The Packers have given up a lot of yards this season, especially through the air. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Green Bay - The Green Bay Packers are 6-0, but as anybody with a basic knowledge of football can see, they are far from perfect.

Ask any coach in the National Football League and he would love to be standing in coach Mike McCarthy's shoes. An undefeated team, the hottest quarterback in the game, a defense that ranks tied for seventh for fewest points allowed.

What's not to like?

Well, at first glance everything looks pretty clean, but underneath the surface there are underperforming areas easy to overlook when a team is beating the likes of the Denver Broncos (1-4) and St. Louis Rams (0-5) with the Minnesota Vikings (1-5) on deck.

"There's some things we're doing extremely well and (we) will continue to build off it. That's why we're winning football games," McCarthy said Monday, a day after the Packers soundly but unimpressively beat the St. Louis Rams, 24-3. "But there's a number of fundamental things we need to improve on."

In describing one of those areas - the running game - McCarthy stated that it's not exactly the way it's supposed to look right now. That is the case in a number of areas on offense, defense and special teams.

Here's where things aren't looking like they're supposed to:

OFFENSE

The running game has been the soft spot in an offense that throws the ball as efficiently as any in the NFL, protects its star quarterback, is tied for the league lead in receptions of 40 or more yards and ranks first in scoring.

The victory over the Rams begged for the Packers to come out in the second half and dominate the game with their running attack. Ahead, 24-3, at halftime, the Packers should have been able to pound away on first and second down against a defense ranked dead last in the NFL in rushing yards allowed.

Instead, their backs gained just 43 yards and three first downs on 14 carries. From his standpoint, offensive coordinator Joe Philbin didn't see his offensive line sustaining blocks and giving Ryan Grant and James Starks much room to run.

"You have to block and break tackles," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "I don't want to say it's all on the offensive linemen and that they're not blocking worth a lick. It's certainly more than that. The run game productivity overall has to get better."

Saying the cause was right tackle Bryan Bulaga playing in his first game back from a knee injury or Marshall Newhouse starting his first game at left tackle would be an excuse because there were breakdowns all over the line.

Philbin also identified receiver drops as an issue. By the Packers' count, there have been 10 in the past two games.

DEFENSE

The Packers give away 400 yards like banks give away pens.

They've done it three times this season, which is one more than they did all of last season. Most of the yardage is coming through the air and other than inside their own 20-yard line, there doesn't seem to be much of an answer for it.

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers is playing a lot of zone to protect cornerback Tramon Williams' sore shoulder, Charles Woodson's bad knee and foot and Morgan Burnett's broken hand, but it still shouldn't be that easy for teams to throw the ball against Capers' defense.

Right now, the defense is protecting its end zone with a vengeance, holding its opponents out of it for six straight quarters. Atlanta scored touchdowns twice in the first half when it got into the red zone, but St. Louis managed a field goal in three attempts.

For the season, the Packers rank tied for fourth in the NFL in touchdown percentage inside the 20-yard line at 38.1. They rank tied for seventh in points allowed per game (19).

"I think you don't want to put people down in there too many times where (they have) more opportunities," Capers said of the red zone. "The positive part of it yesterday was getting off the field on third and fourth down. We've had a few of those long drives against us.

"At times, we've been able to take the ball away, which is kind of the next phase."

Capers was not happy with the number of yards the defense gave up on first down, which makes calling plays a lot harder for him. He and McCarthy would both like to see better tackling.

The variable that could change things is the health of Williams, who is limited in the amount of bump-and-run coverage he can play. When Williams is healthy, Capers can go back to having him lock down the opponent's top receiver and letting Woodson do his thing.

SPECIAL TEAMS

It's pretty easy to pinpoint the problems with Shawn Slocum's unit. It's punt coverage.

The Packers rank 31st , allowing opponents an unsightly 21.3-yard average. They have allowed returns of 17, 20, 21, 39 and 72 yards, resulting in punter Tim Masthay ranking second to last in net average.

Some of the blame belongs to Masthay for hanging punts too close to the middle of the field, but Sunday against the Rams, when returns of 17 and 39 yards were allowed, Slocum was not happy with the coverage units.

"In terms of where we are in kickoff coverage, I feel like we've got the guys in the right spots," Slocum said. "I think we've had pretty good production there. From a punt standpoint, I was disappointed yesterday that we let two of those returns out of the bag. In terms of where our personnel's lined up, I think we're fine there."

Another concern of Slocum's is that opponents are doing a much better job against Randall Cobb on kickoff returns. After getting the ball beyond the 20 on every ball he returned the first four games, Cobb has been held behind the 20 four straight times in the last two games.

"We've got consecutive games getting tackled inside the 20," Slocum said. "We're going to change that. We need to do a better job blocking."

FAR FROM PERFECT

The Packers are the NFL's only undefeated team, but to say they're doing everything right would be an overstatement. Here are areas in which they definitely could improve (NFL rank in parentheses):

OFFENSE Rushing yards per game 98.5 (24) Rushing yards per attempt 3.8 (27) SPECIAL TEAMS Punt return average 5.5 (29) Net punting average 30.4 (31) Opp. punt return average 21.3 (31) Opp. average drive start 21.7(17) DEFENSE Yards allowed per play 6.1 (26) Pass yards allowed/ game 299.7 (30) Pass yards allowed/ play 8.0 (23) Yards allowed, first down 6.4 (26) Passes 20 yards+ allowed 28 (31) Passing TDs allowed 10 (T23)