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The Green Bay Packers have a pre-snap penalty problem, and coach Matt LaFleur wants to fix it coming out of the bye week.

Speaking about areas of improvement identified during the team’s self-scouting exercises this past week, LaFleur pointed to third down – and how all the pre-snap penalties have handcuffed the offense at times.

“A lot of it has been self-inflicted,” LaFleur said Monday. “Too many penalties, just pre-snap penalties, discipline penalties that we’ve got to clean up in order for us to be the team we want to be.”

The Packers have 16 false starts penalties and a league-high nine delay of game infractions. Of those 25 penalties, 14 have come at home – an unacceptable number for a team with a veteran quarterback and veteran offensive line.

All five of the Packers’ starting offensive linemen have at least one false start. Left tackle David Bakhtiari has a team-high four false starts and 10 penalties overall. Only Laremy Tunsil (11) has more total accepted penalties this season.

The Packers’ 16 false starts overall rank as the sixth-most in the NFL.

NFL leaders in false starts, delay of games in 2019:

Packers 25
Texans 22
Buccaneers 21
Titans 20
Rams 20
Bills 19
Browns 19
Lions 19

LaFleur and quarterback Aaron Rodgers shoulder the majority of the blame for delay of game penalties. LaFleur mentioned issues in substitution that need resolving and also took blame for not getting every playcall in to Rodgers in a timely fashion.

The Packers have nine delay of game penalties. No other team has more than six. Of the 32 NFL teams, 81 percent have three or fewer delay of game penalties in 2019.

The Packers’ desire to fix the pre-snap penalty problem will be tested Sunday night. Can they get plays in on time on the road and stay focused before the snap? Levi’s Stadium isn’t one of the NFL’s loudest environments, but the 49ers do present a major challenge for the Packers offense, especially along the defensive line.

LaFleur’s main goal is to eliminate the discipline penalties and keep the Packers offense ahead of the sticks, which – in theory – would help the Packers convert more third downs. The offense currently ranks 19th in the NFL on third down, and they’ll be tested by the NFL’s second-ranked third-down defense on Sunday night.

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