Packers Defense a Giant-Sized Disappointment
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Throughout training camp, the Green Bay Packers’ defense talked the talked.
“This is the defense I’ve been waiting on since I first got here,” cornerback Jaire Alexander said during camp.
To its credit, it knew it had to walk the walk, that nothing would be guaranteed.
“We definitely have a chance,” cornerback Rasul Douglas said in August of being elite. “We’ve still got to prove it. But we definitely have a chance.”
Added outside linebacker Rashan Gary: “Defense is stacked. We’ve just got to go out there and we’ve got to put in the work.”
The Packers have a lot of work to do after losing 27-22 to the New York Giants on Sunday in London. It was an embarrassing performance. Quarterback Daniel Jones was hobbled on a bad ankle. Star running back Saquon Barkley missed a series with a shoulder injury. Three of the top receivers were out due to injuries.
Green Bay’s defense was at full strength. Yet, after starting the game with back-to-back three-and-outs, The Giants’ next five drives resulted in:
8 plays, 45 yards, field goal.
11 plays, 86 yards, touchdown.
11 plays, 56 yards, field goal.
15 plays, 91 yards, touchdown.
6 plays, 60 yards, touchdown.
Twenty-seven points in five possessions against a watered-down attack that entered the game averaging a woeful 19.0 points per game? This isn’t what anyone envisioned after the Packers spent training camp shutting down Aaron Rodgers and talking trash at the Saints during joint practices.
“I have no idea what happened,” outside linebacker Preston Smith said. “I felt like we were playing pretty well overall. We’re making too many mistakes that teams are capitalizing off of. We’re going to settle down. We’ve got a lot of things we can work on to get back to that defense we were in training camp or the defense we’re knowing for being.”
Green Bay’s defense, on paper, is loaded. It is a veteran unit that includes a Pro Bowl defensive lineman, a Pro Bowl-caliber outside linebacker, an All-Pro inside linebacker, an All-Pro cornerback and a top safety tandem. One first-round pick after another has been poured into the unit. This offseason, general manager Brian Gutekunst used first-round picks on linebacker Quay Walker and Devonte Wyatt, re-signed De’Vondre Campbell and Rasul Douglas, and signed defensive tackle Jarran Reed.
What on earth has gone wrong for what should be, at worst, a top-10 unit?
“Couldn’t tell you,” Alexander said.
“I don’t even know,” Douglas said. “I can’t even tell you. I don’t know.”
Green Bay’s secondary was supposed to be the kind of lock-down unit that would help defensive coordinator Joe Barry cure the run defense. And yet there was Jones, the heavily criticized sixth overall pick of the 2019 draft playing on a bum wheel and without any of his top receivers, slicing and dicing Green Bay’s secondary. The Packers had no answers for the Giants’ speed, no answers for crossing routes, no answers for play-action, no answers for Jones’ mobility.
Douglas was flagged twice for defensive holding and once for unnecessary roughness. Darnell Savage was flagged once for holding and missed a tackle on Barkley’s 41-yard reception on what wound up being the game-winning touchdown drive.
“I’m pretty sure we all feel bad looking around. We all look bad,” Douglas said. “I just told everybody, ‘My fault.’ I had three uncharacteristic f***ing penalties that I don’t usually get, but I had them. I think that f****d the whole defense up.”
Douglas was upset about the officiating but the calls all seemed obvious.
“I’ve never had this many penalties in my life, he said. “I’ve probably had like f***ing three penalties in my whole career or some **** like that. I had three today. I’m asking him, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ to see what he’s saying so I can understand it. He’s just saying, ‘You’re bigger than him.’ I’m like, that’s not really a f***ing excuse. OK, I’m probably bigger than most receivers in the league. That’s what he kept saying to me.”
Penalties by Douglas and Savage wiped out sacks. The roughness penalty turned third-and-goal at the 4 into first-and-goal at the 2 as the Giants scored the pivotal final touchdown.
Not unlike last week, when the Packers held off the Patriots in overtime, the final numbers hid the reality. The Giants gained 338 yards – not a bad number but not close to an accurate picture.
“I’ve got to go back and look at the tape,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “It seemed like there were some timely, costly penalties on our part that gave them life on some drives. And you can’t do that in this league.”
The Packers are 3-2. The world isn’t ending. In theory, upcoming games against the New York Jets and Washington Commanders should buy the Packers some time, but that should have held true against the Giants.
“We expected to be great,” safety Adrian Amos said. “This is a long season. We’re going to be great and we’re going to be better. We’re going to do what we need to do to get better.”
