Jaire Alexander: 'Pretty Obvious' Packers Defense Can't Allow TDs with Young Offense

Green Bay Packers Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander discussed the defense's need to step up while the offense continues to develop following a 17-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Alexander put the onus on the Green Bay defense to shut down opposing offenses and create offense in its own right:

"Yeah, I think at this point, it's pretty obvious that the defense has to not give up any touchdowns. I think that's the part of being self-critical of our defense because the offense is pretty young and they're still figuring out their mojo. The defense, we gotta be the ones to score and stop them from scoring."

With Monday's loss, the Packers dropped to 2-3 on the season, putting them two games behind the Detroit Lions in the NFC North.

Green Bay is in the midst of its first season with Jordan Love as the starting quarterback after trading four-time NFL MVP and future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets during the offseason.

While the 24-year-old Love has shown some flashes of brilliance this season, he has also gone through some obvious growing pains along the way.

Monday marked his worst performance since becoming the starter, as he went 16-of-30 for 182 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions.

Love threw three touchdowns with no interceptions in each of the Packers' first two games of the season, but he has only two touchdowns and six picks since then.

One of the contributing factors to Love's struggles has been the inability to run the ball, as Green Bay ranks 28th in the NFL with only 81.6 rushing yards per game.

Meanwhile, the defense has been a middle-of-the-pack unit, ranking 17th in the league with 337.8 total yards allowed per game and 18th with 22.6 points allowed per contest.

While that may have been good enough most years to complement an explosive offense led by Rodgers, the offense is still in the developmental stages under Love, and it largely hasn't been a winning combination.

Under normal circumstances, the Green Bay defense played well enough to win Monday, as it held the Raiders to just 279 total yards, intercepted Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo once and recorded four sacks, but the Packers' offense could muster only 13 points of support.

The defense was put in difficult positions throughout the game thanks to the offense's three turnovers, wasting an effort that saw the defense hold Raiders All-Pro running back Josh Jacobs to 3.5 yards per carry and All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams to four receptions for 45 yards.

Green Bay is on bye in Week 6 before returning to face the struggling Denver Broncos on the road in Week 7.

That should be a solid matchup for the defense and should give the offense a chance to get back on track, as the Broncos are allowing a league-high 36.2 points per game this season.