Packers’ Solution for Chronic Penalties Begins Wednesday

The Green Bay Packers were guilty of 14 penalties during Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns, the most during coach Matt LaFleur’s tenure.

The penalties bothered LaFleur, whose teams typically have played with excellent discipline, but they didn’t surprise him.

“Yeah, I’ve seen it,” LaFleur said on Monday, a day after a shocking 13-10 defeat. “It’s been happening more than we’d like. You see it in practice, it’s hard not to expect it in a game. We have got to dial in better. We have to have better focus and concentration.”

Dialing in isn’t only about Sundays. With another road game coming up on Sunday night at Dallas, the focus has to start when the team walks onto the practice field on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Sunday’s game was the 103rd of LaFleur’s career. His team had been flagged more than 10 times in just three games, with the previous worst being 12 penalties against the Lions in 2020.

Guilty of only two false-start infractions in the first two games, the Packers were flagged five times against the Browns.

“Some of those are brutal,” LaFleur said. “We had two on third down. One was on that third-and-4 [by Jordan Morgan in the red zone]. We had one [by Morgan] on the short-yardage situation when we tried to bring Tuck(er Kraft) in there and run the quarterback sneak. Third-and-1, you can’t have that.

“The other one [by Rasheed Walker] was a third-and-10 late in the game when we’re trying to set up for a field goal; that pushed us back 5 yards. Yeah, you can’t have them. Those are killer penalties. Another one was on second-and-1 [by Walker], now it’s second-and-6. You can’t have them because they are killer.”

There were so many false starts that LaFleur couldn’t remember them all. No. 5 was by receiver Malik Heath, which helped knock a promising possession out of field-goal range in the secon quarter.

“And then conversely on the defensive side,” LaFleur continued, “we had a bunch of penalties on third down that extended drives. I remember one specifically, third-and-9, [defensive holding by Javon Bullard] and we had another third-and-goal [pass interference by Keisean Nixon].

“They didn’t kill us in those situations – we ended up overcoming them and moving them back, and they ended up settling for a field goal – but we have got to be better just with our details, our fundamentals and then utilizing the techniques that we practice on a daily basis.”

Pending the Monday night game between the Lions and Ravens, the Packers were guilty of 28 penalties, tied for the fourth-most in the league. The yardage was more manageable with 192 yards, which ranked 12th.

Only the Saints (eight) have been guilty of more false starts.

“I feel like we were hurting ourselves more than anything with some of the penalties and the little things,” quarterback Jordan Love said after the game. “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.”

It’s early in the season, but no team has been penalized more than Green Bay was against Cleveland. That came on the heels of 10 accepted penalties against Washington in Week 2.

The 14 penalties vs. Cleveland were the most for the Packers since they were guilty of a franchise-record 18 in a loss at Chicago in 2020. In the Super Bowl era, there’s only been one other occasion in which Green Bay was flagged more than 14 times, according to Stathead.

From 2019 through 2024 – the first six seasons of the LaFleur era – the Packers were guilty of the sixth-fewest penalties, according to Stathead.

Including offsetting and declined penalties, Green Bay was flagged 17 times on Sunday. Incredibly, 10 came in the fourth quarter, capped by Nixon jumping offside on the game-ending field goal.

“It’s discipline. It’s every facet of this game,” said defensive end Micah Parsons, who was flagged twice for offside. “Every detail – kickoff, field goal, defense, being in our right position, our right leverage. It’s everything.

“Discipline will beat talent every day of the week. We were more talented. Like I said, we played better the first three quarters. We got to play better in the fourth quarter, including me. It goes for everyone.”