Another Slow Start, Another Loss for Green Bay

 By Eric Goska 

Emanuel Wilson (31) - here in a preseason game in
 August - led Green Bay with 19 first-half rushing yards.
(photos by Eric Goska)

Glaciers move faster.

Drying paint provides more excitement.

Hyperbole aside, the Packers have a first-half problem. If their performance in Denver is any indication, this shortcoming could persist.

The Broncos outgained Green Bay by a substantial margin in the opening two quarters at Empower Field at Mile High Sunday. Though the Packers rallied, a fourth-quarter field goal propelled Denver to a 19-17 win.

Win or lose, Green Bay’s offense has finished with fewer yards than its opponent every time this season. Here is the damage to date: Chicago (+47), Atlanta (+94), New Orleans (+16), Detroit (+261), Las Vegas (+42) and Denver (+109).

Opponents (1,138 yards) have doubled the Pack’s output (569). And those measly 569 yards are the third-fewest through six games by Green Bay since 1944 (541 in 1974 and 547 in 1975).

Perhaps this best sums up the deficiency. Never before in the past 100 seasons (1923-2022) has the Green and Gold been outgained in the first half of each of its first six contests.

Certainly that is a low to which coach Matt LaFleur and his team did not want to sink.

LB Isaiah McDuffie
led the Pack with 10 tackles.

Jordan Love and the offense ran 25 first-half plays and gained an even 100 yards. Only twice – a 14-yard screen pass to receiver Romeo Doubs and a 14-yard run by Emanuel Wilson to end the half – did the Packers gain more than 8 yards on a single play.

Only once in the opening 30 minutes did Love fire deep with the intention of hitting a receiver. He failed to connect with Jayden Reed about 22 yards downfield late in the first quarter, a play that would have been wiped out by a face mask penalty on tackle Rasheed Walker had the throw been successful.

Perhaps this best sums up how conservative Green Bay was with the pass: Love completed 10 of 13 first-half passes for 47 yards. In the past 100 seasons, only one Packer player had fewer yards on his first 10 completions in a game: Aaron Rodgers with 41 in a 37-8 blowout loss at San Francisco in 2019.

Only two others had fewer than 50: Brett Hundley 49 in 2017 and Don Majkowski 49 in 1989.

Denver had little trouble moving the ball. It ripped off nine plays of 10 or more yards in amassing 209 by halftime.

The Packers lack of yardage has translated to a lack of points. Green Bay has been outscored 78 to 26 in the opening two quarters including a whopping 63 to 6 in the last four games.

Doubs and Reed are the only Packers to have registered a first-half touchdown this season.

The Packers need a wake-up call. They need it now. No more hitting snooze until the second half begins.

Through six games, Green Bay is averaging 4.3 first half points per game. The last time they did that over the course of an entire season was 1927, the Stone Age of football.

Mishalfs
Since 1944, the most yards the Packers have been outgained in the first half by their opponents through six games.

Yards       Year   Record after 6   Final record
-569           2023                2-4                            ?
-506           1986                0-6                        4-12
-450           2017                4-2                          7-9
-432           1976                3-3                          5-9
-419           1956                2-4                          4-8