they’ve inexplicably shot themselves in the foot one way or another.

However this past Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, the Packers were able to conquer many of the ailments that have been apart of their self-destruction in 2018, as they finally had their “get right” game.

If they can continue to build on this performance in the upcoming weeks they may have a chance at salvaging this season after all.

Red Zone efficiency

For much of the season the Green Bay Packers have been in the bottom third of the NFL in red zone efficiency. Green Bay has struggled to convert red zone appearances in to touchdowns, which has contributed to kicker Mason Crosby being second in the league in field goal attempts.

But to the Packers’ credit, they have improved in recent weeks and against Miami they were perfect.

Green Bay was able to convert a touchdown on all four of their red zone appearances. This included two touchdown catches from Davante Adams and two rushing touchdowns from Aaron Jones.

A huge contributor to this success was the run game, as it helped Green Bay take advantage of Miami’s poor run defense by opening up the play-action passes and it made the Packers offense less one-dimensional.

When it comes to run-pass balance, the Packers are one of the worst in the league because of how often they throw the ball. If they hope to continue being successful in the red zone, they must help out Aaron Rodgers and be more balanced moving forward.

Aaron Jones was involved

In previous weeks it would appear that everyone but head coach Mike McCarthy knows that Aaron Jones needs more touches. Well against the Dolphins we finally got to see Jones play a bigger role in the offense.

On the ground Jones was nearly unstoppable. In the previous six games the Miami run defense was giving up over five yards per carry to running backs and the Packers took advantage of this by making Jones a priority in the offense.

Jones was given 15 touches, and I do agree that he could have received more attempts, but nonetheless it was a season-high. On those carries Jones rushed for a whopping 145 yards and two touchdowns.

In the passing game, Jones was targeted five times and hauled in three catches for 27 yards.

So of the 55 offensive plays that Green Bay ran, 18 of them went to Jones and he was targeted on an additional two plays. This is the kind of involvement a player like Jones needs if the Packers hope to keep winning.

A complete game defensively

Throughout the season the Packers defense has put together solid halves or quarters at times but have struggled with a complete game. But even with their backs against the wall multiple times, they would not break.

There were two instances where a Tramon Williams fumble and a blocked punt resulted in the Dolphins offense starting deep in Packers territory. However unlike past performances, the Green Bay defense stood their ground and held Miami to two field goals.

These were big moments in the game that could have easily swung the momentum and potentially the outcome.

Another issue defensively has been a lack of turnovers this season. Before the Miami game, the Packers were ranked in the bottom third of the NFL in total team turnovers.

Nevertheless, they were able to come away with two critical turnovers against the Dolphins. The first came early when capitalizing on a Brock Osweiler fumble that kept Miami out of the end zone on their opening drive.

The second was a Bashaud Breeland interception that put the Packers offense inside the red zone, which eventually resulted in a Green Bay touchdown.

Overall the Packers bottled up the Dolphins offense, holding them to just 4.5 yards per play.

Yes, the Packers faced a mediocre offense but they did what any good defense does in that situation, shut them down.

These three facets to the Green Bay Packers games have eluded them all season long, but when functioning correctly, they are a much different team.

If they have any hopes of stringing together a few wins, they must build upon this past performance and continue playing well in these key areas.