Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur pointed to four specific examples of missed opportunities by the Packers offense during Sunday’s 20-15 win over the Washington Redskins.
The Packers jumped out to 14-0 lead but scored just six points the rest of the way, in part due to all the missed opportunities for big plays.
“There was just a couple of plays that, looking back on it, there was more out there,” LaFleur said Monday. “Any time you score 20 points, especially with not capitalizing on some of that field position, you always know there was some more out there for you.”
LaFleur pointed to misfire to Jimmy Graham, a poorly executed screen pass to Jamaal Williams, a disconnect between Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Jones on a deep ball and a lost chance to hit Allen Lazard down the field as missed opportunities for the Packers.
The four misses robbed the Packers of a potential blowout and kept the three-win Redskins in the game.
Up 14-0 in the second quarter, Rodgers just overshot Graham on a throwback play that probably would have resulted in a touchdown. Rodgers rolled right off a run fake and had Graham open down the field after he ran a delayed corner route to the other side of the field. LaFleur said the throw was “just a hair off.”
Later in the quarter, the Packers had a screen set up to Williams, but the Redskins got pressure off the edge against David Bakhtiari and the Packers failed to block the lone linebacker, and Rodgers’ throw went wide and fell incomplete. Three blockers were out in front of the screen and Williams would have had a lot of green grass to navigate had the pass been completed. LaFleur said it “would have hit big.”
Alright folks… Want a quick explanation on my Aaron Rodgers issues/comments from earlier today?
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:
Audio 🔊 pic.twitter.com/Z7qR2IDlrr
— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) December 9, 2019
Another miss came late in the second quarter. The Packers called the right play for the coverage on 1st-and-15, with Lazard running the deep post against a quarters coverage. Both safeties in the middle of the squatted on intermediate routes, leaving Lazard wide open down the field against a cornerback playing outside leverage. However, Rodgers sensed pressure from both edges and attempted to step up into the pocket, and the Redskins wrestled him down for a 2-yard sack.
“Sometimes that happens,” LaFleur said.
The final notable miss arrived early in the fourth quarter. The Packers faced 3rd-and-10. The play split Jones out wide against the single coverage of safety Landon Collins and called for a double move on a vertical route from the Packers running back. He caught Collins leaning and actually put the defender on the ground, but he tried to maneuver around him to the inside. The pass from Rodgers was thrown to the outside and fell incomplete, just out of the reach of Jones. Once again, the play was just “a hair off there,” according to LaFleur. If the connection had been there, Jones probably would have run it in for an easy score.
Other missed opportunities haunted the Packers offense. Late in the first half, Rodgers wanted to go to Davante Adams down the near sideline but held the ball and was eventually stripped on a sack inside Washington’s 30-yard line. The turnover cost the Packers an opportunity at three points or more.
In the third quarter, Rodgers had a chance to convert a 3rd-and-5 from inside Washington’s territory when Graham flashed open on an in-breaking route, but the timing of the route was a little off and Rodgers held the ball again, eventually throwing a wild pass under heavy pressure that fell incomplete.
These are the kind of mistakes in the passing game that turn a potential blowout into a nail-biter to end the fourth quarter.
The Packers managed only two field goals after the hot start, and Rodgers finished with just 167 net passing yards on 28 attempts. He took four sacks and lost a fumble.
“We just have to make sure we learn from whatever mistakes we made and move forward,” LaFleur said. “I think the details separate you. When I talk about all the plays we left out there, not all of us were on our details.”