Green Bay’s offense chasing consistency after breakout

After the Green Bay Packers were pretty quiet during the offseason in addressing areas of need on offense, fans, analysts and the rest of the football community expected a similar looking offense this season.

And for nearly the entire first half of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, people got what they expected — an offense that could move the ball down the field but was lacking when it came to third down and red zone chances.

Things changed in a hurry, as the Packers scored two touchdowns in the last minute of the first half to take control of the contest, then tacked on three more touchdowns in the second half to outscore the Vikings and open up the season with a key division win.

Green Bay converted six of 11 of its third down chances for the game. After kicking two field goals and turning the ball over on downs on its first three trips to the red zone, the Packers scored touchdowns on all three of its red zone trips in the second half.

All training camp, quarterback Aaron Rodgers talked about being more comfortable in the second year of the offense under coach Matt LaFleur, and Rodgers looked it Sunday.

The two-time MVP had one of his best games in recent memory, completing 32 of his 44 attempts for 364 yards and four touchdowns — numbers that could have been even better had his receivers not dropped a couple passes.

Green Bay punted just one time and didn’t turn the ball over. Rodgers wasn’t sacked.

“I think Matt (LaFleur) had a really good plan this week,” said Rodgers after the game. “I think him and his staff came up with some really good ideas, and I think we executed pretty well.”

The Packers offense was able to take advantage of some inexperienced players in the Vikings secondary, a unit the Packers might try and attack again this week as the Detroit Lions come to town.

The Lions have more experience at the cornerback and safety positions than the Vikings, but they allowed three fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Mitch Trubisky and the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Detroit held a 23-6 lead in that game before allowing 21 points in the final five minutes.

The Lions secondary will now try and slow the Packer trio of Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Allen Lazard. Adams accounted for 14 catches, 156 yards and two scores, with Valdes-Scantling and Lazard each hauling in four passes and scoring a touchdown.

The Packers quietly racked up 158 rushing yards against the Vikings, doing a lot of that damage early in the game on jet sweeps to Tyler Ervin and Lazard and then leaning on Aaron Jones late to burn some clock and gash a tired defense.

“It’s only one week, so I don’t think any of us are going to be patting ourselves on the back,” said LaFleur after Sunday’s win.

Detroit allowed 149 yards (over five yards a carry) against the Bears.

What the Packers did offensively was even more impressive considering the injuries the offensive line had to deal with.

Elgton Jenkins — normally Green Bay’s starting left guard — started the game at right tackle because of Billy Turner’s knee injury. That moved Lucas Patrick to the left guard position.

Patrick left the game after 32 snaps because of a shoulder injury, which moved Jenkins back to left guard and inserted offseason acquisition Rick Wagner at right tackle. Lane Taylor — who started at right guard — then suffered a knee injury in the fourth quarter, which brought in rookie Jon Runyan for his first NFL game action.

Taylor has since been ruled out for the year with the injury, but Patrick is probable to play in week two. With Turner still working his way back, the team may need to make a couple moves this week to make sure it can get through its next game.

If last year’s games with the Lions are any indication of what’s to happen this year, the Packers will need to be ready to battle, regardless of what areas of the game they might hold an advantage or be at a disadvantage.

sports@newmedia-wi.com

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