The Green Bay Packers‘ Week 3 loss to the Cleveland Browns was one of the most surprising of the slate.
Many believed they’d win in blowout fashion, but with a lot of factors working against them, the Packers ultimately collapsed in the fourth quarter, allowing the Browns to come back and win epically.
Offensive line struggles were only the beginning for this team, as penalties also held them back from playing as well as they had in the first two weeks.
Jordan Love wasn’t shy when talking about the penalties in a postgame presser, as noted by an article in The Athletic by Matt Schneidman.
“I feel like we were hurting ourselves more than anything with some of the penalties and the little things,” Love said, in an all-too-familiar refrain from last season. “I felt like we were putting some good drives together, but at the end of the day, I feel like we just hurt ourselves a little too much.
Love noted that the team did have some strong drives, but they didn’t amount to the ending they were hoping for.
Having a 10+ point lead over the Browns felt like a big enough cushion, especially for a defense of this magnitude, but Love’s late-game interception certainly didn’t help the Packers’ chances.
They’ll have to play better against weaker opponents moving forward, putting the pedal to the metal and not letting up late in games.
The Detroit Lions had no problem doing that in Week 2 against the Chicago Bears, pouring it on until it was well out of reach.
Green Bay has shown a lot of positive attributes to this point, but if they want to be the Super Bowl favorites like many have talked about, they’ll have to kick it into gear and avoid penalties like the plague.
