Packers Notebook - Sept. 26

By: 
Bill Huber
Correspondent

A new era

With more than 25 years of Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre as the team’s quarterbacks, the Green Bay Packers are 3-0 behind a formula that’s foreign to Packers fans. In fact, Green Bay hasn’t fielded a defense-first team since 1978. That team finished 22nd in scoring but eighth in points allowed en route to an 8-7-1 finish.

Through three games, the Packers are winning behind a big-play defense, excellent punting and an offense that isn’t getting in the way.

Green Bay leads the NFL with a plus-six turnover margin. It was plus-3 on Sunday, with three takeaways and zero giveaways. “It really came down to being plus-3 in the turnover ratio,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “You’re going to set yourself up for a lot of wins if you can do that consistently.”

Punter J.K. Scott is averaging 48.6 yards per kick. And the offense has put together just enough spurts to get the team across the finish line.

“It doesn’t matter how you’re playing or who you’re playing, if you don’t turn the ball over, you’re going to be tough to beat,” Rodgers said. “There’s an assumption here that along with not turning the ball over, there’s going to be some sort of production. That’s kind of how it’s been: There’s been some sort of production. We haven’t turned the ball over.

Our punter is kicking the hell out of the ball right now. He wouldn’t say ‘hell,’ but he’s punting the ball great, so we’re winning with great special teams, great defense, and we’re taking care of the football on offense and being opportunistic.”

Green Bay’s defense was gouged on the ground for the second consecutive game but it seemingly made every big play. Preston Smith had perhaps the best game of his career with three sacks and a forced fumble, which the Packers recovered at the 5 for what ultimately was the winning touchdown.

“We don’t care what the circumstance is,” Smith said. “We know we’ve got to go out there and play hard football. We don’t care if the offense is leaning on us. We’re going out there to do the best we can do. We’re going to play to the level and the expectation we have for ourselves and one another, and we’re going out there and being the bad-ass defense.”

The Packers will try to ride that approach to a 4-0 start on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia is ninth in scoring but 23rd in scoring defense. With a minus-2 on the turnover ledger, the Eagles are 1-2 on the season and losers of two straight.

LaFleur leads first-year coaches

Including LaFleur and Denver’s Vic Fangio, eight coaches were hired this offseason. The standings: LaFleur, 3-0; Cleveland’s Freddy Kitchens, 1-2; Tampa Bay’s Bruce Arians, 1-2; Arizona’s Kliff Kingsbury, 0-2-1; New York Jets’ Adam Gase, 0-3; Miami’s Brian Flores, 0-3; Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor, 0-3; Fangio, 0-3.

LaFleur was the only coach to win in Week 3. His three wins are more than the other seven combined; those coaches are 2-18-1.

The 3-0 start matched Vince Lombardi’s debut in 1959. His inaugural teams went on to lose its next five games before winning four straight to end the season 7-5. The only other Packers coach to start his career 3-0 was Curly Lambeau, though the Packers weren’t part of the NFL in 1919 and those wins came against Menominee (Mich.) North End, Marinette and New London.

The Pack’s sack attack

Last season, Green Bay’s starting outside linebacker duo of Clay Matthews (3.5) and Nick Perry (1.5) combined for five sacks. The new outside linebacker duo of Preston Smith (three) and Za’Darius Smith (two) combined for five sacks on Sunday alone.

With the second three-sack game of his career, Preston Smith has 4.5 sacks for the season. He had four all of last season with Washington.

“I’m being utilized better,” he said before turning his attention to the defense as a whole. “And guys are playing hard. Guys are playing hard, unselfish football. We’re playing as a defense. We’re playing as one. We’re not playing as individuals. We’re not playing as a D-line. The questions y’all ask, you don’t hear, ‘The D-line played great today but the DBs struggled.’ Or, ‘The DBs did great but up front struggled.’ We play defense. We play great defense here. That’s what we aim for each and every week.”

With the Monday night game not yet played, Preston Smith was third in the league with 4.5 sacks, Matthews is tied for fourth with four sacks and Za’Darius Smith is tied for ninth with three sacks. The Smiths are tied for fourth with seven quarterback hits apiece.

Quick turnaround

There’s not much time to get ready for Thursday night’s game against the Eagles. Fortunately for Green Bay, the way the game unfolded is good news for key players on offense.

Rodgers wasn’t sacked and was hit only once — the 27-yard completion to fullback Danny Vitale. Running back Aaron Jones, coming off career highs of 23 rushes and 27 touches against Minnesota, played only 22 snaps and had 11 touches.

“I have to say this is one of the cleanest games my jersey has ever looked,” Rodgers said. “I took basically one shot. I hit the ground one time, so I’m ecstatic. I’ve been at this for a long time and to go home with my body feeling this good is a credit to the offensive line for sure. I’m feeling really good.”

On the other hand, it was a long day for the defense with Denver hogging the ball for more than 35 minutes. At outside linebacker, Pettine has leaned heavily on the Smiths and defensive tackle Kenny Clark all season. On Sunday, Preston Smith played 63 of 73 snaps, Za’Darius Smith played 59 and Clark played 56. Safety Adrian Amos played 80 snaps — all 73 on defense and seven more on special teams.

The must-fix list

Green Bay’s offense is a mess. It’s tied for 23rd with 19.7 points per game and is 28th in total offense. There won’t be much time this week to make massive repairs but a starting point for LaFleur should be third down.

The Packers have moved the chains only 25.0 percent of the time, which ranks 29th in the league. They were a woeful 2-of-9 against the Broncos.

“When we have opportunities, we’ve got to make the most of them,” LaFleur said. “Specifically, I can think of a couple third downs where we had chances to move the chains and we didn’t convert for whatever reason. I know we had one dropped ball. There was a bang-bang play on our sideline early in the first half. Yeah, there’s no doubt that everybody can do better. And again, it starts right here, it starts with me.”