As he does after every game, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur delivered some opening remarks before fielding questions on Saturday night.
LaFleur pulled no punches following his team’s 30-10 loss to the New York Jets at Lambeau Field.
“Well, that was a humbling experience,” he said. “Definitely not what we want to put out there. I don’t care – preseason, regular season, it doesn’t matter to me. It was just sloppy football. Too many penalties, drops, missed tackles, bad decision-making, and it really showed up in every phase of football. And if you do that, you’re going to get your ass kicked, and that’s exactly what happened.”
When it was starters vs. starters, the Packers trailed 7-0. After the No. 2s were done for the night, it was 17-3 at halftime. With the deep backups in the game, the margin swelled to 27-3.
Sometimes, in the immortal words of Mark Twain, there are lies, damned lies and statistics. Other times, the statistics tell the cold, hard truth. On Saturday, these were the lie-free final numbers.
Total yards: Jets, 403-188.
First downs: Jets, 21-12.
Third down: Jets, 8-of-15 (53.3 percent); Packers, 1-of-10 (10.9 percent).
Net passing yards: Jets, 256-64.
Takeaways: Jets, 2-0.
Time of possession: 38:41-21:19.
Red zone: The Packers never got there.
The Jets actually were penalized more frequently for more yards, but it was a horror show for the Packers. That started with the opening kickoff return, with Barryn Sorrell flagged for holding. The backup offensive line was guilty of five holding penalties, with three for Jacob Monk, one for Anthony Belton and one for Donovan Jennings.
“I think if you’re not concerned about it, then you’re probably not pushing as hard as you should be,” LaFleur said, refusing to downplay the performance as an anomaly following 12 practices at training camp. “Yeah, I’m definitely concerned about it. Anytime you just play with poor technique and poor fundamentals, and then you’re making bad decisions. It’s hard to play the game of football if you get called for a holding penalty it seemed like every other play.”
The Packers trailed 17-3 when they got the ball for the first time of the second half. On third-and-1, Jennings was guilty of his penalty. The Packers punted and the Jets drove to another touchdown to lead 24-3.
“All those penalties were a major problem, and it’s hard to get into any type of rhythm when you’re having multiple penalties,” LaFleur said. “You have a short-yardage situation – third-and-1, it looks like it’s going to be an easy first down and you get called for holding. You just can’t have those.”
You can’t lose the turnover battle 2-0, either.
Veteran receiver Mecole Hardman, whose best path to a spot on the 53-man roster is by showing his value as a returner, was tackled at the 5-yard line on his first punt return and muffed his second.
“It seems like a pretty routine play that happens more often than not where you can scoop that punt up,” LaFleur said. “I was disappointed with that, but also, we can’t field a punt on the 5-yard line. Those were obviously two bad decisions.”
To be sure, injuries played a role in a punchless Packers offense, with four of the team’s top six receivers out of the lineup.
LaFleur wasn’t in the mood for excuses, though. Not after his team had seven first downs through three quarters.
“Yeah, bottom line, though, you just don’t want to put bad football out there,” he said. “So, whether it’s preseason or not, it’s a little disappointing, I would say. The thing about is you’ve got to have the urgency to fix it, and it’s got to get fixed fast, because the regular season is going to be here in no time.”
The Packers will practice in Green Bay on Tuesday before a joint practice at the Colts on Thursday and a preseason game in Indianapolis on Saturday. In the moment, LaFleur said he was inclined to push his players harder on Tuesday but not play his starters in the game.
Quarterback Jordan Love completed 1-of-5 passes for 7 yards. Neither of his two possessions reached midfield.
“I’m not going to rush to any judgment on a preseason game,” he said. “I think that’s what it’s there for. It’s there to go out there [in a game]. We’ve been going against our defense for so long, to be able to see some new looks and to see what it’s like to go out there and execute.
“You know, sometimes you’ll go have a great game. I remember the Bengals preseason game a couple years ago. We put up a lot of points and a lot of yards. So, there’s instances where it’s high and there’s instances where it’s low. So, I think there’s a lot of areas to clean up from an offensive perspective, but it’s good tape to learn from, to grow from. But it’s Week 1 of preseason, so we’re not going to rush to any conclusions.”
While Love tried to put lipstick on the preseason pig, tight end Tucker Kraft said LaFleur had “every right to be pissed” during and after the game.
“Really, it’s just people becoming their mistakes,” Kraft said. “Over and over again, they just keep mounting. The holding, the illegal shifts, the aligning offsides, things like that, (and) people not flushing the previous play and learning from it. They just proceed to just let these things mount and they turn into big things. Now, we’re first-and-20. We’re second-and-30. You can’t move the sticks from there. The odds are stacked against you. Just like last year.
“The beginning of the year, we used to kick ourselves in the ass not being efficient, getting behind the sticks from our own penalties. We just showed ourselves right there if we continue to make those same mistakes.”
