At times during Thursday’s matchup against the Washington Commanders, the Green Bay Packers looked nearly perfect. The pass rush smothered Jayden Daniels even when Micah Parsons was off the field, and the offense started the game red hot to get an early lead.
Certainly, Green Bay has put the NFL on notice with its dominance against two contenders to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. After starting 2-0 in such fashion, though, it seems like everyone is changing those preseason predictions for Super Bowl LX to include the Packers.
But as great as the Packers look on the scoreboard, all is not perfect in Titletown.
Dominant Packers still haunted by familiar special teams issues
If one weakness is shining through for the Packers through the first two weeks of the season, it’s the special teams unit. Washington grabbed some of its biggest plays in the return game, highlighted by a 50-yard kick return by Deebo Samuel and a 24-yard punt return by Jaylin Lane. The Packers, on the other hand, left the game with a grand total of one yard on punt returns.
Both splash-play returns gave the Commanders prime starting field position in Green Bay territory. Luckily for the Packers, both of those drives resulted in missed field goals via Matt Gay. But Green Bay had its own troubles with kicks, as Brandon McManus missed a 48-yarder himself.
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A more underrated mistake was Kingsley Enagbare running onto the field while Jordan Love and the offense were looking to quickly attempt an early 4th-and-4. That gaffe gave Washington enough time to get lined up to defend the attempt and turn the ball over on downs, wiping away a chance to get into the end zone.
Between the poor kick coverage and the missed field goal, Washington had an average starting field position at their own 40-yard line before finally getting into the end zone on a 50-yard drive early in the fourth quarter.
Of course, special teams was an area of concern for Green Bay last year. Before McManus was signed on, the place-kicking was awful. Late in the season, the Packers’ special teams unit gave up a Week 18 punt return touchdown and lost a fumble on the opening kickoff. Packers fans hoped that those sore spots would lead to a change in leadership, but instead, the Packers extended the contract of special teams coach Rich Bisaccia this offseason.
Nonetheless, these issues weren’t present in the Week 1 victory over Detroit. Still, the Packers have something special going on defense, but giving them such a short field to defend can undo the supreme effort displayed by that unit, which is vying to be the best in the entire league. Conversely, the offense is clicking, too, but having to drive 90-plus yards for two of their touchdown drives isn’t exactly ideal, even if it is impressive.
Packers fans certainly hope that the special teams lapses from Thursday are confined to the early-season short week and don’t persist throughout what is shaping up to be a promising campaign.