Can Packers clean up these 6 NFL-worst statistics to start 2026? - Packers Wire
The Green Bay Packers have played sloppy, uninspired football through two weeks. Matt LaFleur's team might be 1-1, but the first two weeks haven't been pretty on a lot of levels.
Stats can lie, but sometimes stat perfectly encapsulate the story. And the numbers help explain where the Packers are struggling so mightily to start the 2026 season.
Can the Packers start cleaning up these league-worst stats?
Penalties: The Packers lead the NFL with 26 accepted penalties, 32 total penalties and 231 accepted penalty yards through two weeks. Penalties kill your own drives, extend opponent's drives and drastically affect field position. And the Packers are committing way too many pre-snap penalties. Competitive penalties will happen; focus and concentration penalties cannot happen.
Rushing yards: The Packers rank last in the NFL with 129 rushing yards through two games. The offensive line hasn't blocked consistently, and running backs haven't helped even when run plays are blocked up fine. MarShawn Lloyd's vision is a major work in progress, and Chris Brooks is not a dynamic runner. Can Kaleb Johnson provide an answer?
Third down: The Packers have converted an NFL-worst 19 percent of third downs (4/24) to start the 2026 season. Consistently getting into third-and-long is no way to live. Brian Flores feasted on the Packers front in Week 1, and the Packers converted only 1-of-9 third downs on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. It's hard to score points if you can't make a play on third down to extend the drive. Losing on first and second down and all the penalties have been the big problems on third down. The rebuilt offensive line is just not going to hold up consistently on obvious passing downs.
Completion percentage: Jordan Love ranks last among qualified quarterbacks in completion percentage at 52.1 percent. There are contributing factors here (see below). But Love has been under pressure on 34 dropbacks and too many of his passes have been dropped. That's a bad combo for a completion percentage. But even his adjusted completion percentage ranks last. The Packers need fewer empty plays and more completions in the passing game.
Pass block win rate: The Packers rank dead last in the NFL (and by a wide margin) with an 18 percent pass block win rate, per ESPN. None of these stats really matter if the Packers can't consistently win blocks in the passing game. Per Next Gen Stats, the Packers have allowed an incredible 10 unblocked pressures on Jordan Love through two games. And now Zach Bako-Bewele, the team's best pass blocker, is out for the season.
Drops: Pass-catchers have dropped six of Jordan Love's passes this season, the most among all quarterbacks through two games. Drops are going to happen, and some catches are more difficult than others, but the receivers are paid big money to go make plays for the quarterback. Matthew Golden has a drop in back-to-back games on third down.
So many of these are tied together. It's hard to complete passes when you're consistently under pressure. It's hard to extend drives on third down when you're dropping passes and playing behind the sticks because of the run game and penalties. It's hard to consistently pass block when you're constantly in obvious passing situations and injuries have wrecked the front.
Fix a couple areas and the rest may come along for the ride.
A chance to start the repair arrives Thursday night against the Atlanta Falcons.
