Packers Special Teams Errors Threaten Early Season Momentum: Can They Fix It After the Bye Week?
Even as Green Bay’s offense and defense have delivered on a promising start to the season, special teams has become known as the weakest link of the team through the first four weeks of the season. Whether it has been blocked kicks, missed extra points, or coverage breakdowns, the mistakes have continued to keep the team from taking full control of games. In back-to-back weeks, Brandon McManus has had quite a few attempts blocked, leaving valuable points off the scoreboard. These are not minor details, but game-altering plays that have taken momentum away from Green Bay. For a team working to establish its identity, special teams have become the storyline dragging down early-season progress.
From the opening weeks, the kicking game has been under pressure. McManus, brought in last year for his veteran leadership to a unit that previously lacked it, has seen clean kicks disrupted by breakdowns in blocking up front. Long snapper Matt Orzech has delivered with accuracy, but the line in front of him has not consistently held. Rushers have broken through the interior, leaving McManus with little chance to properly execute field goals or extra points. Those missed chances have had a ripple effect, denying the Packers the ability to stretch leads or respond quickly after touchdowns. In a league defined by tight windows, those lost points have been costly.
The punting game has also slowly mirrored the overall inconsistency. Daniel Whelan has shown a strong leg with distance, but uneven hang time has left defenders scrambling at the last minute in coverage. When kicks outpace coverage routes, returners find too much room to operate, flipping field position against the Packers. Tackling breakdowns have also plagued special teams, turning routine plays into damaging ones. Even Keisean Nixon, known for his playmaking ability on defense as well as a returner, has had difficulty maintaining discipline in coverage roles. Instead of giving the defense long fields to defend, Green Bay too often surrenders momentum on special teams, setting up a short field for its opponent.
When compared to other teams around the league, the Packers’ special teams simply have not measured up. Teams with reliable units use this phase of the game to hopefully control momentum, while Green Bay has struggled just to avoid mistakes. Field goal efficiency is below average, punt coverage has lacked return yardage, and opponent starting field position has tilted toward the wrong side. The blocked kicks over the last two weeks stand as the most grueling examples of the difference between functional and failing execution. What should be routine operations have instead become turning points that hurt Green Bay’s chances of winning.
Four weeks into the season, the Packers come face-to-face with an ugly truth: special teams have held back a roster otherwise capable of competing. With veterans like McManus, Orzech, and Nixon, mixed with promising young talent like Whelan, there is no shortage of potential once improvements are made, turning into a dependable unit for the rest of the team to rely on. The upcoming bye week presents a major and important opportunity to reset, evaluate, reassign roles, and reinforce the basics. If this group can move from a liability to a dependable unit, the Packers’ season could prove clearer. Until then, the special teams unit remains the phase that could define how far Green Bay can go this season.
