Packers' biggest offensive flaw can be costly without Jordan Love over the next few weeks

The offense scored 29 points, even though they were ineffective in the red zone. So there are silver linings for the Green Bay Packers after a tough loss in Brazil to the Philadelphia Eagles. But without Jordan Love for the next few weeks — and even when he's back, to compete at the highest level —, Green Bay will have to get better in an area they had already struggled in 2023. Run blocking.

Last season, Green Bay was second in the entire NFL in pass block win rate, but they fell to 16th in run block win rate, according to ESPN. For the most part, the offensive line is built to pass block, and it gets apparent sometimes. In the first half, especially, Josh Jacobs didn't have anything in front of him. He got better in the second half, finishing the game with 5.2 yards per carry thanks to a couple of big plays, but there was a point where he had 0.7 yards per carry near halftime.

"We had a lot of opportunities we didn't capitalize on, and when you don't do that, you get beat," head coach Matt LaFleur said. "The red area was a huge problem tonight. Last year I thought we were pretty good in that area, but we got destroyed there tonight."

The Packers couldn't even get a two-point conversion from the one-yard line after an Eagles penalty. That failed conversion and a missed field goal from Brayden Narveson were the difference in the score.

The run blocking was concerning because three of the five starting offensive linemen had poor performances. Right tackle Zach Tom and left guard Elgton Jenkins were the exceptions, but there wasn't enough consistency to create a favorable running environment.

Run block grades, via PFF

• Zach Tom: 93.2
• Elgton Jenkins 74.1
• Jordan Morgan: 66.6
• Sean Rhyan: 56.3
• Rasheed Walker 53.8
• Josh Myers 53.6

The combo of center Josh Myers and right guard Sean Rhyan was particularly bad. And against a strong Eagles' interior of the defensive line, it was basically impossible to run through the middle. Rhyan is an interesting case, because the general idea is that he's a good run blocker, but he has shown zero evidence of that in the NFL.

Rookie first-round pick Jordan Morgan rotated in at right guard and played better than Rhyan, so you can expect more snaps for him moving forward — eventually, he will likely become the full-time starter.

Left tackle Rasheed Walker couldn't move people either, although the Packers can probably live with that if there's more run power on the other side.

Projections

The Packers will obviously need more out of their run blocking over the next few weeks. Malik Willis has been a well below average passer whenever he had the chance to play in the league.

To be successful against the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans, the team will have to build a very specific gameplan, with more read options and RPOs — there is a blueprint for that, when Matt LaFleur had Marcus Mariota with the Tennessee Titans in 2018.

But if the line keeps failing to create running lanes, it will be hard to expect much out of this offense until Jordan Love returns.

Related: Separate reports indicate the Packers have short- and mid-term ideas to replace Jordan Love at QB