GREEN BAY – It's not as though the Packers are in any sort of offensive crisis.
They rank seventh in the league in yards per game at around 360 and tied for fifth in points at 27½. That'll play.
Given that, though, it's surprising how often they've gone three-and-out on offense. It's happened three times in each of the past two weeks, in fact, which became the third and fourth games out of seven this season in which they've gone three-and-out at least three times.
No team can score every time it gets the ball, but failing to move the ball at all on a possession sticks in the craw more than perhaps anything except a turnover. The Packers have done an exemplary job protecting the football this season, with just three giveaways (two INTs, one lost fumble), but the number of three-and-outs definitely doesn't sit well heading into Sunday's home matchup with Carolina.
"It's very annoying," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said of how a play-caller feels when a drive never gets going. "It's frustrating when you know there's opportunities there and you don't convert.
"In those third-and-manageable situations, you've got to come through."
The Packers' No. 2 ranking in third-down efficiency at 48.3% doesn't speak to that being a major issue. But when failure comes right away in a drive – be it due to one negative play or penalty on first or second down, or one missed block on third down – trudging off and preparing for the next chance is all anyone can do.
"Anytime you go three-and-out, it just feels like you're barely on the field," QB Jordan Love said. "It feels like you didn't do anything. You definitely didn't help the defense out at all. I think for us, as talented as we are on offense, it's just disappointing."
The search for remedies begins right away on the sideline, looking at the tablets to see the still shots of how the defense is aligning and where the offense might attack differently.
Most of the three-and-outs the last two games have come early on, when the opposing defense might have broken its film profile by playing the Packers differently than other teams. Green Bay has started to see that more the longer Love has been the quarterback, with foes switching from single-high safety to more of a shell on the back end, or playing man coverage when they've mostly played zone (or vice versa).
On the one hand, it's a sign of respect when the opponent feels it has to deploy tricks or change-ups to be able to get stops. On the other, no defense can play a game of surprises for 60 minutes.
"It's one of those things where you've just got to come into the game knowing they might change their game plan and be ready for that," Love said. "It just happens on the fly, so it's hard to prepare for some of that stuff."
That's where the sideline conversations come in. Love and the coaches can discuss what they're seeing and the options they have to counter. As frustrating as a quick three-and-out can be, keeping the frustrations in check and focusing on "what we can get to next" in the playbook, as Love put it, is what matters.
Getting steadier production in the running game always helps to keep a defense reacting rather than attacking. Slow starts lately on the ground have factored into those early three-and-outs.
At the same time, while wanting to be the aggressor on offense is often the Packers' goal, being patient enough to pick their spots when to challenge the defense downfield is also important.
With Carolina up next, LaFleur noted the Panthers rank in the top five in the league at limiting explosive plays by opposing offenses, and facing a defense like that requires a certain frame of mind.
"If teams are going to play us in soft shell, we've got to be content in taking … whether it's a check down or a quick game, and just being very disciplined in taking those throws," he said.
Then again, the Panthers might go off-profile, too, in an attempt to prevent the Packers from settling in.
Either way, in the quest to put together a complete game of production and reach a higher level of consistency, the Packers know their capabilities. They scored on every drive after halftime in Dallas a month ago and on five straight drives in the second half in Pittsburgh last week. They wound up with 40 and 35 points, respectively, in those contests.
But the trio of three-and-outs in the first half against the Steelers that preceded the dominant second half is, to repeat LaFleur's words, "very annoying." It's a season-long battle, and pushing for improvement never ceases.
"We've just got to have the right mindset and right mentality," said receiver Christian Watson, whose return from injury and big-play ability provided a nice boost last week. "We've just got to do it for four quarters."
