Paul Bretl | 10/3/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Already a quarter of the way through the 2024 NFL season, one thing became abundantly clear following the Packers performance this past Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings: they need more from their pass rush unit.
“It wasn’t up to our standard, no doubt about it,” said Matt LaFleur the day after the game. “Give them (Minnesota) credit. I do think they have a good offensive line, in particular their tackles are pretty good, but I thought collectively as a unit, they did a really nice job.”
The Vikings’ pass-blockers on Sunday were credited with allowing just eight pressures on 33 Sam Darnold dropbacks, according to PFF. For some context, a pressure rate of 24.4 percent over the first four games of the season would rank as the second-lowest mark for a quarterback.
For the most part, the big pressures that the Packers were able to generate in that game, which included a sack from Quay Walker to put Minnesota in a third-and-long and a strip sack by Keisean Nixon, were accomplished from blitzing.
“Absolutely,” said Rashan Gary on Sunday when asked if he knew what went wrong. “Especially with the last few games that we put together as a defense. Everybody being in the right spots, everybody communicating the right way. We just gotta go back, watch the plays that hit us, come back in on Monday make sure we on top of our stuff, making sure every gap that got it or any pass that got catch that we correct it.”
Overall, the Packers’ team pressure rate of 24.2 percent ranks 20th in the NFL through four weeks. Their 13 sacks are the ninth-most, however, eight of them came against Tennessee, meaning the defense has generated only five over the other three games. Right now, bolstering the Packers overall figures is a dominant showing against the Titans, coupled with three other lack-luster performances.
In part, we can look at the circumstances surrounding the Packers’ early pass rush inconsistencies. In the first two weeks against Jalen Hurts and Anthony Richardson, there was a more controlled pass-rush approach where the emphasis was on keeping both quarterbacks in the pocket. This, to a degree, is going to limit pressure opportunities.
Then against Minnesota, without Jaire Alexander and Carrington Valentine at cornerback and the defense facing Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, there were a lot of four-man rushes from Green Bay to provide additional help on the back end of the defense. The pass rush was then met by double-teams, tight end chips and help from the running backs.
“I think that’s part of it,” said LaFleur of opponents chipping the Packers’ pass rushers. “Any time you’ve got guys on the perimeter that people are worried about you’re going to get chipped. And I think going back a game, the backs were, when they were doing some of their play action fakes, they were doing a good job internally and basically creating three double teams, you know, in terms of whoever had that one-on-one matchup inside, whether it was Kenny on a guard or a center, the back was nudging him, so you essentially end up with three doubles teams and you have one one-on-one matchup that you’ve got to try to win.”
However, even with all of that being true, at the end of the day the name of the game in football is pressuring the opposing quarterback and the Packers aren’t doing that regularly.
It starts individually where currently no Packers defensive end ranks in the top-70 of PFF’s pass rush win rate metric. None of the Packers defensive tackles rank in the top-45 of their position group in that category either. This includes Rashan Gary and Kenny Clark combining for just one sack and no quarterback hits.
“This past week, as we all know, was not up to our standard and we’ve got to continue to execute it,” said defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich. “We’ve got to get to our basics, our fundamentals and the things that we’ve got to do from, as I’ve said up here before, four equals one.
“We’ve got to rush together as a group. We’ve got to understand that, that each week is going to be different and our expectation is a very high one for this group. So, we’re going to continue to strive for it, we’re going to continue to work for it, and each week’s a new week.”
A cornerstone of Hafley’s defense is the ability to generate pressure by rushing just four down linemen in an attacking style, which then allows the defense to have an additional defender in coverage. However, if the pass rush isn’t able to generate regular pressure, that additional coverage defender doesn’t matter all that much when the secondary has to regularly defender for three or four seconds–that’s just an incredibly disadvantageous spot to be in.
Hafley has thrown different looks at opposing offensive lines, whether it be trying to contain the quarterback, stunts and twists, blitzes, or just go win your matchup-type rushes. So he’s been flexible; it’s not as if he’s running out the same game plan over and over again. However, if the results aren’t there, and there’s a balance to this, but providing the front with more help more often, whether that be schematically to create advantageous matchups or with an additional rusher to help against chips, may have to be on Hafley’s radar.
“I think it goes back and forth,” said Jeff Hafley about Gary dealing with chips. “We gotta move him around and we gotta see how teams are gonna come out and protect against us and then counter that and change things up in the game. If they’re doing one thing to take him away, we gotta find another way to get him involved. And then if they’re gonna try to find ways to take him away, then we have to have our other guys show up or we have to scheme other ways to pressure opposite him and do a lot of things schematically, which I think you guys kinda saw last week.”
This week, the Packers’ pass rush faces the Los Angeles Rams, which on paper, should provide a get-right game for this unit. The Rams offensive line unit is decimated with injuries, resulting in a group that has allowed the third-highest pressure rate, the eight-most sacks, and is 22nd in ESPN’s pass-block win rate metric.
A potent pass rush is a cure-all for just about everything defensively. Steady pressure on the quarterback disrupts the timing and rhythm of the play and, of course, can lead to mistakes and turnover opportunities.
There is still a lot of season left, 13 games to be exact, but so far, this attacking front that we heard about and saw throughout training camp hasn’t been on display all that often to begin the regular season.
“I’ll tell you this: It’s a balance of what we’ve got to do,” said LaFleur. “When there’s times to unleash those guys and work those edges, we’ve got to go do that. And there’s other times where we’ve got to be extremely coordinated with the four rushing as one and try to create, whether it’s a pick game or whatever it may be, to try to create a little bit more rush from those four guys.”