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GREEN BAY – Based on how the first four games of the season have gone, the Packers’ two biggest targets for improvement are rather easy to pinpoint.
On offense, it’s protect the football. On defense, contain the run.
If both of those facets start trending in a better direction Sunday in London against the Giants, it’ll bode well moving forward over the long haul for a 3-1 Green Bay team that’s shown some rough edges.
“If I had the answer to it, I don’t think we’d be in this spot,” Head Coach Matt LaFleur said regarding the offense’s turnovers. “We’ve just got to do a better job.”
Protecting the ball is something they’ve traditionally done well under LaFleur. Over his first three seasons, the Packers never went more than two straight games with a turnover, and their regular-season high has been 13.
This year, with at least one turnover in every game, the streak is at four, and the seven total giveaways are already more than half of their worst season under LaFleur.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers already has thrown three interceptions after having four, five and four the last three years, so history would indicate his pace won’t continue.
Running back Aaron Jones has one of the team’s four lost fumbles, and he’s only lost six his entire career – roughly one per season. He got sandwiched on a hit near the goal line in Tampa and coughed up the ball in a tough spot, which can happen to anyone, but it’s still an unacceptable miscue.
The track record says it’ll get better, but it won’t just happen magically without the proper effort and attention.
“It’s just focusing on the ball, knowing the ball is the No. 1 important thing in the game,” Jones said. “That’s how we go about it here – the ball, the team, the North. So just take care of it. Just be aware of it, knowing what teams are trying to do.”
That’s the message LaFleur is instilling, because of what the Packers have put on film. Rodgers also has lost fumbles on a sack and bad snap exchange, and rookie receiver Romeo Doubs had the ball punched out by the Patriots on the Packers’ second play from scrimmage last week.
“Put too many on the ground, there’s no doubt,” LaFleur said. “Once you do that, the other teams that are watching you, that are studying you, they kind of smell blood in the water. They’re going to go after, relentlessly after that football. We know that’s going to happen. We’ve got to step up to the challenge.”
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