Paul Bretl | 12/2/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Coming out of the bye week, the Packers needed more steady pressure from their four-man rushes, and in recent games, they seem to be finding that consistency.
“I feel like it’s improving,” said Matt LaFleur of the pass rush. “And it’s got to continue to improve because it’s going to get more challenging, the later we get into this thing.”
In total sacks and ESPN’s pass rush win rate, the Packers ranked in the bottom third of the NFL in both categories coming out of their bye week. The only somewhat regular pressure they could drum up was when defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley dialed up a designed pressure.
But as of late, the pendulum has begun to swing in the other direction. The Green Bay defense would have San Francisco quarterback Brandon Allen under pressure on 38 percent of his dropbacks, which for some context, over the course of the season would be the seventh-highest rate for a quarterback in 2024.
A few days later against Miami, Green Bay had Tua Tagovailoa under pressure on 33 percent of his dropbacks. That, admittedly, isn’t an eye-popping number, but is solid and was the 13th highest quarterback pressure rate in Week 13. But of note, in Miami’s quick passing offense, Tagovailoa’s average pressure rate coming into that game was just over 21 percent, and the Packers converted five of those pressures into sacks–the second-most of any team that week.
“I think we coming along as a group,” Brenton Cox said. “Starting to get a feel for each other, know where everybody going to be at in the rush. I think that’s what the naked eye see and just got us playing with each other.”
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Pro Football Focus has their pass rush productivity metric, which in short, measures how often a pass rusher is able to create pressure relative to the number of snaps played, and is more heavily weighted towards converting those pressures into sacks.
Before the bye week, individually, the highest rated Packers’ defensive end by this metric was Rashan Gary, who ranked 81st out of 127 eligible defenders–or in the bottom half of the league. However, over the last two games, sparked by a forced fumble against the 49ers, Lukas Van Ness ranks second in pass rush productivity during that span. Gary, meanwhile, is 22nd, and Brenton Cox is 37th out of 88 defenders.
“I think we feel confident,” said Lukas Van Ness. “We’re starting to put it together and really just work as a four-man unit out there and again, we have a new week in front of us so a new set of challenges, but just continue the momentum and keep working.”
As we all know, the name of the game in football is pressuring the quarterback. Steady pressure disrupts the timing and rhythm of the play, leading to hurried throws and potential mistakes.
Helping the pass rush out during these two games has been the combination of the Green Bay offense getting off to a fast start, along with the defense eating its vegetables on early downs against the run. Both elements can make the opposing offense one dimensional, putting them in obvious passing situations, which allows the front to pin its ears back and just get after the quarterback.
Now, of course, in the grand scheme of an NFL season, two games is a small sample size. The challenge moving forward for this unit is to build upon these performances, and make their level of play over the last two games be closer to the norm rather than the outlier. But doing so this week won’t come easy against the Detroit Lions offense and their offensive line.
Pressure or no pressure, Jared Goff has picked defenses apart this season. However, the former is a much better alternative than the latter.
When kept clean this season, Goff is completing almost 80 percent of his throws at a hefty 9.2 yards per attempt with 19 touchdowns to six interceptions. When under duress, he’s completing just 55.3 percent of his passes at 7.6 yards per attempt with three touchdowns to three interceptions.
But, as alluded to, this is a task that’s much easier said than done. In addition to Goff playing at an extremely high level this season, having a strong run game to lean on that keeps the offense ahead of the sticks can take the bit away from an opposing pass rush. As does the Lions’ usage of screens, motion, and misdirections, all of which is coupled with a very good offensive line unit.
“Just reading your keys,” said Arron Mosby about defending the Lions’ offense. “They run a lot things–eye candy plays. That’s how they make their big plays and want to get you to look at this and the ball’s going that way, and things like that. Really just be disciplined. Just play to your rules, try to read your rules.
“Sometimes, like I said, the eye candy might get you, but your effort might overplay it. So really just be disciplined and effort, that could play a huge factor in this game.”
As I’ve pointed out often this season, a steady pass rush presence is a must if this Packers’ defense is going to reach its ceiling in 2024. It’s not a coincidence that the defense is finding its groove at the same time that the pass rush unit is picking up some steam.
“I think there’s a lot of guys starting to hit that stride,” said Jeff Hafley. “I think guys are gaining confidence in themselves, they’re gaining confidence in the scheme because they know what they’re doing and they’re getting more confidence in what they’re doing and when you have more reps over time that usually happens.”