Special Teams Deliver Another Crushing Blow to Packers

Before Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said the biggest challenge this week would “be a better us.”

Instead, with the game on the line, the Packers couldn’t have been a worse us.

The Packers were a 43-yard field goal by reliable kicker Brandon McManus from hopping on a flight back to Green Bay with a hard-earned 13-10 victory over the Browns. Instead, McManus’ field goal was blocked and the Browns stunned the Packers on a 55-yard, walk-off field.

“They’re a good rush team. We knew that coming in, and they got their hand on the ball,” McManus said.

Shelby Harris, a 34-year-old who grew up in Milwaukee, was the hero. He muscled inside of Jordan Morgan and swatted McManus’ kick. Greg Newsome almost scooped up the loose ball for the winning touchdown. Instead, his return set up Andre Szmyt’s 55-yard field goal at the buzzer.

Holder Daniel Whelan said the operation was clean and McManus said he kicked the ball how he wanted to.

“My mental clock timing felt like it was good, so that’s usually my first indicator,” long snapper Matt Orzech said. “I mean, 93’s a heck of player. I think that’s his seventh career block on field goals. You’ve just got to tip your hat at some point.”

Actually, it was Harris’ sixth block. His last one saved the Browns’ victory over the Jets in 2023.

Whatever the number, it was yet another big blunder by a Packers special teams that has specialized in big blunders over the years.

The Packers finished 22nd in our special teams rankings last season. Longtime NFL writer Rick Gosselin put together extensive special teams rankings for more than two decades. In his final 19 seasons, from 2005 through 2023, the Packers had one top-10 finish (2007) and four last-place finishes (2018, 2014, 2006 and 2005).

The Packers under LaFleur finished 26th in 2019, 29th in 2020 and 32nd in 2021. With LaFleur hiring Bisaccia, the Packers finished 22nd in 2022 and 29th in 2023, even with Keisean Nixon earning All-Pro honors.

Green Bay’s special teams had infamous meltdowns in the NFC Championship Game at Seattle in 2014 and against San Francisco in the 2021 playoffs.

So, what happened on Sunday was nothing out of the ordinary. Plays like Karl Brooks’ game-saving field goal at Chicago last season have been few and far between.

Orzech said it was a shock when he heard the sound of the ball hitting McManus’ foot followed closely by the thud of the block.

“It’s the last thing you’re expecting to hear when you know the timing is good, so it definitely hits you like a brick wall,” Orzech said.

The blocked field goal robbed the Packers of what should have been an ugly victory.

“We didn’t play great and, even though we didn’t play great, it still came down to two kicks – one kick really,” said right guard Sean Rhyan, who was part of the protection unit on the block. “So there’s something to, as bad as we felt we did as an offense, we were still hanging in there.”

Instead, special teams provided the knockout.

“Very tough. Very tough,” quarterback Jordan Love said. ‘I feel like just whole fourth quarter the way it went, obviously, it just wasn’t good enough. Offensively, we weren’t able to put a drive together, put up points, had a turnover. And then, obviously, going to kick a go-ahead field goal, it gets blocked. So, it’s tough.”

Green Bay’s special teams played well in Week 1 against Detroit but struggled in Week 2 against Washington. Keyed by Deebo Samuel’s 50-yard return of the second-half kickoff, the Commanders’ starting field position after a kickoff being 6 yards better than it was for Green Bay. With a couple explosive returns by Jaylin Lane, the Commanders won the net-punt battle by an average of almost 11 yards per punt.

Unfortunately for the Packers, one horrendous play spoiled a solid overall performance against Cleveland. Green Bay won the net-punt battle by 5.5 yards per punt. While Cleveland earned a slim margin in field position after a kickoff, Savion Williams’ return to the 40 set up the Packers for what should have been the winning drive.

“I think if you look around the league, it’s special teams that, as long as I’ve been doing this, you never come out feeling like you had a really good game,” Bisaccia said on Thursday. “You know, it could be just one play here or three plays here or whatever. I think if you look around the league last week, some people had really good weeks the first week and then things went on this second week.

“And a lot of us are playing – I know we’re playing with some younger guys in some positions, where things are going to happen as the year goes on. And, hopefully, we’ll be better by Week 3 and then Week 6 and Week 9 and so on. That’s usually how it goes in the kicking game.”