The Green Bay Packers Hope To Feast On Denver’s Lousy Defense

The Green Bay Packers rank last in the NFL in first half scoring offense at 5.2 points per game.

The Packers are 28^th in total offense (281.6 yards per game), 27^th in rushing offense (81.6) and 25^th in rushing yards per carry (3.5).

The Denver Broncos rank dead last in the NFL in scoring defense (33.3), total defense (440.3) and rushing defense (172.3). Denver also ranks 30^th in passing yards allowed per game (268.0), 32^nd in opposing passer rating (117.8) and 32^nd in opponents yards per play (6.7).

If ever there’s a time for Green Bay’s struggling offense to get well it’s Sunday, when the Packers travel to Denver for a 3:25 p.m. start.

“Denver’s got good players on their team,” Packers left guard Elgton Jenkins said. “They’ve got good guys up front and good guys on the back end, so it’s always a challenge.

“But we’ve got the guys to do the job. Like I said, they’ve got good guys, but I feel like we’ve got better guys. So we’ve just got to go out there and be consistent. We’ve just got to start fast and play together.”

The Packers haven’t come close to starting fast in recent weeks.

Green Bay scored 10 points in the first half in Weeks 1 and 2. In its three games since, the Packers have a total of six first half points.

That’s right six — or 2.0 points per game. The Packers have trailed by an average of 16.0 points at halftime in their last three games.

Interestingly, the Packers lead the NFL in second half scoring (17.4). Aside from a monumental comeback against New Orleans in Week 3, though, Green Bay’s deficits have been too large to overcome.

“When I was at Nebraska, we would start out games slow and we would finish games stronger,” second-year wideout Samori Toure said. “But not to this extent being like one of the bottom teams in the league in the first half and one of the top teams in the second half.

“But it does give us a little bit of confidence, knowing how good we are in the second half. We know as long as we get that first half right, we can put together a complete game.”

The potential return of Aaron Jones would help immensely.

The Pro Bowl running back is Green Bay’s most dynamic offensive weapon, and the offense has always functioned at much higher level when Jones is on the field.

Jones, who suffered a hamstring injury in Week 1 at Chicago, has played just 48 snaps this season. According to league data, the Packers are averaging 0.65 more yards per rushing play and 2.62 yards more passing play with Jones on the field.

Jones was a limited participant at practice all week and is listed as questionable. If he can go Sunday, though, Green Bay’s offense should have another gear.

“I hope this give us a little confidence, but we know it takes all 11,” Jones said of his return. “I just know when I get in the huddle, the guys, they listen to me. They see me as a leader. So I hope I can bring a spark to them and give them some confidence and we can just go out there and play.”

While the possible return of Jones would help Green Bay’s fledging offense, facing the dreadful Broncos’ defense might be even more beneficial.

Denver’s gave up 70 points and 726 total yards to Miami in Week 3. The Broncos are currently allowing 33.33 points per game, which eclipses the 1981 Baltimore Colts (33.31) as the worst scoring defense in NFL history.

Even if you remove the Miami game from the equation, the Broncos are allowing 383.2 yards and 26.0 points per game in their other five contests.

“I don’t think we’re going into the game looking to put up 70,” Toure said. “But we definitely should have one of our better offensive games. They’re definitely not playing as bad as they were when Miami dropped 70 on them, but it’s still a good opportunity for our offense.”

Added fellow wideout Jayden Reed: “I know the numbers don’t look great, but they might have cleaned things up just like we’re cleaning things up. You’re only as good and bad as your last game and we’ve just got to focus on getting ourselves better. We obviously got the talent and we’ve got the guys to do the job and now we’ve got to go and do it.”

Sunday seems like the perfect time.

Green Bay — fresh off a Week 6 bye — will have had 13 days to get ready.

The return of Jones would give the entire offense a lift.

And the Packers are facing a team that has been historically bad on defense.

It begs the question, if the Packers can’t get their offense rolling Sunday, when can they?

“I think you just have to keep your head down, keep working,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “Obviously there’s been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of highs and lows, and it’s not going to be perfect. We know that.

“But the main thing for us is just keep our head down, keep working, everybody keep that mindset that, ‘Hey, we’re going to get this thing turned around, get rolling and get consistent execution on a daily basis.’ ”

The Packers hope all those things happen Sunday.