The Green Bay Packers head into their Week 7 bye undefeated at 6-0 on the season, and with a record like that it's hard to find too many flaws with this team.Still, the Packers aren't simply looking for regular-season wins. A 16-0 season and an early exit in the playoffs is not preferable to a 10-6 season and a Super Bowl win. Thus, regardless of what the record reflects, there are a few key areas in which Green Bay will seek to improve in the second half of the season.Let's break down three of those areas. You may notice a common thread running through them. Most of the Packers' struggles in all phases of the game this season can be traced back to one factor: injuries.Play FasterThe Packers are known for running an up-tempo offense. In fact, in the 2014 offseason head coach Mike McCarthy announced that his goal was to run 75 plays per game."That seems to be the answer to some of the different things that defenses are doing," Aaron Rodgers said at the time, per ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky.Of course, last season's goals and this season's goals differ, mainly due to a lack of playmakers this season. With receiver Jordy Nelson out for the year, running back Eddie Lacy apparently still nursing an injured ankle and receivers Davante Adams and Ty Montgomery hurt, it's hard to approach 75 plays per game.Still, the Packers' offense this season has been methodical, which has helped their defense but has led to a lack of explosive plays.The Packers have only been averaging 60.2 plays per game, per Team Rankings, putting them 30th in the league. In Week 6 against the San Diego Chargers, they had just 49.That seems like a wasted opportunity to exploit opponents, especially given how talented Rodgers is at running the no-huddle and quickly diagnosing and taking advantage of defensive looks.Of course, the Packers couldn't play much faster now even if they wanted to; they are lacking weapons who have the veteran experience and chemistry with Rodgers to keep up with that pace.Though McCarthy said the following in 2014, per Demovsky, it's certainly applicable now:"If anything, you worry about him just sometimes playing too fast. Not that he's playing too fast, he has the ability to play at such a fast level, it's keeping everyone coordinated to be able to play with him."With Adams and now Montgomery injured, and Andrew Quarless on injured reserve with a designation to return, Randall Cobb is facing constant double coverage, and players like Jared Abbrederis and Jeff Janis don't quite have the trust with Rodgers yet to run at a pace he could with someone like Nelson.And this isn't news to the Packers."We're 6-0, but there's room for improvement," Rodgers said in his post-game press conference after beating the San Diego Chargers, per Demovsky.Both Rodgers and McCarthy recognize that improvement starts with a healthy team."Davante and Ty and Eddie, getting those guys back to 100 percent will be important because we come off the bye and play two road games against teams that are undefeated right now," Rodgers added."I have a 6-0 football team that needs to get healthy," McCarthy said, per Demovsky. "And we have a chance to get a lot better."Convert Third DownsIt's not a secret the Packers have been consistently struggling to convert third downs all season.Heading into Week 7, Green Bay has a third-down conversion rate of 37.68 percent, per Team Rankings. That's good for No. 19 in the league.In Week 6 against San Diego, that number fell to 33.33. Green Bay went 3-of-9.Yes, the Packers did win the game 27-20, but the Chargers were still in it until the final seconds, and only then they weren't able to force overtime because rookie cornerback Damarious Randall deflected a Philip Rivers pass in the end zone.For instance, Green Bay's first punt of the day came after a failure to convert 3rd-and-7 at the San Diego 40-yard line. If they had been able to convert that third down, they needn't even have made it to the end zone. A few more yards would have put them into field-goal territory, potentially making it so San Diego couldn't attempt an overtime-forcing score in the final seconds.Having the defense need to bail out the offense is not a strategy that will get the Packers deep into January.The offense has been hampered by injuries but presumably will be closer to full strength after the bye. That's when improvement needs to happen.It's, of course, not surprising the Packers have been struggling so much on third downs.To start, Lacy, whose ankle injury is apparently more serious than we realized (McCarthy said he was "banged up" heading into the bye, per Demovsky), hasn't been having as much success on first and second downs. That's brought up more long third-down situations, which in and of itself skews the stat.Also consider this: Cobb is one of Rodgers' favorite targets to convert long third downs. In 2014, he had 71 first downs.This season, however, Cobb has been double-covered when Rodgers wants to go to him, and with Adams, Montgomery and Quarless injured and few other passing targets to draw defenders off Cobb, Rodgers has lost his favorite target.Getting Adams back should be a huge boost, if only to force defenders to occasionally leave Cobb in man coverage.Turn Up the HeatIt would be crazy to say the pass rush is an area in which the Packers need to make big improvements after the bye. After all, Green Bay ranks second in the league currently in sacks, with 23, behind only Denver.Furthermore, those sacks have come from nine different players: Clay Matthews, Mike Daniels, Julius Peppers, Jayrone Elliott, B.J. Raji, Mike Neal, Nick Perry, Joe Thomas and Datone Jones.But something happened in the Week 6 game against the Chargers that could prove troubling should it continue past the bye week. And luckily, the Packers have an extra week to address it and make changes in future game plans.What happened was this: San Diego knew from the film that in the first five games, the Packers' front was able to get constant pressure on quarterbacks. Sometimes that resulted in sacks. Sometimes it resulted in interceptions.There are two ways to take away a team's pass rush: run the ball or get the ball out quickly. The latter is exactly what the Chargers decided to do against the Packers, and Rivers was able to throw for 503 total yards with no interceptions. He was sacked three times, but it didn't do much to disrupt his rhythm.The Chargers were able to elude Green Bay's rush with short, quick strikes to Keenan Allen, Danny Woodhead and other targets. According to Pro Football Focus, Rivers' average time to attempt was 2.90 seconds.Any pass attempt coming out quicker than three seconds is going to make it difficult for defensive linemen and linebackers to get into the backfield and disrupt the pass.Rivers' completion percentage on attempts made in 2.5 seconds or less was 76.9 percent, including 13 total attempts. However, on his 21 attempts made after 2.6 seconds or longer, his completion percentage fell to 57.1 percent.The Packers have one of the best pass-rushing corps in the league this season. But in the second half of the season, teams who watched what Rivers and the Chargers were able to do will attempt to replicate that attack.The defense needs to be able to keep the heat turned up and keep getting into the backfield and disrupting quarterbacks, taking away the hot route. Getting safety Morgan Burnett back from injury will certainly help with that.
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