New York Giants Week 14: Examining the Green Bay Packers Defense

Let's get to know the Packers defense.

Author:
Brandon Olsen
Publish date:
Dec 8, 2023 10:00 AM EST

In this story:

Tommy DeVito has been named the starting quarterback for the New York Giants this week against a Green Bay Packers defense that just held the Kansas City Chiefs to 19 points last week. What kind of challenge is DeVito looking at this week?

Let's break it down.

Personnel

The strength of this Packers defense lies in the defensive front five. Most teams wouldn't generally get the "front five" classification, but the way that the Packers utilize their outside linebackers gives them that name.

Kenny Clark, TJ Slaton, and Devonte Wyatt are the main players on the interior. Clark is far and away the best of the bunch, as he's also one of the best interior defensive linemen in the NFL, period.

Slaton and Wyatt have found their roles in the system, with Slaton playing his more natural nose tackle spot and Wyatt consistently playing anywhere from 3-technique to 5-technique.

The edge features Rashan Gary and Preston Smith as the starters, with Kingsley Enagbare rotating in as EDGE3. The trio has found a rhythm where the Packers can put any combination of two out of three on the field at any time and pin their ears back.

Clark, Gary, Wyatt, and Smith have combined this season for 143 pressures, including 26 sacks. Their ability to consistently generate pressure without being blitz-happy is impressive, and we'll talk about that in the next section.

Quay Walker has made major strides this season compared to last year at linebacker. Part of that success is due to his own growth and the play of the defensive line in front of him, allowing him to have cleaner lanes to attack. De'Vondre Campbell and Isaiah McDuffie handle the rest of the off-ball linebacker duties, although it's mostly Campbell when he's healthy.

In the secondary, injuries have repeatedly reared their ugly head to the point where former Giants draft pick Corey Ballentine has played significant snaps on this defense. The group has been getting healthier and could see the return of star cornerback Jaire Alexander, who hasn't played since week nine against the Chargers.

Cornerback isn't the only room where the Packers have dealt with injury, as Rudy Ford and Jonathan Owens have played most of the snaps there. Darnell Savage had a strong first game back against the Chiefs after missing over a month, but it will be interesting to see how he sustains a high snap count.

Scheme

Up front, the Packers run a 3-4 base, but as I mentioned earlier, they tend to have five defenders up on the line of scrimmage with their three down linemen and two outside linebackers in Gary and Smith. Functioning like that allows them to send anywhere from three to five rushers on any given snap without giving the offense a different look.

The Packers also wreaked havoc with their stunt game. In a stunt, one rusher will attack an offensive lineman to occupy them, while another rusher loops around that initial defender, leaving the offensive lineman in an almost impossible position.

The athleticism of this defensive front, paired with them keeping so many players up on the line, means that offenses must be prepared for stunts, blitzes, and any sort of combination pass-rush plan that the Packers can throw from that look.

On the back end, the Packers aren't much of a disguise team in the secondary. They tend to line up with one safety high and play covers one or three more than anything else. There's a solid chance that whether the Packers show a single-high safety or two-high look, they're playing one of those coverages.

The main alternative is Cover 6, but even that's very infrequent. The Packers have a "simple" coverage scheme, for lack of a better term, but the few coverages they call consistently are very effective.

The Packers operate out of a 3-4 base but often have five defenders along the line of scrimmage, with Preston Smith and Rashan Gary as standup defenders on the edge. This allows Jarran Reed, Kenny Clark, and Dean Lowry to all play with their hands in the dirt along the interior when operating in their base front.

The Packers will also break out what Joe Barry calls a "Penny" front against most teams. In that front, we'll see the Packers operate with five defensive backs out of nickel but maintain their five-man defensive front and just have one off-ball linebacker on the field.

In "Penny," the Packers usually have a 9-3-0-3-5 or 5-3-0-3-9 look. Meaning that players will line up as a 9-technique, two 3-techniques, a 0-technique, and a 5-technique. A 0-technique is lined up directly over the center, 3-techniques are on the outside shoulder of the guards, and then a 5-technique is on the outside shoulder of the tackle while a 9-technique is on the outside shoulder of a tight end.

Also, expect to see double mug looks, meaning that there are four players on the defensive line already, then two more players stand up between the center and guards on the line of scrimmage. Chaos is the name of the game for Joe Barry and his exotic defensive fronts.

What This Means for the Giants

The Giants offensive line has been horrible when facing stunts for years, and 2023 has been no different. I would expect to see a running back or tight end kept in the backfield to be tasked with cleaning up an offensive line miscues.

Cleaning up those miscues could be either an additional pass-protector or a check-down option for Tommy DeVito to look to. This offensive line lacks talent and, at center, lacks NFL experience. With both a center and quarterback duo lacking experience, it will leave the door open for miscommunication issues against the exotic looks Joe Barry will show.

With Covers 3 and 1 being the Packers primary coverage, look to attack the seams vertically -- hello, Jalin Hyatt -- or to work quick game from the outside receivers working in.

The run game could be thrown for a loop as well with the crowded line of scrimmage, but the downside of having so many players near the line of scrimmage for Green Bay is that there's less immediate run support, so if you don't make the stop early, explosive runs are available.

I expect the Giants to implement a more gap-based run game against the Packers, block who you know you need to, hit the hole, and run. Keep the door shut for zone runs to get blown up.

Final Thoughts

The Giants offense is set to face a running swfense with a strong advantage in the trenches. It won’t be, won't, but there's a systematic way to move the ball downfield for DeVito, Barkley, and this Giant supporting cast.