The Green Bay Packers are 3-1-1 after a Week 6 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, 28-17.
Running back Josh Jacobs led the way with a pair of scores, and quarterback Jordan Love played well once again despite an interception on the first drive of the game.
The Packers are one score away from being undefeated through the first six weeks. However, the defense in Green Bay has been up and down, which is a bit of a surprise given the way it played in 2024 and the fact that Micah Parsons came to town right before the season via a trade.
In Week 6, the Packers did not force a turnover again, and they have just two takeaways all season long.
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky wrote that as a “trend to watch,” and rightfully so.
“Another game without a takeaway for the Packers‘ defense. It has just two so far this season, and one of those was an end-of-half interception on a Hail Mary in Week 3 against the Browns. Last season, the Packers forced 31 turnovers (17 interceptions and 14 fumble recoveries); and they spent much of the offseason talking about taking the ball away even more. Instead, they’ve gone the other way,” Demovsky wrote.
Matt LaFleur Weighs in on Lack of Turnovers
In the win over the Bengals, the Packers failed to force any turnovers.
After the game, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur spoke about that, and he wishes it would improve.
“That would be nice, to get a takeaway,” LaFleur said, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “If we can do that — and there was opportunities out there — but I thought that was the difference from really allowing us to put the game out of reach. And credit to them, they did a good job of holding onto the ball and not putting it in harm’s way.”
Besides the end-of-half interception in the Browns game, the other turnover came in Week 1 against the Detroit Lions via a Jared Goff interception.
Packers DC Trying to Fix Turnover Issue
Jeff Hafley, the Packers‘ defensive coordinator, is doing what he can to have the defense force more turnovers.
Yet, somehow, it hasn’t happened yet, but Hafley is aware of the opportunities the team has had.
“There’s been opportunities. We show them all the opportunities after every game,” Hafley said, via Jacob Westendorf of Packers on SI. “There’s been opportunities to have more in each game. Absolutely. And they’ll be continuing to have those and we’ll continue to work at them, and I’m confident that we will get them.”
“Every game, we look at each play,” Hafley continued. “We have a guy get up and he shows this is how many opportunities we had, this is how many we took, this is how many we left on the table, and we’re all just very honest with each other.”
Hafley was hired as the DC before the 2024 season, and the Packers‘ defense was much improved. So far, the turnovers have not been as prevalent as a year ago, but Green Bay will try and turn that around beginning in Week 7 with a game against the Arizona Cardinals.
