Last season the Green Bay Packers' offense steamrolled opponents at Lambeau Field. In 2015, however, it's been more of a struggle.
Sunday's 27-20 win over the San Diego Chargers was the latest example of the Packers' seemingly herky-jerky offense not looking smooth, despite having the best quarterback on the planet.
Aaron Rodgers pointed to the time of possession disparity as part of the reason for the struggles.
"You know what? I'm happy. We're 6-0, but there's room for improvement," Rodgers said, via ESPN Wisconsin. "We had 49 (offensive) plays tonight; that's far below our standard. They had the ball for 38 minutes.
"At this point, we don't need to win pretty every week. We'd like to, and we're going to get graded to that standard. You set the bar pretty high with the pretty wins. But when you have a game like tonight, 49 plays, the inefficiency in the passing game, it's not going to be the best meeting room coming back next Monday. But they all count the same. We'll take 'em all."
The scary thing for opponents is that the Packers are undefeated without playing remotely close to their potential on offense. As Chris Wesseling pointed out Sunday, it's too simple just to say that Rodgers misses Jordy Nelson. Davante Adams has been out, Randall Cobb is far from 100 percent and Eddie Lacy doesn't look full speed either.
"You know you look at the style of wins we're having, hopefully that means something later on down the road," linebacker Clay Matthews said. "These aren't 42-0 blowouts. These aren't games in which it's over [early], like you saw you in the second half of the season last year. Sometimes offense has to step up, sometimes defense does, and special teams. Real gritty wins, especially against good teams. It's good to see that.
"Hopefully that builds character, and hopefully that means something moving forward."
NFL teams want to be playing their best football in December and January, not October. If the Packers get healthy during their bye week and jell moving forward, this undefeated unit will be a juggernaut heading into the playoffs.
