Green Bay Packers’ last two wins appear perfect based on eye test but on paper, there is a noticeable mistake that can easily be prevented but they did not. That’s what they are trying to fix now ahead of their rematch with Detroit Lions according to Lukas Van Ness.
An offside call can only lead to five yards awarded to the opponents but the Packers coaching staff and players want none of it after seeing how they just casually commit such mistake in the past games.
Van Ness said they are spending a significant amount of time to eliminate such mistake at the season enters a crucial stretch.
He said offsides can be something that can hurt them in the long run.
“We’ve been working at it tirelessly all week,” Van Ness told reporters on Monday.
“It was definitely something you saw pop up with me … later in the season, that’s the type of stuff that can kill you and it’ll kinda hinder a team from being great, so we’ve really been focusing on it this week, just checking with the refs, making sure we’re lining up off the ball and again, at this level, you can’t be lining up offsides.”
The last two games saw their mental lapse when it comes to offside which happens when a player crosses the offense’s side of the ball when it is snapped. They were called for such offense twice for being in the neutral zone four times – defensive end Kingsley Enagbare did it twice while Rashan Gary and Van Ness committed it once each.
The team is currently ranked the league leaders in offside penalties with eight.
DC Jeff Hafley echoes Lukas Van Ness’ sentiment
Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley doesn’t see it just as a simple mistake or mental lapse. In fact, he is infuriated by the team constantly going offside.
He even referenced their last game against the Lions on how the offense set them back for killing their momentum.
You go back to the last Lions game, we had a four-point swing, obviously stopped them and jumped offsides on the same deal. That can’t happen. I mean, it can’t. Like, to me, pre-snap and post-snap penalties are totally inexcusable. You’re just giving away free yards and free plays. It can’t happen. It’s being addressed and it’s not OK and we have to do something about it. We’ve got to clean those up.
What happened to that Lions game in Week 9?
With the Packers leading 3-0, Detroit started the second quarter lining up to go for a fourth-and-goal from Green Bay’s 5-yard line. It was a bait and defensive tackle T.J. Slaton bit it.
The Packers went on to lose the game, 14-24.
They have a chance to redeem themselves on Week 14 this Friday as they visit Ford Field in attempt to stretch their winning streak to four.
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