Plagued by Penalties, Packers’ Special Teams Off to So-So Start
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have played on Sunday and Thursday, and their next game will be played on Monday. Whatever the day, it’s been Flag Day for Rich Bisaccia’s special teams.
The Packers have been penalized 10 times on special teams, easily the most in the NFL. Pittsburgh is next with six. Green Bay’s 96 penalty yards are almost as many as the next two teams (Pittsburgh, 55; San Francisco, 44) combined.
“That is definitely an area of concern for us,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “We’re having enough struggles offensively, the last thing we want to do is start backed up on like the 10-yard line. It is well noted and has been addressed. Now, we have to go out there and execute.”
Bisaccia’s units play hard and with an aggressive mindset. So, penalties can be a consequence. Last year, Green Bay was guilty of the third-most special-teams penalties. However, it’s on pace to crush last year’s 20 penalties for 164 yards.
Penalties are just part of the picture. With a rookie kicker, first-year punter (and holder) and a rookie punt returner, the Packers are incredibly young in key areas. However, the top seven in snaps all have three-plus years of experience.
Thus, the mixed early-season results probably aren’t a surprise. Taken by phase:
Kicking: Rookie Anders Carlson has made all five field goals and all nine point-after attempts. He’s one of 11 kickers off to a perfect start; his brother, the Raiders’ Daniel Carlson, is in that group. Last year, Mason Crosby was 15th in field-goal percentage (86.2).
For Anders Carlson, two of his five successful field goals came from 50-plus yards. One of his nine extra points won the game against the Saints.
“We’d like to say that we treat them all the same, right? But it’s a big kick because, obviously, you have to have the point,” Bisaccia said of the big kick vs. New Orleans.
Kickoffs: Carlson is last in distance and next-to-last in touchback percentage (55.0 percent). However, the opponents’ average starting field position of the 23.3-yard-line ranks second. Crosby was second-to-last in distance and last in touchback percentage (20.3) in 2022. The opponents’ average starting field position was the 26.1-yard line, which ranked 26th.
Kickoff returns: The NFL has done its best to render this phase irrelevant. With Week 4 almost complete, only 10 returners have four-plus kickoff returns. From that small group, Keisean Nixon ranks third with a 25.0-yard average. Last year, of the 18 returners with at least 20 runbacks, Nixon was second with a 28.8 average.
However, there’s risk in taking them out of the end zone all the time. The Packers are last in average starting field position (22.8-yard line) compared to third last year (26.7).
“Quite frankly, Kei’s got to follow where the return’s designed to go,” LaFleur said of one of the holding penalties that nullified a Nixon return vs. Detroit. “It’s no different than on offense when a back maybe bounces a play that shouldn’t go outside, when he bounces it outside, it puts somebody in a bad position.”
Punting: First-year punter Daniel Whelan is 14th in average but last with a net average of 36.7 yards. The touchdown allowed vs. New Orleans is a big part of that, though he’s one of only three punters with as many touchbacks (three) as inside-the-20s. He had an excellent night against the Lions with a 46.4 net. Last year, veteran Pat O’Donnell was second-to-last with a net of 36.4 yards but was elite with 24 inside-the-20s vs. one touchback.
Punt returns: Rookie Jayden Reed is 11th with a 9.7-yard average. He had a terrible muff against Detroit. Reed has a 35-yard punt return and Nixon has a 34-yarder among his two runbacks. Thanks to the two big returns, the Packers are eighth in opponent net punting average (39.9) after finishing seventh last year (40.4).
Last year, the five-phase average ranking was 16.4. This year, the average is 15.0.
While Carlson’s excellent start has eased concerns of rookie-year growing pains, the abundance of penalties by established players has been a thorn in the team’s side. Against Detroit, Kingsley Enagbare was guilty of a false start in the first quarter, Dallin Leavitt was flagged for holding for holding on a kickoff return before Jordan Love’s second-quarter interception, Ben Sims was flagged for holding on the kickoff return that opened the second half and Quay Walker was penalized for leaping on a field goal in the fourth quarter.
That’s four penalties on the heels of three last week.
Former Packers coach Mike McCarthy had at least some level of tolerance for what he called “combative” penalties. Not Bisaccia.
“I think all penalties are bad. They put you back, right? You lose yardage,” Bisaccia said. “They’re different and there are different circumstances when you get those penalties, but to have 10 penalties in the last four games is a little uncharacteristic for us. I think some of them have been some frustration-type penalties. Some of them have been some fundamental- and technique-type penalties. No, no penalties are good. You don’t like to have any of them so you just have to correct them and try to move forward.”
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