The Micah Parsons injury will dominate the chatter following the Green Bay Packers’ loss to the Denver Broncos, and that makes sense. What isn’t justifiable is the alarming trend in Green Bay’s losses this year: its inability to get out of its own way.
It popped up again against the Broncos.
Rasheed Walker was called for four penalties alone: two false starts, an ineligible man downfield, and, just to cover all the bases, a holding penalty. The pre-snap ones are nothing new for Walker or the Packers, and make you want to pull your hair out.
Green Bay was also tagged for two personal foul penalties. Kingsley Enagbare picked one up for breathing on Denver’s punter, who did a hell of an acting job, and safety Javon Bullard received the other for playing through the whistle while making a tackle.
As a team, the Packers had 10 penalties for 72 yards, which is always going to be tough to overcome against a team of Denver’s caliber.
Look at some of the other losses this year.
The Packers had 14 penalties for 75 yards in a loss to the Cleveland Browns and also went over their season average of 6.6 per game, with seven in a loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Parsons was topic A, B, and C after losing to Denver, but head coach Matt LaFleur made sure to note the critical role that the penalties played in the loss.
Some of those are inexcusable, totally within our control. That was obviously a contributing factor in not having the success we’d like to have.… There were a lot of them out there. You can’t have that many penalties, especially against a really good football team.
While LaFleur didn’t specify which ones qualify as inexcusable, it’s not hard to decipher. The false starts, personal fouls, and even ones like the illegal shift on tight end John FitzPatrick that wiped a Josh Jacobs touchdown off the board all qualify as inexcusable. It’s as if once that dam opens, it always turns into a flood.
It’s not the only way the Packers beat themselves.
Bo Nix was in complete control against Jeff Hafley’s defense for most of the afternoon. Nix was patient, calm, took what the defense gave him, and fired one dart after another to torch cornerbacks Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine. Nix also tossed the pigskin in harm’s way on numerous occasions, especially in the second half. The Packers didn’t make Nix pay for those errors in judgment even once.
With Green Bay leading 13-7 late in the first half, Denver was driving down the field. On a second-and-five from the Green Bay 17-yard line, Valentine perfectly diagnosed an RPO that Nix pulled and threw to Troy Franklin on the outside. Valentine shot out of a cannon and was at the perfect spot to make the play on the ball and potentially take it back the other way. Instead, somehow, some way, Valentine whiffed on the ball, and the tackle, and it turned into a 10-yard gain for the Broncos. They scored a touchdown two plays later.
Valentine dropped an interception later in the game — albeit a difficult attempt on the sideline as he tried keeping his feet inbounds while making the play.
Four plays before Parsons tore his ACL, Nix put way too much air underneath a deep ball intended for Marvin Mims Jr. Safety Xavier McKinney made the perfect read, timed the pass flawlessly, and saw the ball bounce right off his hands. Instead of a layup of an interception for McKinney, it fell incomplete. Parsons’ season ended a short time later. And, as you can probably guess by now, that drive also ended in a touchdown.
Green Bay doesn’t have a single ballhawk at cornerback. That group has one interception combined this year. The Packers couldn’t make Nix pay for some errant throws, and the Broncos made Jordan Love pay for two of his. Those mistakes and missed opportunities add up. Just like the penalties, you can only sustain so many against a team like Denver.
The pre-snap penalties, the personal fouls, the missed opportunities on defense, and the turnovers on offense all became too much for Green Bay to overcome on Sunday. Unfortunately for the Packers, this wasn’t a blip on the radar but rather a trend in their losses. It’s not far-fetched to suggest that when the season comes to an end, and the curtains are pulled down on Green Bay, it will be because of games like Sunday’s in Denver and those against Cleveland and the Panthers.
When the Packers start making silly mistakes, they snowball. If they want to be taken seriously the rest of the way, especially without Parsons, that has to change fast.