Paul Bretl | 11/13/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — As the Packers search for more consistency coming out of the bye week as they enter the pivotal stretch run of the season, one area where improvement is needed is with the pass rush. Specifically, the four-man rush being able to get home more often.
“I think from that entire group, we need more from those guys as we move forward into the second half of the season and I think we’ll get that,” Brian Gutekunst said of the defensive front. “I like that group. I like the way they work. They gotta continue to keep pushing and I think the addition of some of these guys getting some more snaps will help that.”
According to ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, which measures how often the Packers’ pass rushers win their matchup within 2.5 seconds, Green Bay entered their bye week ranked 29th. In terms of sacks, the Packers rank 19th with 22 of them, but over one-third of that total came in just one game against the Tennessee Titans.
Individually, no Packers’ defensive end ranks in the top 50 of their position group in either quarterback pressures or win rate. At defensive tackle, Kenny Clark’s 16 pressures rank 36th, while Devonte Wyatt has the best win rate on the team, but still ranks 45th league-wide at his position.
“Playing as one,” said JJ Enagbare about how the front can improve. “I feel like we’ve been playing pretty well for the most part. We’re doing what we’re schemed to do and coached to do and stuff like that. Continue to play together, continue to play complementary football with each other and knowing who you’re rushing with, knowing who you’re playing besides will help the success of all four guys who are out there.”
Where the Packers have found success at drumming up pressures is when they blitz. Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has done an excellent job of disguising where the pressures are coming from, who he is sending, and has a great feel for when to push that button. However, it’s not as if the Packers blitz a lot, ranking 27th in blitz rate entering Week 11. So, while effective when utilized, as this defense searches for more consistency, that isn’t going to come from blitzing.
In a nuanced game like football, even with the pass rush, where the job is to go and get the quarterback, things aren’t always black and white–either you got to the quarterback or you didn’t. As both Hafley and Matt LaFleur have described, when going against mobile quarterbacks, the job of the defensive end position changes. Rather than getting into the backfield as quickly as possible, the job revolves around being controlled and really maintaining rushing lanes in order to keep the quarterback in the pocket.
There is also the numbers game that comes with running a 4-3 scheme. With just four down linemen, the defense is out-numbered with their being five offensive linemen to contend with. That numbers disadvantage then gets magnified when a running back is kept in the backfield or a tight end is asked to chip.
Then, to steal a phrase from LaFleur on the offensive side of the ball, there is the illusion of complexity component, where the defense is throwing a variety of different looks at the offense and adjusting responsibilities to help cause confusion and some chaos pre-snap or early on in the read.
“Pressure always isn’t just about overwhelming them with numbers, it’s about making them see different things,” said Hafley before the Detroit game. “It’s all of a sudden you think six are coming but three are coming, or four are coming. And maybe we speed him up and we force him into a bad throw.
“Or maybe we drop a guy underneath where he didn’t think the guy was going to drop and now he throws a bad ball. I mean, I think the key for us is to constantly change up the looks and make those guys think. Right? And we’re going to have to do it all.”
However, having said that, and while that all may be accurate, it’s also true that, particularly in one-on-one situations, the Packers need more productivity from their defensive front.
The Packers defensive front will have the opportunity to come out of the bye week and get off to a fast start during this second half of the season against a struggling Chicago Bears’ offensive line. As the Bears navigate injuries and sub-par play along the offensive line, over the last three games in particular, quarterback Caleb Williams has been under pressure on 46 percent of his dropbacks, the third-highest rate during that span. He’s also been sacked a league-high 18 times in those three games as well, including nine times this past Sunday.
The Bears are currently 4-6 on the season and just fired their offensive coordinator. With their season hanging in the balance, the Packers can exacerbate those problems by continuing to pressure the rookie quarterback as he and the offense adjust to a new playcaller.
“We’re just rushing, doing what we’ve got to do,” said Rashan Gary of the defensive front’s play. “The numbers are going to come. Numbers, people get misconstrued. Put on the tape, see how we’re playing, see how we’re setting edges, see how we’re putting pressure on quarterbacks. The numbers are going to come if we keep playing our fashion of ball.”
When it comes to the Packers’ defense as a whole reaching its ceiling this season, an improved four-man pass rush over the second half of the season will be a must. The name of the game is getting after the quarterback, and when done consistently, there is a positive trickle-down effect to the rest of the defense, with the timing and rhythm of the play being disrupted, which can then lead to mistakes–not to mention that pressure means less time in coverage for the defensive backs.
The Packers will now be tasked with accomplishing this feat with what has quickly become a young defensive end room, with Preston Smith now in Pittsburgh and the team relying much more heavily on Arron Mosby and Brenton Cox, along with JJ Enagbare and Lukas Van Ness.
“I would just say be more vocal now because we lost a leadership guy (Preston Smith) in our room,” said Arron Mosby. “So just going forward with those guys like JJ and Lukas, they had most of the reps since last year and this year, so me and Brenton Cox trying to find that role, trying to fit in with those guys, trying to learn from them and just communicate as much as possible so we all can be as one and attack the quarterback.”