Paul Bretl | 12/31/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers’ defense was picked apart over the middle of the field by Sam Darnold and the Vikings’ passing game on Sunday — an area where we’ve seen other offenses have success against Green Bay and a problem with several contributing factors.
Overall, Darnold was extremely efficient, completing 33-of-43 passes for 377 yards with three touchdowns to one interception, with the bulk of that production coming between the numbers. According to NFL NextGen Stats, Darnold completed 85% of his throws for 289 of his total yards with two scores over the middle of the field.
So what went wrong for the Packers defense that resulted in such a big day for Darnold and the Vikings’ pass catchers in that particular part of the field? Well there’s a few factors in play.
“We’ve got to do a better job in coverage, for sure,” said Matt LaFleur on Monday. “I think your coverage is going to get better if you can get a better pass rush, as well, so it all goes hand in hand. The rush goes with the coverage. We’ve got to do a better job of trying to get pressure on the quarterback, moving him off the spot.”
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In recent weeks, the Packers’ pass rush had been trending in the right direction but they regressed towards their season long norm against the Vikings, struggling to get pressure with a four-man rush.
Darnold was under duress on only 31% of his dropbacks. For some context, compared to the rest of the NFL over the course of the 2024 season, that pressure rate would rank 32nd out of 42 eligible quarterbacks. From a clean pocket, Darnold was 26-of-30 passing for 315 yards with three touchdowns.
Even when the Packers blitzed in an attempt to drum up pressure, they were unable to get home and that left them exposed in the secondary. Against the blitz, Darnold was lights out, completing 12-of14 passes for 131 yards with a score. His average time to throw on such plays was 3.06 seconds, according to PFF, further illustrating that the designed pressures weren’t all that effective.
Another part of this equation, as LaFleur pointed out, was the amount of space that the Packers were giving up over the middle of the field.
“When we have opportunities – and there were some tight-window throws he made – we’ve got to keep depth,” added LaFleur. “There’s got to be depth on the second level. You can’t have these big discrepancies between your second and third levels. So, everybody has their hand in it, and then there’s some things we can do schematically better.”
Let’s rewind to the Packers’ Week 13 and 14 matchups against Miami and Detroit, where both Tua Tagovailoa and Jared Goff were extremely efficient over the middle of the field as well. In part, that’s going to happen when facing those offenses with two of the best in the game at picking apart defenses between the numbers. However, also not helping the Packers in those games is that they were without Edgerrin Cooper at linebacker.
With 4.51-second speed, he brings added coverage ability to the linebacker position with all of the ground he can cover. With that speed comes versatility and that provides Hafley quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to the game-plan he puts together and what he asks of Cooper, whether that be sending him as a blitzer or how he’s utilized in coverage over the middle.
With that skill set, there is also a positive trickle-down effect that it creates within the defense, with Cooper’s speed and ability to operate in space then impacting what is asked of other position groups, specifically the defensive backs, as Xavier McKinney highlighted after the Jacksonville game, because he can cover a lot of ground.
Upon his return against Seattle, the Packers middle of the field defense has been much more buttoned up the last two games, and overall, Cooper’s impact has been massive. But against Minnesota, and their top-flight offense, along with the splash plays, we saw a young player who is still navigating the growing pains that come with making the jump from college to the NFL.
“I thought he made a lot of splash plays, but there was a lot of plays that we gotta make that really hurt us as well,” said LaFleur about Cooper. “So I’d say it was a mixed bag. I think he’s so talented and I think the sky’s the limit for him and I love having him.
“But it’s just the consistency of which you play. I mean, so you just gotta make sure you’re dialed in and we know he’s an incredible talent and he’s going to make some splash plays and he did. But I think there’s another level there that I think he can continue to take his game to.”
The Packers’ middle-of-the-field defense also suffered a blow early on in the game when Zayne Anderson exited with a concussion. This forced the Packers’ to make changes in the secondary, most notably, moving rookie Javon Bullard–who was in his first game back following an ankle injury–from the nickel to safety.
For any player, this can be a big jump to make within a game–I mean, it’s a completely different position. But the effects of that are magnified for a rookie, who is still a relatively inexperienced player. Throughout the week of practice, there is only so much time and so many reps to go around. So although Bullard is listed as a safety, in practice each week, he isn’t taking the safety reps–he’s preparing to start at the nickel.
“It’s more challenging, obviously, when you’ve got a younger player that doesn’t have as much time on task,” said LaFleur about Bullard moving positions.” It sounds like an excuse – I’m not trying to make an excuse by any stretch. We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to put our guys in a better position.
“But it is a challenge. You rep the nickel all week and now you’re getting moved back to safety and it’s musical chairs back there, which against a good opponent is less than ideal but it is the situation. Everybody deals with it every week, and we’ve got to be better – coaches, players, everybody.”
Without question, there has been a lot of good in Jeff Hafley’s first year as defensive coordinator. In a number of key metrics, the Packers’ defense ranks quite well this season. However, their middle-of-the-field defense is one area in particular where we’ve seen some high-powered offenses take advantage of this unit, and come the postseason, this is something that Green Bay must button up–and there are a few different ways to do so.