LaFleur Calls Packers’ Run Defense ‘Inexcusable’ After Loss to Lions
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur knows what insanity is when he sees it. After all, he just witnessed his defense get run over with regularity by the Detroit Lions for the previous 3 hours.
“We’re going to have to do something different, because it’s insane to do the same things over and over again and expect a different result,” LaFleur said of his beleaguered run defense after his Packers were trounced 34-20 on Thursday night at Lambeau Field.
LaFleur’s defenses are synonymous with playing horrendous run defense. The 78,052 fans at Lambeau Field know it. Lions coach Dan Campbell knows it. Presumably, Raiders coach Josh McDaniels, whose team will host the Packers next Monday and whose offense features reigning NFL rushing champion Josh Jacobs, knows it, too.
Week after week, Green Bay’s run defense is meek.
The Packers gave up 211 rushing yards to the Atlanta Falcons in a Week 2 loss.
With the season on the line against Detroit in Week 18 last season, they gave up 55 rushing yards in the fourth quarter.
In a big primetime showdown at Philadelphia, they had one of the worst defensive performances in franchise history when they allowed 363 rushing yards.
During last year’s disastrous five-game midseason losing streak, they gave up 125 rushing yards to the Giants, 179 to the Jets, 166 to the Commanders and 153 to the Bills in the first four games.
During the Thursday night rematch against Detroit, the Lions rushed for 211 yards.
“That is a good offensive line. They’ve got really good runners. I think (Jahmyr) Gibbs and (David) Montgomery are two of the better backs (and) that’s one of the best offensive lines in ball. But it’s still inexcusable. You should be able to take one phase away. If you want to stop the run and commit to that, make them throw it over your head.”
Lions RB David Montgomery stiff-arms Packers LB Isaiah McDuffie.
Photo by Tork Mason/USA Today Sports Images
Green Bay’s run defense stinks. Signing Jarran Reed didn’t help. Dumping Reed and Dean Lowry didn’t help. Drafting Devonte Wyatt in the first round didn’t help. Replacing veterans with young players didn’t help. Drafting linebacker Quay Walker didn’t help.
The run defense was bad under former defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, who focused on pass defense.
It’s bad under current defensive coordinator Joe Barry, despite being handed additional high-profile talent.
Encompassing both of those coordinators, it’s been bad throughout Jerry Montgomery’s tenure as defensive line coach. He has failed to build a unit around his one star, Kenny Clark.
Bad. Consistently bad.
- Since LaFleur took over as coach, the Packers rank 31st in the 32-team NFL with 4.70 yards allowed per rushing play.
- Since 2019, the Packers have given up the fourth-most games of 150-plus rushing yards, which is quite a feat for a team that’s typically winning and forcing the opposition to throw the ball.
- This season, there have been eight games in which a team rushed for 200-plus yards. The Packers are the only team to be on the wrong end of the stick in two of those games.
- With four games in the books, the Packers rank 31st with 155.3 rushing yards allowed per game. They’re on pace to allow 2,640 rushing yards, which would be the third-most in franchise history.
“We’ve got to stop the run,” Walker said. “We didn’t really do a fair job of that. Once a team really comes in with a mindset that they can run the ball, we haven’t (stopped) that yet. So, it’s a challenge to us, do you know what I’m saying? We’ve got to do that, buckle down and we’ve got to stop the run.”
How, though? It’s not as if there’s another coach on the staff who would be an obvious improvement over Barry. And there are no magical injections for toughness and attitude. The only logical direction is for Barry to sell out to stop the run and sink or swim with Jaire Alexander, Rasul Douglas and Keisean Nixon playing man coverage.
En route to a 121-yard day, Montgomery had four runs of 12-plus yards. By contrast, the only running play by a Packers running back of more than 10 yards this season was a backward pass to AJ Dillon last week.
With the Lions feasting on Green Bay’s typically toothless run defense, they dominated every which way statistically. They had 10 more first downs, almost 16 more minutes of possession time and 171 more yards.
The Lions are the bullies of the NFC North. Until LaFleur finds the answers that have alluded him into Year 5, the Packers will continue to be bullied.
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